Research Papers
Consciousness in Science and Jain Philosophy (Proceedings of the International Conference on Science and Jain Philosophy held at Florida International University, Miami, USA in 2021), 2024
Despite the immense growth in modern science in the field of evolution, there are still queries, answers of which can only be found through the theory of consciousness. That theory suggests that a being’s actions (karma) play the most vital role in its evolution; it also motivates us to consider that evolution takes place on the collective and individual levels and that it occurs in the consciousness first and later gets reflected in the physical body of the being. Ancient Indian Jain scholars (ācāryas) conducted incredible research into the nature of consciousness and the causes of evolution in it. They not only found and experienced the beauty of it but also wrote down their qualitative and quantitative descriptions of consciousness and evolution. To understand consciousness, one should explore two theories at the same time: karmic theory and the other is the theory of transmigration of the consciousness. The karma principle sees evolution and devolution in parallel. This paper describes the attributes of consciousness both in the philosophy of Jainism and in modern science and philosophy; evolution through the cause and effect of karmic actions of a being; how the being acquires five senses, one after the other, in its long journey of evolution; and why it is absolutely necessary to conduct research into consciousness along with evolution to get a clearer picture of the jigsaw puzzle called life, its history, and future.
ISJS Transactions, Vo. 5, No. 2, April-June, 2021
When the whole world is going through a deadly turmoil and casualties are happening in one’s own family and close surroundings due to the same reason; mankind starts to lose faith in the supreme power. The theory of karma appears to be the sole guide that can take the human race from immense darkness towards light. It may sound harsh, nevertheless it is the only way to decode the pandemic. There are always plenty of questions which stay unanswered, which perhaps can only be realized either through contemplation (at a personal level) or through research by having a scholarly approach. Some answers are soothing while others are painful. When we try to make sense of why things happened in the way they happened, what went wrong, what was our fault etc., we may find some satisfaction in the philosophical concepts of the theory of karma. The way scientific researches are being done to find the remedy of a disease; for sure philosophical and scholarly researches can be done to find out the reason behind the same issues like untimely death and karma etc. When a microscopic creature has brought the whole mankind on its knees, to such an extent that one’s position, financial richness, power, sources etc., everything has turned out to be worthless, it is high time that we take a different look towards life and start cherishing what is really important.
ISJS-Transactions, 2020
Each of our life’s occurrences requires measurement and calculation in some way or the other. Be it a child’s birth: from conception, (to birth) to her growing up; or in our daily chores: from the time of getting up in the morning, going to the work, eating, resting, walking, at leisure, traveling, cooking, in relationships and so on. Measurement and calculation, both belong to the subject Mathematics; which is like karma, that no matter what, always accompanies the soul without one being aware of it. One can be dumb at it but that dumbness does not make one less acquainted with it for even then, one is inevitably calculating continuously in one’s subconscious.
Mathematics can be synonymous to truth as ‘reality does not exist without a measurement taking place’ and ‘a small minority of scientists, including Nobel Prize winning physicist Eugene Wigner said that measurement implies some sort of consciousness. Only a conscious person or entity, they argued, can perform measurement (Kaku 1995, 48)’. Hence this way deeper study of Mathematics may take one to decode the bigger purpose of existence and consciousness.
Numbers are symbols which clarify a certain quantity in one’s head and eventually they can also be representations of some abstract or physical states. In this paper an attempt will be made to contemplate about two symbols which are – zero and infinity. Zero can be compared with the state of the ayoga kevali, the state when the omniscient sheds all the left-over karma, state of the consciousness with no baggage at all. Ayoga Kevali is also the fourteenth and the final step on the ladder of spiritual development in Jain philosophy. Infinity can be compared with the state of the siddha (the liberated soul), the true eternal state of the soul. Where the soul is in its true essence and its body is – infinite knowledge, infinite power, infinite bliss, and infinite perception. Zero can be compared to the state just before liberation, when the soul is ready to embark on its journey of infinity. This paper can give future scope for researches where for each state of being, a symbol can be given.
Mathematics can be synonymous to truth as ‘reality does not exist without a measurement taking place’ and ‘a small minority of scientists, including Nobel Prize winning physicist Eugene Wigner said that measurement implies some sort of consciousness. Only a conscious person or entity, they argued, can perform measurement (Kaku 1995, 48)’. Hence this way deeper study of Mathematics may take one to decode the bigger purpose of existence and consciousness.
