The Perpetual Soul
In our ignorance, we have marked a line of limitation for the soul through the thought of death. Eternity of the soul is the concept of continuity beyond life. Those who have implicit faith in the Jineshwaras do not require to experiment over the truthfulness of their words. In the second part of Science & Jainism, we establish the eternity of soul by testing their validity on the touchstones of modern scientific discoveries. Extracted from “Science & Religion” by “Yugpradhan Acharya Sam Pujya Panyas Chandrashekhar Vijay M.S”
What does the Jain scriptures (agamas) say about the Soul?
As discussed in our previous post, everything in the universe can be divided into two categories; sentient (Jiv) and insentient (Ajiv). While the idea of soul is present in many philosophies, the Jain scriptures are very detailed while describing six characteristics of the soul:
- I am the soul / we all are souls,
- The soul undergoes transformation through various incarnations,
- The soul is the agent responsible for actions,
- The soul is also the enjoyer of their fruit,
- The soul is capable of attaining ‘moksha’ and
- There are remedies available to soul for achieving ‘moksha’.
Eternal yet impermanent
According to the Jain philosophy, Soul or Atman is defined as eternal and distinct from the body. Whereas by nature it is permanent, it seems impermanent as it takes different mortal form of life like human, animal, celestial being etc. Hence it undergoes transformation and is considered in a worldly sense perishable in such assumed forms. Through these transformation and decay, soul retains its fundamental characteristics.
Let us understand this with an analogy: A wealthy man buys gold biscuit. He thinks of pleasing his wife by converting it into a beautiful ring. Now the gold in the form of a biscuit has ceased to exist and assumed the form of a ring. So while in relation to the individual form(biscuit or ring), gold is perishable but gold as the element is permanent.
Similarly, the soul continues to exist through all variations of the outward forms and hence called as Anitya — permanent or eternal. Its impermanence is only in relation to its outward creations or forms. Hence it is called as “Parinami”, i.e. prone to change into various forms.
This soul is also the agent or doer of deeds in life.
According to Jainism, the universe is pervaded with very fine particles of matter called as “varganas”. In the state of delusion where it is contaminated with the feelings of hate and love, the soul attracts these varganas to itself continuously. Just as the piece of magnet attracts the iron filings around it, even so the soul magnetised by these passions attracts karmas varganas. Only such souls, that become devoid of the twin passions and entirely free from the the karma attain ‘moksha’ or divinity. They get immunity from any future contamination of the soul from these dreadful karmic corpuscles.
Soul through the eyes of science
Quotes from famous scientists
After studying the Jain point of view regarding soul, let us now consider the views of the modern science through quotes of famous scientist.
Albert Einstein, as quoted in The Modern Review of Calcutta, July 1936, observes:
“I believe that intelligence is manifested throughout all nature.”
Sir A. S. Eddington, as quoted by the same magazine in the article, has said:
“Something unknown is doing, we do not know what I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. The old atheism is gone. Religion belongs to the realm of the spirit and mind and it cannot be shaken.”
Sir James Jeans in his ‘Mysterious Universe’ has observed:
“Today there is a wide measure of agreement that the stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality. The Universe begins to look more like a thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears as an accidental intruder into the realm of matter.” (Page 137)
Sir Oliver Lodge has added elsewhere:
“The soul of man passes between death and rebirth in this world as he passes through dreams in the night between day and day.”
Psychical Research
A wealthy owner, Mr. James Kidd, in the State of Arizona in the United States died in 1951. He had drafted a will before death in which he had stated “The sum of two lakhs of dollars should be awarded to the person who will scientifically prove the fact that the soul which is understood to be distinct from the body and is independent of it, actually leaves the body at the moment of death.”
Eighteen American institutions registered their names to participate in the race for this prize. The Supreme Court of the State of Arizona allotted eighteen days from the sixth of March 1967 to each competing institution to come out with evidence in favour of the independent and immortal existence of the soul.
The legal custodian and executor of this will had announced that if the competing institutes fail to produce the genuine evidence as required by the conditions of the donor, then the amount of two lakhs of dollars will be delivered to any research institute which would take up the challenge to prove the immortality and independence of the soul.
The Indian professor Dr. H. N. Banerjee, who apart from Professor Stevenson and Professor Haraldsson is probably the most well-known research scientist on the subject of reincarnation, became famous in the USA by bringing the case of Joe Wilke to the attention of the public. He has compiled about 500 cases of individuals from all over the world who claim to possess memories of their past lives.
The present age has by now been better-informed than the past few ages about the different facts of truth about the soul through various scientific angles or points of view. Several scientists have confirmed their faith in the eternity of the soul.
Evidences Through Hypnotism
James Alexander Cannon (4 August 1896–18 March 1963) was a British psychiatrist. In his work titled ‘The Power Within’, the author has vindicated the truth of reincarnation through experiments of hypnotism on his subjects. He carried out 1,383 experiments in total and succeeded in reviving the memories of the past lives.
Two amazing instances are worth mentioning here:
- A man could never use the elevator for an unexplainable fear of falling down.
So he met the hypnotist who put him under the sixth type of the deepest hypnotism. After this he introduced himself as a Chinese General and said: “I fell from a tall building, cracking my skull and causing my death”. The accident he had suffered was the subconscious cause of his fear.
2. A woman had a terrible fear of drowning in the water
Through hypnotic trance it was revealed this woman was a man and a slave in the country of Rome. (This reinforces the truth of the Jain theory that the departed male soul may reincarnate as a female and vice versa.). This slave was given the death penalty for some crime of his by drowning him under water with his feet tied with strong chains so as to make him incapable of any movement or effort to swim. Hence this female subject continued to suffer from hydrophobia.
Why is every one not able to recapture the memories of the past lives?
According to Jainism, there is a karma called as ‘Matigyana-Avarneeya’ and if the particles of this “karma” are laden on the soul in greater volume, they suppress the soul’s memory.
Alas ! how can mankind aspire for recalling the past experiences to the chamber of memory when its power of oblivion is too sharp even to remember the events and experiences in the human childhood?
How does one explain some instances of memories of previous incarnation?
The Jain thinkers have also added that this power of memory can be rejuvenated if by some happy chance of a holy cause or divine grace, the soul is liberated from the evil influence of such karmic atoms.
Children inherit the dispositions of their parents. Where is the room for principles of reincarnation?
Some men who interested in the subject of reincarnations argue that the belief that the children inherit the dispositions of their parents generally is falsified in several cases. For instances, we come across many cases where we see the children possessing such tendencies which are totally unrelated to their parents. It is possible to find a tolerant son to a father who is a known irritant or a generous to a son who is a rank miser! How can you explain such disparities in the dispositions of the father and the son? Of course, they can be explained only by recourse to the theory of rebirths.
Conclusion
What is Eternity? Eternity means the cessation of limits. Man in his ignorance has marked a line of limitation for the soul through the thought of death. Eternity of the soul is therefore, his limitless dimensions, beyond death or life.
The soul never dies! Should we not then care to look after our soul and attend to its future? Do we not know the roots of pleasure and pain in this life are hidden in the ‘karmic’ impressions of our previous births? Is it not in our self-interest to make our current and future life more beautiful by achieving nobility and piety in our conduct and disposition in this life.
And then — even in our death we will be conquerors. ‘Though reborn with fetters of karma’, we will die a death that will free us from body and fetters of ‘karma’, and give us the immortal of everlasting bliss.
