Message of Acharya Mahapragya for The XXII World Congress of Philosophy, Seoul 2008

Acharya Mahaprajna

24.05.2008

JVB University

JAIN VISHVA BHARATI UNIVERSITY

World Congress of Philosophy “Rethinking Philosophy Today”, Seoul, South Korea, July 30 to August 5, 2008

Substance has infinite modes. The figure of known modes is limited. Therefore, the field of philosophy is infinite. Truth is not confined to what is already known. Truth is not all that we know today. Known truth is simply a small island in the vast ocean of unknown ones. Therefore, the voyage of philosophy should continue non-stop.

At present, the ideas and experiences of some philosophers are discussed. If we get confined simply to this there cannot be further progress and also the investigation of new modes will take a hault. Situations change with the passage of time. Changes even take place at mental and psychical level. By exhibiting those changes in a philosophical pattern we can not only widen the boundary of knowledge but can also develop its creative power.

Philosophy is not confined only to metaphysics. By analyzing it's (meta-physics) relation with conscious and unconscious world, we can bring about a revolution in the field of its utility and non-utility.

Genetic scientists are presenting new dimensions in respect of souls. Some are tall, while others short; the cause of it is also gene. Genes are being investigated in relation to all the modes of life. Jainism has a vast concept of theory of Karma (psycho-physical force). If this doctrine could be presented in context with different modes of life then, many hidden secretes can get an opportunity to come in limelight.

One of the aspects of philosophy is to search out universal laws and to propound them.

Other dimension of philosophy is to search out life's secrets, to analyze various forms of consciousness and for its purity present the moral ethos. Psychologists, parapsychologists and modern scientists are challenging philosophy in many respects. Research and experiments are carried out in the field of science. But there is a stagnancy in the field of philosophy. Whatever has been expounded by ancestors has become a remarkable bridge. Various levels of consciousness that can be described by philosophers are not accessible to scientists. Science is still walking in the restrictive field of physical world. It has hardly touched the field of consciousness or has done very little.

The area of epistemology in Jainism is too vast. Perhaps, such a width is seldom found in any other Indian and Western philosophy. But it has not been presented systematically by Jain philosophers.

The principle of lesya (psychic colours) approved by Jainism is in accordance with halo and aura theory. Through it many secrets of human life can be known and even many problems of life can be solved.
The wider field of research and investigation is of bhava (the subtle spiritual vibrations). Body, senses, breath and mind are governed by the subtle vibrations of bhava. Intellect, too is, influenced by it. It can be studied philosophically and ethically with details. Philosophers had not encompassed the area of subtle vibrations as much as that of gross one. A new paradigm can be brought in philosophy by undertaking work on these subtle vibrations. Thus, in some respect, it can even give a challenge to the scientific world.
I wish philosophers should not adhere simply to the explanations explored by the ancestors but search out some new theories by which far from being stagnant it can remain a progressive one.

•  WCP 2008 - World Congress of Philosophy 'Rethinking Philosophy Today'

Source:  Dr Samani Chaitany Pragya

JVB University