Studies on Biology in Tattvartha Sutra

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Z_Sumanmuni_Padmamaharshi_Granth_012027.pdf

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Glory of Jain Culture
8. Volitional or Psychic attributes of the living .
not subject to scientific investigations, only it is accepted on the basis of its functioning-consciousness etc. Many scholars have discussed the indirect acceptance of this concept by the scientific community.21 However, imaginative concepts differ from realistic ones. The equivalance of soul, mind and consciousness raises some points to call it as a fine force. At death, the finer bodies associated with this force fly away for next place of birth, through transmigratory motion. (2) The Concept of Rebirth and Salvation
The pure soul does not have rebirth. It is called salvated or karmically freed. However, the worldly being is always karmically associated with a strong desire for being karmically freed. He has to wander in the world to a cycle of spiritual upgradation - degradation until he becomes free of rebirth. Thus, the concept of rebirth is meant only for worldly beings. The forceful finder bodies of the dead worldly being take rebirth.
Both these concepts seem to be more of psychological origin like the concept of God which lead men to be always optimistic for better life, efforts and brotherhood. On the whole, the transmigratory motion is beyond the scope of science at this time. The para - psychologists are not unanimous on both of these concepts. They feel it a question of faith and self-experience.
It has been pointed out that T.S. and other Jaina Texts refer to more than a dozen volitional or psychic attributes of the living beings such as (i) cognitions (ii) conations (iii) faith (iv) colourations (v) passions (vi) restraints (vii) spiritual stages (viii) feelings / experiencing (ix) attachment and aversion (x) instincts (xi) mind (xii) karmic bondage and liberatability. Most of these attributes are the subject of psychology of today. They are subject for a new paper. However, it must be indicated that these subjects are dealt with in psychology in a more detailed and finer way than our texts. The reader is referred to the English translation of Rajvartika chapter 2 for details about these attributes.
9. Conclusion
The analysis and discussions above indicate that the living kingdom between the age of T.S. and tenth century have very few points consistent with the current biology. Moreover, many more disquisitions doors (17) and points of definition (11) about the living have been added over the period by biologists which represent finer peep by them. The taxonomy has also gone deeper and has universal binomial nomenclature. There seems to be a large amount of discrepancy in the T.S. descriptions about the (1) type of bodies (2) number of senses (3)
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Studies on Biology in Tattvartha Sutra (Formulae on Reals)