________________
432 : Scientific Contents in Prāksta Canons
genes today which characterise the parents in present and which may forecast the character of the coming progeny. In this respect, canonical kārmic theory may be equated with the genes theory, both being fine material aggregates. This equation, however, could not be taken too far. Death of the Living Beings
Death is the termination of vitalities through any of the means described later. It is a natural phenomena and an unavoidable one. We can imagine the situation in the world in the absence of death of living beings. How horrible it could be until old age is reversed. Though there is no specific mention of causes of death of different types of living but the genera! causes given may be sufficient to judge the death of 1-5 sensed beings. The death may be due to physical ( mostly ) and mental causes. Times have changed and the number and variety of mental causes is increasing enormously. Concurrently, many more death-deterrants ( like bye-pass surgery, implants and transplants, medication and meditation, etc.) are also being developed so as to delay the death phenomena. There a third type of death in Jaina practices - a type of voluntary death under extreme conditions with religious sanctions creating fearlessness about death53. Many scholars charge it with an equivalence of suicide but the Jaina seers have refuted it from the very beginning. This type of fearless and carefree death is a celebrity for a true Jaina.
The causes and types (17) of death are described with necessary supplementary material in relevant chapter. Current Concepts About Birth
The biologists tell us that a new species is procreated by any of the three processessa (i) Vegetative reproduction : Budding/fission Bacillus (ii) A-sexual reproduction : Endospores, Azobactor
conidia, cyst formation (iii) Sexual reproduction : Conjugation, Mammals &
Transformation, transduction others
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
