Introduction to Jainism

SR No.: 006919
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 256
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 5 MB

Page 125

COSMOS
123
hellish beings, which by definition possessed an independent mental power during their last existence in madhyaloka, “our” world, but misused it, live in enormous cavities within these layers, all of which are located around one central hole for each layer. Altogether the number of these cavities is 8,400,000.
Despite these truly astronomical distances, which even for a celestial god would take at least 3/2 years to cross, the soul takes less than the blink of an eye (4 samayas) to cover them, and when arrived at the spot immediately embodies itself. That is because the soul travels the path of the swastika (svāstika). The four bent arms of the swastika symbolize the four gatis or realms where the soul can abide: the human world, or the hellish, heavenly or subhuman (i.e. animal, plant, mineral, etc.) worlds. The core and essence of every being is the center point of the swastika. The soul moves exclusively in a straight line along one of the limbs of the swastika - and a little visualization shows you that it passes three corners at the most, so that it never takes more than four samayas or the blink of an eye for a soul to reach its destination. In crossing from one dimension to another the distances in billions of miles play no role whatsoever. Apparently the fluidic body of a celestial god, which is composed of fluidic matter, even though this matter is more subtle than “our” physical matter, is subject to totally different laws than the substantial, but matterless, soul. This in an interesting idea for elementary particle physicists, field physicists and astronomers (of the coming centuries) who wish to understand the spiritual side of the cosmos in relation to the already known laws of perceptible matter. The soul is not limited by the laws of matter, but by those of the dimensions. However, it is the soul which determines the forms and behavior of matter.