Refutation of Western Materialism On the basis of Jain Philosophy

Author(s): Mahendrakumar Muni Dwitiya
Publisher: Z_Kailashchandra_Shastri_Abhinandan_Granth_012048.pdf

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(c) Consequently, there are two independent principles of conservation: The principle of the conversation of pudgala and that of the conservation of soul, According to the former, the total amount of pudgala (which would include both matter and all kinds of material energy) remains constant, while according to the later, the spiritual reality (which would include the soul and its energy) never perishes. The former one is the same as the scientific law of the conservation of mattergy.
Now on the basis of these facts, the above contention of the materialists can easily be refuted. It can be seen that the vital processes are governed by both the soul's energy as well as physiological (physical) energy. The former is inherent in the soul itself while the latter is obtained through transmutation of physical substances (food, water, et...) into the basic elements of the body (blood, chyme, semen etc.) which subsequently get transformed into the form of physiological energy. Now, in the above argument the term "life-energy" is used in the transmutation of food, etc; but it is clear that the processes involving such a transmutation are essentially paudgalika (or we may say mattergic). Hence the energy created thus cannot be considered to be different from physical energy. In other words, the soul's energy cannot be created through the transformation of food etc. It is, in fact, inherent in the soul itself. When the vital energy of the body is said to get increased, it means that the physiological processes transmute food, etc. into the basic elements of the body which serve as the sources of the physiological (physical) energy for carrying on the life-processes. Thus, there is no question of creation of new energy and hence, the law of the conservation is not at all contradicted.
Further, in the reverse process, when it is said that the soul causes the physiological movements through its own initiative, it does not mean that new energy is created in the form of physiological motion. Actually the physiological motion is produced through the transmutation of the physiological energy already stored in the body. The soul's energy (or the will-power) inherent in the soul acting as a governing agent causes the transmutation to take place without itself being diminished. Hence, in this case also, there is no contradiction of the law of the conservation and consequently, the materialist's argument becomes untenable.
3. The Cosmological Argument :-The materialists claim to base this argument on purely seientific facts. The modern scientific theories, according to them, have proved that "there was a time when our earth was a glowing gaseous nabulae. At that time, organic life could not have existed upon it, there could have been no human beings and hence no mental activity. It was only after the earth had sufficiently cooled off, and the conditions for the origin of organic life were given, that plant and animallife cane into being from which man also was evolved at a later stage. Hence mental life came into existence with organic life and is limited to the presence of its physiological conditions. There is no meaning, therefore, in assuming mind as something distinct from the organism because its origin is connected with the organism and they will certainly perish together", 16
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