Dr. M.B. Modi
Thousands of years ago when science was not in existence, ancient Jain Shramans known as Dhundias or ‘seekers’ of truth, used spiritual wisdom, logic and mathematics to understand God, Universe and Truth. They made history by discovering spirituality in science, nature and in self rather than in God and superstition. They discovered physics of the universe, soul, body, and postulated theories, which are similar to those found in standard textbooks on physics, cosmology, quantum biology, psychology, neurology and life sciences.
Bhagwan Mahavir in 560 B. C. and Einstein in 1905 A.D tried to understand God by researching the infinite cosmic space. Mahavir used 'Tap and Awadhi Gyana' and Einstein conducted 'Thought Experiments' to know God and Truth. Mahavir's search resulted in discovery of eternal universe consisting of infinte empty space Aloka in equilibruim with material space Loka. Einstein also came to the same conclusion and said the universe is eternal and it consists of infinite empty space and finite size material space.
Rejecting the idea of God, Bhagwan Mahavir discovered the forces and laws of nature, which created the living and nonliving worlds. He said “There is existence and there is awareness of existence. Both are eternal. The universe symbolises ‘Existence’ and awareness of its existence is consciousness or Atman. Both are in non-physical Astikaya state in which, space and time do not have separate identities but co-exist as one”. Einstein named this type of 'existence' as 4D space and quantum physicists call it vacuum quantum field.
Infinite Aloka is not vacuum but ‘Akash Dravya with Avagahan Guna’ having capacity to hold foreign matter without external support. Einsteinnamed it ‘Weak Gravitation Field’. Ignoring the presence of billions of galaxies, stars, plantes and infinte varieties of inanimate and animate objects, Mahavir said the visible universe is homogenious and isotropic Panchastikaya Loka that contains only Astikay Dravyas, or five types of energy fields, which are active and continuous. On similar lines, Einstein also said the Observable Space contains material particles and energy only.
The Astikay Dravyas are five types of energy namely Akash Dravya (Gravitation), Dharm Dravya (Kinetic Energy), Adharm Dravya (Potential energy), Jiv Dravya (Cyber Space or Electromagnetic Energy) and Pudagal Dravya (Discrete Matter/Particles). Time is not a constituent of Panchastikay and therefore Kaal or time has no existence. Time is human perception of change. However, Digambar Jain scholarstraditionally call time as sixth Dravya to indicate change or vartana. It is obvious that Jain concepts of universe, space and time have much similarity with Einstein’s concepts.
Cosmology and Jain Theory of Evolution of The Universe:
Instead of creation, Jainism presents quantum mechanical model of evolution of the universe. It explains how nonphysical Astikayas transform in to physical forms called Paryaya, which we observe as particles, atoms, molecules, stars, planets, microbes, plants, animals, birds, human beings etc. According to Jain science, the continuous Astikay Dravyas are in fact discrete and consists of infinite/finite numbers of field elements-Pradesh. A Pradesh of Pudagalastikaya represents a particle or quanta, while the Pradesh of other four Dravyas represents energy particles like phonons, photons etc. Akash Pradesh is unit gravitational energy or a Graviton which common man knows as God Particle.
Pradesh represents the smallest area, which in three dimensions is a particle. This probalistic area in quantum mechanics is also called Schrodinger’s wave function. The Jain principle that an atom exists as Pradesh (space element) is today recognised as DeBroglie’s concept of ‘Dual Nature of Matter’. Pradesh and Paramanu charecteritic of matter also indicates that a particle does not exist but appears to exist to an observer.
How are molecules formed? Jain Agamas describe thattwo or more Pudagal Paramanu (atoms) having Ruksha and Snigdh Sparshas, (representative of negative and positive charges) combine to form Skandha (molecule) and Skandhas aggregate to form Mahaskandha (bulk matter/large bodies). Ruksha and Snigdh Sparshas are expressed as integers and not as fractions. The integers represent chemical affinity.
Jain scriptures like Bhagwati Sutra describe that Pudagal Paramanu execute ten types of motions, which create Ushana (hot) and Seet (cold) Sparshas (touch) that cause emission or absorption of heat, light, Atap (IR), Udyot (UV), darkness, brightness etc. Neil Bohr in 1913 proposed quantum theory of emission/absorption of radiations on exactly similar lines. According to this theory, atomic motions produce excited and ground energy states. Atomic jumps from higher energy levels to lower energy levels result in emission and reverse jumps result in absorption of radiations.
