Gyan Sagar Science Foundation International Science Symposium, January’10

1. Gyan Sagar Science FoundationInternational Science Symposium, January’10 Cosmology – Jainism & Scientism A Comparison Presented By – Er. Piyush Jain

2. What is Universe?

3. What is Universe? – Contd. Both Jains & Science agree that the lok or universe can be defined by the presence of mattereals (dravya) or matter/energy.

4. According to Jain belief, the universe (LOK) was never created, nor will it ever cease to exist. LOK has a permanent finite boundary, well defined by the presence of two of the six mattereals(Dravyas) – Dharmastikaya (Dynaons) and Adharmastikaya (Statons). According to science, the universe was created with a big bang and is likely to end in a big crunch or big chill. Owing to the momentum of bang, it is expanding into the infinite emptiness. However, according to science, universe is finite but with inflating boundary. Creation of Universe

5. Besides Dharmastikaya (Dynaons) and Adharmastikaya (Statons), other four mattereals existing in the universe are Space-time and Jiva-Pudgal. These four mattereals are dynamic by way of transportation and transformation, which is the very basis of life. Beyond this finite LOK, is the infinite ALOK, devoid of all the six mattereals. It is full of lightest elements, like hydrogen, helium and lithium. It has abundance of cold dark matter – huge clouds of particles that are detectable by their gravitational effect only. Empty space is not empty at all; it is a seething cauldron of quantum field activities. Beyond our own universe, existence of other universes is not ruled out. Constitution of Universe

6. Six constituents of universe form three pairs – Dharmastikaya (Dynaons) – Helps motion Adharmastikaya (Statons) – helps position Akash – Space (Defines extent) Samay – Time (Defines rate of change) Jiva – Sentience or Intelligence Pudgal – Energy(Sukshma) & Matter (Sthula) Constitution of the universe comprises of three Layers – first layer of reality is the observable universe of material objects. the second layer needs imagination. It is characterized by the ceaseless interplay of energy at microscopic level. the third layer emanates from the fact that something keeps energy as energy and particle as particle. Some force or more appropriately some fields keep hold of objects as they are. Examples are – gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear fields etc. Constitution of Universe – Contd.

7. As per Jain literatures, the LOK is shaped like a man standing legs apart with arms resting on waist. Its dimensions are – Madhya Loka, at the centre of the universe consists of 900 yojans above and 900 yojans below the joint surface (plane). The height and width of Upper & Lower Lokas are 7 rajjus (innumerate yojanas). The depiction is only two-dimensional, the third dimension can be imagined as if the entire structure is rotated once along its vertical axis. Boundaries, extent and shape is not known to scientists as on today. Universe is known to have a beginning around 14 billion years back. Universe is made up of billions of galaxies and each galaxy may have 400-500 billion stars. Extent of Universe

8. Activities of LOK are so spontaneous that it is not created by anybody (GOD). LOK, therefore, possesses Default Intelligence and not Designed Intelligence. Time is endless and beginingless. It is divided into cycles of Utsarpinis (Progressive Time Cycle) and Avsarpinis (Regressive Time Cycle). “God is left with nothing to do, as the disciplined Nature is governed by its own laws and principles” - Science Time began with the big bang. Even if time existed before the creation of universe, it is of no relevance in the realm of science. Laws of Universe

9. Chronology of Cosmology • In the journey of millions of years by the mankind, the first milestone reached only in 1514AD, when Copernicus proposed that it was earth which is circling around the sun and not the other way round. • In the year 1609, almost 100 years later, Galileo confirmed it. First fact was thus established - “the orbits of our solar system, were sun-centric and not geo-centric.”

10. Chronology of Cosmology-Contd. • Around the year 1687, an idea was mooted by Sir Newton about having an infinite static universe. But his own theory of gravitation contradicted it. Owing to the gravitational force, the stars in static universe will fall into one another and the universe would have collapsed. • After another 100 years, in the middle of nineteenth century the idea of eternal universe was discarded by scientific fraternity. Had the stars around us were shinning since infinite time, rays from all the stars would have reached us by now and the earth would have received so much of energy that it would have been blown up by now. By the same argument all the other cosmic bodies too would be infinitely heated up. This established the second fact – “the Universe had a beginning.”

11. Chronology of Cosmology-Contd. • Next milestone in this journey came relatively faster in the year 1929. This only confirmed the fact that the universe had beginning. Edwin Hubble observed that the cosmos is expanding as the galaxies are rocketing away from each other. This established the third fact – “the Universe is expanding.” • The immediate conclusion was that these galaxies were near to each other sometime in past. In fact, so near to each other that the universe occupied near zero space and possessed near infinite density. This established the fourth fact – “the Universe started with Big Bang.”

12. Birth of Universe-The Big Bang • What Banged? • A Ball of fire having almost infinite temperature and which was a one hundred millionth of a billionth the size of a proton, which itself is one thousand billionth the size of a grain of sand.

