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Jainism: The Eternal and Universal path for Enlightenment
Jainism is considered as "The eternal religion". What is eternal in this universe, in which everything is subject to change, one may ask. According to the modern scientific view even universe is not eternal. It was born in a Big Bang about 14 billion years ago and it will meet its end in not too distant future. In such a transient universe, only the laws of physics are eternal, physicist believe. They were operative before the universe was born and they will control the fate of the universe, even after it dissolves. In fact the birth of the Universe was a consequence of the laws of physics. Like wise Karmav1d, the law governing jiva is eternal and therefore it is believed that Jainism is eternal.
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Any Dharma, which claims to be eternal, must therefore be consistent with the laws of physics. What these laws are and how they match with the basic tenets of Jainism, will be discussed in the following chapters but now we turn to the central point of Jainism, the Cardinal Truths in Chapter 2.
