- The transformation from one species or kind into another is by the over-
flow of natural tendencies or potentialities.
The word Jati is generally used in Samskrta for class, species etc., but in tbe
context in which it is used here it is obvious that it has to be interpreted in a much
wider sense. It is only then that the profound significance of the Sutra reveals itself
and can be understood in terms of modern scientific thought.
It is difficult to grasp the underlying idea of this Sutra from its mere translation
and it will, therefore, be necessary to explain its real significance in some detail. Jaty-
Antara-Parinama means a transformation involving a fundamental change of nature or
substance such as genus or chemical composition and not merely a change of state or
form. Thus when water is changed into ice it is merely a change of state and does not
involve an essential change of substance. When a bangle made of gold is changed into
a necklace, again, there is no fundamental change but merely a change of form. But
when hydrogen is changed into helium, or uranium is changed into lead, it is a funda-
mental change of substance and comes under Jaty-Antara-Parinama. Now, the Sutra
lays down that all such changes involving fundamental differences can take place only
when there is present in the substance the potentiality for the change under the speci-
fied conditions. Prakrty-apurat is a beautiful and pregnant phrase for expressing a
very comprehensive scientific law. Literally, it means ‘by the flow of Prakrti’; but let
us try to understand in terms of modern Science what the real significance of this
phrase is. It will be best to take a few facts from our common experience to illustrate
the working of this law. If we take a dry mass of wood and apply a burning match to it,
the wood immediately takes fire and a whole timber yard may be reduced to ashes in a
short time. But if we apply a burning match to a heap of bricks and mortar nothing
happens. Why? Because, wood has in it the potentiality of combining with the oxygen
of the air with the liberation of a great amount of heat and a number of volatile prod-
ucts and as the reaction is self-propagating involving a sort of ‘chain reaction’ a mere