13. Nascent Universe • Within a fraction of a second, four fundamental forces – gravity, electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear forces were created.

14. Child Universe • By one second, the temp had fallen to ten billion degrees and universe became a giant thermonuclear reactor. • Within first few minutes, the light atomic elements – H & He – were produced.

15. Adolescent Universe • For more than a million years, universe kept on expanding silently till the temperatures fell to a few thousand degrees. • At this point the electrons and nuclei had not enough energy to overcome the electromagnetic attraction. They thus started combining to form atoms.

16. Adult Universe • About 100 million years after the birth, the first star might have started shining. • Now, around 14 billion years later, the universe comprises uncountable stars, black holes, dark matter and dark energy.

17. Death of Universe - I • If the universe does not have enough matter within it, then the gravitation generated by matter would be too weak to stop the universe from growing. This would cause the universe to expand forever and the galaxies would get dimmer and dimmer. The stars would inevitably exhaust their nuclear fuel and their light would eventually extinguish. The universe would thus end up having no light and no heat -- the state of Big Chill.

18. Death of Universe - II • On the other hand, if the universe contains sufficient matter, the gravitational attraction of the matter would be strong enough to slow down the expansion until the universe began to shrink. The temperature and matter density would get higher and higher, just like the Big Bang in reverse. The universe would eventually end in a Big Crunch. Afterwards the universe might restart itself with another Big Bang.

19. Evidence-1 of the Big-Bang • 1929 – Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is not static but undergoing dynamic expansion. He used the Hooker Telescope for his observations. • His conclusions are irrefutable as the red shift in the colour spectra of distant galaxies is established beyond doubt. • Farther the galaxy, faster is the rate of recede.

20. Evidence-2 of the Big-Bang • 1990 – Hubble’s Telescope - Installed in space, away from the disturbances of the earth’s atmospheric interferences, RFIs & EMIs. • It established the presence of black holes and provided a solid evidence that the mass-energy of tens of billions of galaxies can be packed into a small space. • Extrapolating, it means that infinite energy can exist in a highly dense near zero space.

21. Evidence-3 of the Big-Bang • 1989 – COBE Satellite – Cosmic Background Explorer • The mission was meant to detect the after-glow left by the big-bang. Every hot body emanates radiations and so did the original fire-ball. It was presumed that this after-glow can be detected though it has cooled down significantly. • Data obtained so far match with the mathematical calculations and the temperature of Background radiation has been found to be around 2.7ºK above absolute zero.

22. Evidence-4 of the Big-Bang • 1960 – Particle Accelerators have been able to generate near big-bang temperatures of trillions of degrees by accelerating electrons and other lighter particles to extremely high energies of up to 2GeV. • By 2020 it is expected that the linear accelerators up to 40km long will enable laboratory simulation of black-holes. Hadron Collider is already a step forward.

23. Cosmos of Science • To sum up – the present cosmological picture painted by scientists is as follows: • Age of the universe is around 14 billion years and it is by and large homogeneous. • It is full of lightest elements, like hydrogen, helium and lithium. • It has abundance of cold dark matter – huge clouds of particles that are detectable by their gravitational effect only. (This finding is astonishingly close to Jain philosophy of Tamas-kaya & Krishna-rajji.) • Within a fraction of a second, the universe inflated at a tremendously accelerated rate breaking the GUT (Great Unification Theory) symmetry, simultaneously releasing burst of radiation. • Soon after inflation, the regions of high density were acted upon by the cold dark matter to form the galaxies.

24. Unanswered Questions • What banged? • Why banged? • Where banged? • Where from it came? • Where is the centre of Universe? • What is the extent/boundary of Universe? • What before bang?

25. Big-Bang OR Big-Humbug • To the presenter, the entire idea of such a massive universe emanating out of an infinitesimally small ball of fire is preposterous. Based on the serious findings of some dedicated scientists, another group of scientists have prepared a commercial caricature named – Big Bang. • There are some basic flaws in this theory which every advocate of Big-Bang is trying to hide under carpet -

26. Big-Bang OR A Big-Humbug • The entire hypothesis began with the Hubble’s discovery of galaxies moving apart. This still remains the strongest argument. They immediately extrapolated that the galaxies were closely bound at one point of time! • Again, they found the radiation temperature to be around 3ºK, lo and behold, immediately some mathematicians came forward and calculated thousands of billions of temperature at the time of big-bang some 14 billion years back! • In their enthusiasm of proving a glamorous thought right, they overlooked several other explanations which can be used by the physicists for the aforesaid observations -

27. Big-Bang OR Big-Humbug What could then be the possible explanations? The presenter has a few suggestions – • The accelerated recede of galaxies could be due to the pressure gradient existing between the matter of universe and void emptiness outside. It could be understood by an analogy of a balloon which can be inflated either by pumping air inside or creating vacuum outside. • The extent of universe is so vast, even the tangential movement cannot be distinguished from the radial movement.

