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A NOTE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME
CONCEPTS IN JAINA ONTOLOGY
Mohanlal Mehta
Loka is a very important concept in Jaina Ontology. In the Acārānga, which is the oldest Jaina text, the word loka is used in two different senses : (1) the living beings and (2) the universe in which the living beings etc. exist. The Sūtrakrtānga uses the word loka in the latter sense. According to it loka is eternal but not infinite?. Beyond this universe there is aloka or that part of space where there are no living beings etc. The Acāranga refers to both, aloka and loka.3 The basic Jaina position is that loka has got a particular shape (as it is concrete) and is surrounded by aloka. The Bhagavati ( Vyakhyaprajñapti) gives some analogies to clarify this concept. It mentions that loka lies in the midst of aloka just as an island lies in the midst of an ocean, a ship lies in the midst of waters, a hole lies in the midst of a piece of cloth, a shadow lies in the midst of sunshine. Both loka and aloka are eternal. There is a dialogue in the Bhagavati which establishes the fact that unlike aloka, loka consists of souls and matter. The dialogue mentions that even a god standing at the end of loka cannot move about his hand inside aloka. This is because
Earlier version of this article was presented in “Seminar on Jaina Philosophy and Modern Scientific Thought" (Poona University, 1979).