Numbers are symbols which clarify a certain quantity in one’s head and eventually they can also be representations of some abstract or physical states. In this paper an attempt will be made to contemplate about two symbols which are – zero and infinity. Zero can be compared with the state of the ayoga kevali, the state when the omniscient sheds all the left-over karma, state of the consciousness with no baggage at all. Ayoga Kevali is also the fourteenth and the final step on the ladder of spiritual development in Jain philosophy. Infinity can be compared with the state of the siddha (the liberated soul), the true eternal state of the soul. Where the soul is in its true essence and its body is – infinite knowledge, infinite power, infinite bliss, and infinite perception. Zero can be compared to the state just before liberation, when the soul is ready to embark on its journey of infinity. This paper can give future scope for researches where for each state of being, a symbol can be given.
Arhat Vacana , 2020
General knowledge about Jainism depicts that it is a religious philosophy, where the main attention is on renunciation, non-possessiveness and following of the ethics. But when one sees around and observe the Jain laymen, this notion appears to be wrong. For, despite being very fewer in population, they are one of the wealthiest communities of not only India but also in the world. However, study about the ford makers who, from time to time, have reformed the already established regulations for the ascetics and the laymen, expresses that all of them were from the royal lineages. They have not only experienced the peaks of finances but also have well-analyzed the pros and cons of it, have taught the consequences of overtly attachment with it, to their disciples. Along with the ways through which finances should be earned, keeping the best of ethics in mind. And when they were succeeded in overcoming it, they left it and went into the search of peace and truth. This way money does not sound bad and even possessions seem fine. This paper will throw light into few of these Jains’ lives, how they think about money and act in their jobs/businesses; how they keep ethics in check, how they feel that aparigraha is necessary for spiritual upliftment or to proceed onto the journey of self-improvement.
Arhat Vacana, 2016
When the quest is real, no matter where you were born, you find your way forward, you reach that place at the right time and you meet the right people who can take you to your destination.
Being born in India, and being overwhelmed with a particular religion may hamper the newness and curiosity to look and observe it with a different panoramic view, albeit according to me, the true voyage to grasp a religion or towards philosophy, may start in the following circumstances:
When one develops a quest to decipher life, how it unfolds and what lies beyond, as one grows.
One’s confrontation with either some dear one’s death or a serious disease.
When one goes through either extremely sad or overwhelmingly joyous incidents in
one’s life.
Or sometimes out of nowhere, one reads a tiny para, as in the case of Natalia
Zheleznova – the famous Russian Scholar, and gets a spark-throwing light upon one’s consciousness to not only study more about it but also to dedicate her whole life to that gleam.
Albeit the reasons could be innumerable and it might also be true that a particular religion’s theory could only be depicted, nearly accurately by it’s own disciples but still I feel that when an interested outsider has an introduction with the same, he or she could understand it in a totally different, unbiased new way and could explore it in a radical fashion that its own followers would not have done so. As, due to the absence of an emotional attachment, an outsider could imbibe it more honestly and unbiasedly; hence he or she could be able to find what couldn’t have been found until now. This is the reason that I get highly influenced by the writings on Jaina philosophy by Western Scholars.
Being born in India, and being overwhelmed with a particular religion may hamper the newness and curiosity to look and observe it with a different panoramic view, albeit according to me, the true voyage to grasp a religion or towards philosophy, may start in the following circumstances:
When one develops a quest to decipher life, how it unfolds and what lies beyond, as one grows.
One’s confrontation with either some dear one’s death or a serious disease.
When one goes through either extremely sad or overwhelmingly joyous incidents in
one’s life.
Or sometimes out of nowhere, one reads a tiny para, as in the case of Natalia
Zheleznova – the famous Russian Scholar, and gets a spark-throwing light upon one’s consciousness to not only study more about it but also to dedicate her whole life to that gleam.
Albeit the reasons could be innumerable and it might also be true that a particular religion’s theory could only be depicted, nearly accurately by it’s own disciples but still I feel that when an interested outsider has an introduction with the same, he or she could understand it in a totally different, unbiased new way and could explore it in a radical fashion that its own followers would not have done so. As, due to the absence of an emotional attachment, an outsider could imbibe it more honestly and unbiasedly; hence he or she could be able to find what couldn’t have been found until now. This is the reason that I get highly influenced by the writings on Jaina philosophy by Western Scholars.