28. Big-Bang OR Big-Humbug The phenomenon of recede can be explained using an analogy of a cloud formation – • The basic raw material, the water vapours are always present but when their concentration increases they form a cloud and the winds immediately start moving them. • A similar process is possible for galaxy formation also. The basic raw material, call it dark matter/energy or pudgal, is always available. Due to various high-energy activities like supernova, gamma-ray bursts or black-hole formation, favourable conditions are produced for galaxy formation. Such a formation immediately start moving owing to the underlying gravitational field.

29. Big-Bang OR Big-Humbug Similarly, there are other possible explanations for COBE observations – • As there are trillions of stars all around us, it is but natural that radiations received by us are homogeneous. • Also, a near 3ºK temperature of background radiation simply means that the entire material activities of the universe are not able to produce enough heat as compared to the vast volume involved. There is no need to go back in time and presume that a hot fire ball has gone cold.

30. Logical Trends in Jainism • We have, so far, travelled a journey back in time riding on the scientific vehicle. Presenter, personally, has an intuition that this journey in scientific realm will soon change its course and incline towards the spiritual and philosophical ponderings of Jainism. • We shall now embark upon the journey on the road paved by Lord Mahavira and try to unravel the realities of micro and macrocosm.

31. Jain – Cosmic Geography • The sidhha kshetra or moksha is situated at the symbolic forehead of the creation, where all the jivas having attained nirvana reside in a state of complete peace and eternal happiness. • The Dev- Lokas (Heavens) are situated at the symbolic chest part of the Creation, where all the Devas (demi gods) reside. • The narrow waist part acts as place of 'vicharan' (roaming) for humans, animals and plants. We are in the Bharat Kshetra of 'Jambu Dwip'. • Beneath the waist part are the seven Narka Lokas (Hells), each for a varying degree of suffering a jiva has to undergo to face the consequences of its pap-karma (sins). • Outside the symbolic figure of this creation nothing but void alok exists.

32. Jain - Time Cycle

33. Jain – Kaal Chakra - Continuum • Suṣama-suṣamā (Blissful) • Suṣamā(Pleasurable) • Suṣama-duḥṣamā(Poignant) • Duḥṣama-suṣamā (Agonizing) • Duḥṣama (Miserable) • Duḥṣama- duḥṣam (Distressing)

34. Jain – Time scale • Smallest unit of time is ‘one samay’ • Infinite samay constitute one ‘avalika’. • One lakh avalika constitute ‘one second’. • Time units builds to ghadi, paksha, rutus, yuga, century, purvaanga, purva, palyopama and sagaropama. • Entire time-cycle is supposed to be constituted of 20,000 trillion ‘Sagaropama’.

35. Time-Cycle (Suggestion) • The Jain canons state that the events repeat themselves. Therefore, scientifically, the time cycle should be depicted in the form of a pendulum trajectory in which the area covered retraces the space-time. • In circular depiction, space-time is different in Utsarpini and Avsarpani cycles. • This suggestion of the author needs careful investigations so that the anomalies, if any, in the interpretation can be removed.

36. Unanswered Questions • Why everything in finite LOK is infinite? • What makes Lok stand upright? • Why there is no mention of stars being balls of intense fire? • Why there is no mention of galaxies? • Why the earth (Jambu Dwip) is said to be like a saucer and not a sphere?

37. Grand Unification • The purpose of this exercise is to establish a link between Jainism & science by studying the concept of cosmos and laws of nature. • In view of the author, who has undergone the rigours of Jainism and Science during the English translation of a book published under the title of “Jain Studies & Science” Lord Mahavira was the greatest scientist whose laboratory was HIS mind and soul. • Though various tenets of Jainism are proved to be scientific, this particular context of cosmology provides the author a great opportunity of Grand Unification between science and Jainism. Their respective concurrent conclusions, in the author’s view are –

38. Meeting Grounds • Both state the finite extent of universe. Any infinite extent will reduce the density to zero. • Jainism and quantum physics agree that within the universe there is no empty space. While science says that the fields are all pervading, Jainism says that the dynons & statons are omnipresent in the universe. Both agree that a seamless fabric is woven to support the entire gamut of activities. • Science says that the energy and mass are mutually convertible. Jainism postulates that the energy is ShukshmaPudgal while mass is SthulaPudgal, thereby implying that the both have same constituents differing only in magnitudes. • Last but not the least – both agree that: “GOD has not created the Nature but Nature is constantly working to create a GOD”

39. Conclusion • Jainism says that the soul is eternal and it can attain its pristine form of being a GOD through the process of refinement. • Science says that the longevity of physical body can be enhanced. Medical science today is constantly endeavouring to make the life healthy, happy and hopefully eternal. An astounding possibility thus arises – “to have an eternal soul residing in a body which lives healthy ever after, till it is liberated through right karmas.”