Agam 05 Ang 05 Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra Part 02 Bhagvai Terapanth

SR No.: 006599
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Tulsi Acharya, Mahapragna Acharya, Mahendramuni, Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 2009
Total Pages: 740
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & agam_bhagwati
File Size: 20 MB

Page 469

Bhagavai 6:7:133-134
- 445:
snigdha-ruksa (viscous-cum-dry). It is said in the Nisītha-Cūrni that longer lifespan in the region of Devakuru and Uttarakuru and in the period of susama-dusamă aeon (i.e., aeon of supreme plenty) is due to the spatial and temporal (environmental) viscosity respectively.52 According to the Jambuddīvapannatti, when the time is dry, the lunar cold and the solar heat increase.33 Prior to the age of Lord Rsabha, there was viscous time, so fire could not be produced. According to Acārya Hemacandra, fire was originated (for the first time) on the advent of viscous-cumdry time.34
The cycle of transformation (that is, evolution and involution) in the continents of Bharata and Airāvata is due to the transformation in the degree of viscosity and dryness of time. This cycle has been divided into 12 aeons of the descending and ascending time-cycles. The aeon is called ara (lit. spoke). As there are spokes (ara) in the wheel, there are aeon-spokes in the metaphorical cycle (wheel) of time. During the descending time-cycle, there is a gradual dwindling of the six aeon-spokes; whereas in the ascending cycle, there is a gradual prospering.
The evolutionists like Darwin have propounded the doctrine of evolution of species; the authors of the Agamas did not believe in evolution alone, they propounded both cycles--that of evolution and that of involution. (Darwin's theory of evolution is only in respect of the biological evolution of the species; whereas the theory of time-cycle of avasarpini and utsurpini, as propounded in the Jain Āgamas, speak of gradual enrichment and gradual deterioration with respect to all the phenomena of nature as described above). The following tabie gives the classification of the six acons in the avasarpini and utsarpini each of one timecycle:
Descending Cycle - From Evolution to Devolution
Aeon-spoke
EvolutionDevolution
Measurement of Period
Supreme plenty
Plenty Plenty-with-privation
4 kori? Ocean-measured Time 3 koti ? Ocean-measured Time 2 koti? Ocean-measured Time
Aeon of exclusive evolution Evolution When evolution is major and devolution is minor Aeon when evolution is minor and devolution is major Aeon of devolution Aeon of exclusive devotion
Privation-with-plenty
1 koti 2 Ocean-measured Time minus 42000 years
Privation
21000 years 21000 years
Extreme privation
1. Bha. Vp. 6.134-yadyapi ca naiscayikaparamāņorapidameva laksanam tathā'piha
pramānādhikärädvyavahārikaparamänulaksanamidamavaseyam. 2. Anu, sű. 418-432. In the original text of Bha., we get the reading erunnavayanum, but in Thanam
and Anu., we get herannavayānam. 3. In the original text of Bha., we do not get the reading aparavideha, which, it seems, is erroneously
omitted