Compendium of Jainism

SR No.: 001202
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T K Tukol, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Prasaranga Karnatak University Dharwar
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 352
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 17 MB

Page 92

COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
According to Jaina thinkers, ākāśa could be pure space as well as it could allow space to every other substance. It has no form and all objects of the universe exist in it. It is eternal and pervasive. It is a subtle substance and does not obstruct other substances. Akāśa is of two kinds; Lokākāśa and Alokākāśa. According to the Jaina Metaphysics, Loka is universes : it has three divisons viz. Urdhva loka or the upper world, madhya loka or the middle world and adho loka or the lower world. The first one is the abode of celestial beings, the second one is of human beings and others, and the third one is the hell which is for the inmates of hell. Surrounding these Lokas which are situated one above the other are three layers of air, the inner one humid, the middle dense and outer rarified. Within the envelope of these layers, there is the Lokākāśa-an invisible substance which allows space to other substances and is equal in extent to the Lokas. It is in the Lokākāśa that the other substances, Jiva, Pudgala, Adharma and
Dharma,
Käla exist.
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Alokākāśa is pure space extending over to infinity beyond Lokākāśa. There are no animate or inanimate objects in it. The dynamic and static principles of dharma and adharma are not there. It is eternal, infinite, formless and perceptible only to the omniscient.
The sixth substance which comprises the universe is time (Kāla). From the popular point of view, kāla assists production of changes in substances and can be understood from the changes that have come about in the substances. Kala itself does not cause the changes but indirectly aids in the production of changes. From the popular point of view kāla or time consiss of years, months, days, hours, minutes etc., by which we call a thing to be new or old as a result of the changes noticed in them. Kāla is eternal and infinite. It is formless. Inference of existence of real time can be drawn from the changes that a substance might have undergone, as for example, the changes that might have taken place in raw rice from the time it is put