Samayasara OR Nature of Self

Author(s): A Chakravarti
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 94

INTRODUCTION
xciii
tricity, magnetism, light, heat, etc The process of development of physical science is interesting in this respect Towards the close of the 19th century there was the wonderful analysis of the physical realm into a definite number of chemical elements out of which the whole cosmos was built Science then recognised two fundamental concepts mass and energy as constitutive of matter The speculation of Maxwell and Thompson ultimately indicated that Mass was but a derivative concept, Energy being the primary one. The next step was reached when the electrical theory of matter was propounded This leads to the complete identity of all forms of physical energy, heat, light, magnetism and electricity The next and most important step of advance is marked by the discovery of radio activity. On the one hand it discovered the extremely complex nature of the atom which resembles the Solar system in miniature inasmuch as it contains a nucleus around which a number of negative electrons revolve with incredible velocity. The second result of this discovery is equally impoitant The chemical element which were considered to be completely isolated are now shown to be merely of quantitative differences brought about by the electionic changes in the intra atomic constitution. The dream of the alchemist that all the chemical elements had a common basis and hence transmutable is no more a matter of historic curiosity suggesting merely how men went wrong in their early scientific speculations. It becomes a matter of scientific possibility for unquestionably it is indicated that all the elements have a common source. If this theory as to the constitution of the cosmos is accepted and there is evidence enough supporting it then ether becomes the primeval fountain source of all energy constituting the physical realm This again conversely implies that due to the intra atomic changes the physical universe may altogether get dissolved and then disappear into the very same primeval Ether On the side of the organic world we have had a similar development pointing towards some such source as the Ether We are all acquainted with the Darwinian conception of biological evolution which traces the diversity of animal life to a single source of organised