________________
(100) : Nandanavana
Scientific views about Activities and Behaviours
Currently, most people, either scientists or with scientific attitude do not like to believe the life in past of future. They, therefore, have only the present living under consideration. As the living is associated with material properties due to karmic matters, it should be quite interesting to apply karmavāda to the living of the scientific age. The science of living has developed quite late; still they have covered a large ground to let us understand what we mean by the living and its functions and behaviours. They presume it to be purely material born out of sexual or a-sexual activity. It consists of innumerable cells performing different functions to sustain and grow with the super computer brain. The current knowledge has given us the 'why and how' of our mind, action or behaviours in addition to the only observatory 'what' of the canonical age. It seems to have gone a little deeper in the world of our gross body. It has given us the fact that the resultant action and behaviours of the living might be traced to many factors - external and internal surroundings, sensory stimulations, bioelectric and biochemical changes, nervous system and glandular secretions. Thus, an infinite variety of mental states and activity could originate.
54
Experiments have proved that there is electrical charge and thermal motions in the body suggesting that the running of life may be due to these thermal and electrical energies in the body produced due to internal chemical or bio-chemical changes occurring constantly in the body. There is always this energy flowing throughout the body from brain to the feet. A small portion of this energy always surrounds the gross body producing a halo or aura around it, which has been dark-photographed. It is this aura and different brain centres which are responsible for our actions of all types. This living may have natural and earned or environmental behaviours. These are expressed in 14 classes of propensities representing human curiosity, capacity and activity. Mahaprajña has equated the origin of some of them with many forms of deluding karma (D), which may be equivalent to emotions or instincts. The inquisitiveness may be related with knowledge and conation-obstructing karma. The parental affection results from feeling (pleasure)- producing karma. Some behaviour like food and groupism, though not included in karma natures, are included in ten instincts. Still, there remain two important behaviours
55
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