A beautiful philosophy that teaches to break the shackles of blind faith and gets one’s individuality introduced to oneself. Why is it so less known.
Presented at a National Conference at Ganesh Varni Sansthan , 2022
Science and philosophy go hand in hand; just as every scientist is a philosopher, every philosopher is a scientist, too, as both science and philosophy are concerned with finding the reality and nature of things. Where science focuses on discovering through experimentation of the physical, philosophy aims to peel off the layers of a specific through valid reasoning. Both deal with the restlessness of mankind and motivate the same to find the secrets of the universe. Finding the smallest indivisible particle of Matter is one such quest of science which is inevitably philosophical. Neutrinos and Leptons are a few of the elementary particles discovered by physicists that lay the foundation of the physical world. We notice that ancient Indian philosophers called the most fundamental particle paramāṇu, which translates into English as the absolute atom, and gave a detailed description of the same. Paramāṇu is the smallest indivisible part of Matter, known as pudgala in Jain philosophy. According to the scholars of this Indian philosophy, a paramāṇu cannot be grasped through any instrument, irrespective of how advanced the machinery gets. It can only become worthy of sensory perception when in a skandha (group of countless paramāṇu). Hence, just like the realization of the soul, understanding the paramāṇu is also a matter of actuality. This paper sheds light on the same as in other Indian philosophies and present-day physics and deals in detail with the description of paramāṇu provided by the Jain philosophers of India.
Anekanta: Exploring The Shramana Traditiom (Festschrift to Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah (Hampana) , 2022
When we think about the theory of evolution, one thought creeps into every thoughtful mind that if we have evolved through apes (like beings), this evolution will not stop here at Homo sapiens as the most modern, developed, vital, and wisest version. Evolution is a continuous process, and in the future, as per the survival of the fittest and, ironically, even the most powerful, we will evolve into some other, even better species! Well, it sounds positive and hopeful.
Till now, we look at the sequence of evolution as (beings similar to) apes which have evolved into Homo Sapiens and will continue to do so until perfection. Hypothetically we can look at this sequence through exactly the opposite perspective, which leads us from being the most developed Humans to present-day Homo Sapiens through devolution. If this devolution continues, Homo-Sapiens will devolve into (beings similar to) apes. In either case, evolution and devolution will not be stagnant. Even if either pinnacle is achieved, it won’t stop, for change is constant in the universe. This thought/idea leads to a cyclic pattern of occurrences, which provides a base for further research.
Modern science has only analysed the previous scenario, whereas it should have looked at both ways; for the present-day scenario of exploitation of domesticated animals, unethical use of armaments and finances, man’s hunger to attain power and quest to intrude into the workings of nature through experimentations of Artificial Intelligence etc. portray a different, fearful scene in front of our eyes. Also, suppose the survival of the fittest is the only way to move forward. In that case, that day does not seem far when the more powerful humans start to massacre the less powerful ones to maintain the population of their beloved planet.
Presently, mankind is forgetting that with power comes great responsibility. In this paper, an attempt has been made to reflect upon the theory of evolution by adding consciousness and then by analysing the same through the glass of time cycle in Jain philosophy, which indicates that what we understand as evolution is actually devolution.
Till now, we look at the sequence of evolution as (beings similar to) apes which have evolved into Homo Sapiens and will continue to do so until perfection. Hypothetically we can look at this sequence through exactly the opposite perspective, which leads us from being the most developed Humans to present-day Homo Sapiens through devolution. If this devolution continues, Homo-Sapiens will devolve into (beings similar to) apes. In either case, evolution and devolution will not be stagnant. Even if either pinnacle is achieved, it won’t stop, for change is constant in the universe. This thought/idea leads to a cyclic pattern of occurrences, which provides a base for further research.
Modern science has only analysed the previous scenario, whereas it should have looked at both ways; for the present-day scenario of exploitation of domesticated animals, unethical use of armaments and finances, man’s hunger to attain power and quest to intrude into the workings of nature through experimentations of Artificial Intelligence etc. portray a different, fearful scene in front of our eyes. Also, suppose the survival of the fittest is the only way to move forward. In that case, that day does not seem far when the more powerful humans start to massacre the less powerful ones to maintain the population of their beloved planet.
Presently, mankind is forgetting that with power comes great responsibility. In this paper, an attempt has been made to reflect upon the theory of evolution by adding consciousness and then by analysing the same through the glass of time cycle in Jain philosophy, which indicates that what we understand as evolution is actually devolution.