Scientific Vision of Lord Mahavira

Author(s): Chaitanyapragyashreeji
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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Scientific Vision of Lord Mahāvīra
beyond. Therefore, Kundakunda concludes that space is neither the condition of motion, nor of rest. These require independent principle as their condition. 126
Besides, if space had been the condition of motion and rest, then there would have not been any transcosmos and a systematic cosmos at all because space is everywhere. All the sentients and insentients would have not been confined to the universe only. They would have been scattered throughout the space. 127
Thus, the medium of motion and the medium of rest are essential for the smooth functioning of the universe. Just as the medium of motion is a guarantee for motion, so the medium of rest puts limits to the objects in motion. One and the same body has motion as well as rest. It may move or it may come to stay. Therefore, the medium of motion and the medium of rest are free from the principle of causality. They can only be an auxiliary cause (hahirunga hetu or udāsīna hetu), i.e., they must be indifferent and neutral in themselves and yet, they are indispensable (ävasyaku) to the composition of the world. The most approximate modern conception answering to the description of the medium of motion will be about ether of the physicist. Though the concept of ether is not acceptable today yet, it has been mentioned here only to show the necessity of the medium of motion in the field of science. Besides, the properties of ether, which had been accepted later on also come close to the properties of the medium of motion contended by the Jains.
Ether, in Physics, a theoretical, universal substance believed during the 19th century to act as the medium for transmission of electromagnetic waves (e.g. light and X-rays) similar to sound waves transmitted by elastic media such as air. 128 It was believed that the ether was a kind of matter having properties, such as, mass, rigidity, motion like ordinary matter. But after the Michelson experiment and the theory of Relativity, it is agreed that ether is not a kind of matter. Being non-material, its properties are sui generis (quite unique). Characteristics, such as, mass and rigidity which are seen in matter are naturally absent in ether but ether has new and definite character of its own. On the basis of latter scientific evidences two points are well established-the medium of motion is non-material, filling all space and not moving. The Jain view expressed in the following quotation regarding the medium of motion and of rest is quite close and clear to the two points.
"The medium of motion being a non-corporeal substance has none of the properties ordinarily associated with matter, i.e., it is devoid of qualities of touch, taste, smell and colour. It is a continuous medium pervading the whole universe. Although, it is non-atomic in nature, for purpose of practical convenience, it is regarded as made up of innumerable units.”129
Acharya Kundakunda further writes, "it (the medium of motion) undergoes an infinite number of modifications of an incorporeal nature and