Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001180
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 328
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 15 MB

Page 86

REALITY
person who is coming from a far distance in the hot sun and wants to have some rest under it, so is the nature of adharmāstikaya to help the souls and matter when they take rest. Both these substances have the capability of rest but unless there is the medium of rest, they cannot take rest. Hence, it is called the auxiliary cause of rest. Dharma and adharma pervade all the parts of the universe as oil pervades the whole of a mustard seed. The concept of dharma and adharma as the categories of substance is a unique contribution of Jaina philosophy. Ākāśāstikāya :
Know that which is capable of allowing space to the jīvas, pudgala, dharma, adharma and kāla to be åkāśa, according to Jainism. Ākāśa is eternal, all-pervasive, all the objects of the universe exist in it and it has no form.' It is a single substance having infinite pradeśas. Ākāśāstikāya is of two divisions : lokākāśa and alokākāśa. Loka is that place in which dharma, adharma, kāla, pudgala and jīvas exist. That which is beyond this lokäkāśa is called alokākāśa.2 Jainism believes in two varieties of space. One is called lokākāśa or that space in which all other substances exist. This variety of space is called 'universe' in our ordinary language. Jainism does not believe in this universe-space only but admits space beyond the universe as well. It holds that the universe-space is only lokākāśa. There is alokākāśa as well which is pure space. In this space, no substance of the universe exists, hence, it is called alokākāśa. This division is not in äkāśa itself but it is due to its relation with the other five substances. When it is relatively divided into lokākāśa and alokākāśa, lokākāśa has innumerable pradeśas, while alokākāśa has infinite pradeśas.
1. Vardhamāna-purāņa, XVI. 31. 2. Dravya-sangraha, 19.