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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY a medium of motion and that is the principle of Dharma; and Adharma is the principle of rest. These two are the functional principles."
In the Jaina literature the words dharma and adharma have also been used in the ethical sense as śubha (auspicious) and aśubha (inauspious). In the use of these words the Dharmadravya connoted assistance of movement, while Adharmadravya has a connotation of stagnation. Other Darśanas in Indian philosophy have not given thought to the conception of Dharma and Adharma in the sense of connoting the principle of motion and principle of rest. In modern science, Newton for the first time discovered the principle of motion. Albert Eienstein while advocating the principle of motion said that the universe is limited, similarly the space beyond the universe (aloka) is also limited. The universe is limited because the substance or energy is limited to the sphere of universe. Beyond this universe, there is neither substance nor energy which is responsible for the motion. What the scientists call Ether as the principle of motion, Jaina literature gives it the name of Dharmadravya (principle of motion.)
1. (a) Bhagavati, 18, 7; 7, 10.
(b) Uttarādhyayana sūtra 36, 6. 2. Hollywood, R. and T: Instruction Lesson No. 2, What is Ether ?
I am quite sure that you have heard of Ether before now, but please do not confuse it with the Liquid Ether used by surgeons, to render a patient unconscious for an operation. If you should ask me just what the Ether is, that is, the Ether that conveys electromagnetic-waves. I would answer that I cannot accurately describe it. Neither can any one else. The best that anyone could do would be to say that Éther is invisible body and that through it electromagnetic waves can be propagated.
But let us see from a practical standpoint the nature of the thing called Ether.' We are all quite familiar with the existence of solids, liquids and gases. Now suppose, that inside a glass vessel there are no solids, liquids or gases : that all of these things have been removed including the air as well.
If I were to ask you to describe the condition that now exists within the glass-vessel, you would promptly reply that nothing exists within it, that a vacuum has been created. But I shall have to correct you, and explain that within this vessel there does exist Ether' nothing else.
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