The basic law that governs the evolution of Astikayas in to visible universe is Upneiva-Vigneiva- Dhruveiva, which the scientists call as ‘law of conservation of mass and energy’. According to this Jain law ‘nothing is created, nothing is destroyed but everything is recycled’. Production, destruction, birth and rebirth are merely the processes of recycling of Jiva (soul)and Ajiva (Parmanu). Rebirth is therefore as inevitable as death for keeping the numbers of Jiva constant. Obviously Jain concept of ‘rebirth’ is not a blind faith but it is a hard scientific fact.
Jain Karmic Theory of origin and Evolution of Life:
Jainism like biologist believes in the principle of ‘Life begets life’ or ‘life is produced only by existing life’. However, biologists also believe that amino acid which is life element, was created 4.3 billion years ago on the primordial earth as one time exception by chemical combination of inorganic matter. The lifeless amino acid on accidental trapping in a semi permeable membrane turned in to living cell. Even today life scientists do not know how? This one time accident was supposed to have followed by biogenesis forever.
Jainism rejects the above hypothesis. It believes like quantum mechanics, in the existence of universal observer as Gyata and Drista. The basic hypothesis is –‘nothing exists without existence of Knowledge or information’. Jainism defines knowledge as soul and omniscience as Siddha. The Astikaya form of existence contains knowledge and according to physicists consciousness is present in quantum fields.
Jainism presents Karma Theory of Origin of life, which in essence is transformation of universal consciousness in to Jiva with two subtle bodies- Karman and Tejas Sharira. Actions, motions, emotions, vibrations, force and momentum are called Karma, which according to Jainism is a flow of Karman Paramanu similar to flow of quantum particle phonons. Since all the five Astikayas are active Dravyas, the entire Loka is filled with Karman Paramanu. An interaction between Karman Paramanu and soul under favourable conditions produced the first Jiva
An analogy with genetic terms reveals that Jiva is like gene, Karman Sharira is its DNA and Tejas Sharira is the energy source. Jiva is called Anadi or without beginning because it is not known when first Jiva was formed. Like DNA, the Karman Sharira contains Karmic (genetic) information based on which Jiva builds a body on entering a womb by sexual or asexual process. In other words Karman Sharira is a blue print of the body.
Jainism does not believe that God created human being separately. It believes that Jiva first appeared in physical form in ocean waters as a single sense organism Nigodh, which evolved further in to two, three, four and five sense organisms and finally in to a human being. The evolution took millions of years and innumerable births and rebirths. It is obvious that this process of evolution is similar to that predicted by Darwin as Law of Natural Selection. However, Jainism differs from Darwin first on ‘survival instinct’ as the cause and secondly ‘Survival of the Fittest’ as the result.
According to Jainism, strong desire of body consciousness to regain its original universal form is the cause that led to Purusharth or self attempted biological changes in the body. A conscious Jiva in order to increase its awareness could grow more numbers of sense organs such as eyes, ears, nose, and tong. The five sense organism further evolved as human being with the highest level of consciousness. In this process not only the fittest but even the weakest conscious being could evolve.
Recent advances made in the field of robotics & artificial intelligence support this Jain concept of inner desire to evolve rather than survive. Defence strategists are worried that highly intelligent robots are evolving in to higher intelligence, forming likeminded groups and even rebelling against their commanders. They are concerned if the evolved machines have the same goal as that of their commanders. Eminent theoreticians like Steven Hawking, Mani Bhaumic of UCLA are now working on how consciousness leads to evolution.
Jainism replaces concept of ‘survival of the fittest’ by the concept of ‘Persparopgraha Jivanam’, which means living beings are interdependent for their survival. This interdependency led to evolution of the entire eco-system and not the fittest alone as thought by Darwin. Genomics and Epigenetics confirm this Jain theory. Samyag Gyana, Samyag Darshan and Samyag Achar, which essentially means understanding the ‘Self’ and the ‘Universe’, elegance in character and excellence in interrelationship, is the epigenetic path that helps in achieving omniscience or Moksha.