$JES 904 Compendium of Jainism (Jain Academic Bowl Manual 3rd Edition)

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 49

PHILOSOPHY
B05 - Six Universal Substances II: Non-Living Substances
Sukham Dukham Käl Happy Unhappy (happiness with some 2 x 1014 Sägaropams
unhappiness) Dukham Sukham Käl Unhappy Happy (unhappiness with some 1 x 1014 Sägaropams - happiness)
42000 years Dukham Käl Unhappy (unhappiness)
21000 years Dukham Dukham Käl Unhappy Unhappy (unhappiness all the 21000 years
time) 1. Sukham Sukham Käl: This is a time of all happiness. All the needs and desires of the people are fulfilled by ten different kinds of Kalpa-vriksha (wish granting trees). These trees provide places to live, clothes, pots and pans, good food, fruits, sweets, harmonious music, jewelry, beautiful flowers, radiant lamps, and a bright light at night. There is no killing, crime, or vices. During this phase people are very tall and live for a very long period of time. There is no need of religion and no Tirthankars exist during this time period. 2. Sukham Käl: This is also a time of most happiness, but it is less than in the first phase. The wish granting trees still continue to provide for the people's needs. People are not as tall and do not live as long. There is no need of religion and no Tirthankars exist during this time period. 3. Sukham Dukham Käl: This is a phase consisting of more happiness than misery. During this period, the Kalpa-vrikshas do not consistently provide what is desired. The first Tirthankar of that half time cycle is born towards the end of this Ärä. In the current time cycle first Tirthankar Bhagawan Rishabhdev was born. He realized that things were going to get worse. So, he taught the people useful arts of daily living including, pottery, farming, and cooking to enable them to depend upon themselves. He introduced a political system and became the first king. This Arä came to an end three years and eight months after the nirvana of Rishabhdev. The first Chakravarti (king of kings) Bharat, his brother Bähubali, well known for his strength, Brähmi, his sister, who devised eighteen different alphabets and, Sundari, also his sister, who devised math, were Rishabhdev's children. 4. Dukham Sukham Käl: This is a phase of more misery, sorrow, and suffering than happiness. The other twenty-three Tirthankars and eleven Chakravartis are born during this Arä, which came to an end three years and eight months after the Nirvana of last Tirthankar Bhagawan Mahävir-swami. 5. Dukham Käl: This is the currently prevailing Ärä. It is an Ärä of unhappiness, which began a little over 2, 500 years ago and will last for a total of 21,000 years. No one born during this period will gain liberation in his or her present life, because no one will be capable to follow the true religion to the fullest extent. It is said, that by the end of this Ärä, the Jain religion will be extinct only temporarily, to be revived in the next half cycle by future Tirthankars. 6. Dukham Dukham Käl: This is a time of great misery and unhappiness. During this time, people will experience nothing but suffering. There will be no trace of religious activity. The life span of people will be very short, exceeding no more than twenty years. Most people will be non-vegetarian and the social structure will be destroyed. The weather will become extreme, the days will be very hot, and the nights will be very cold. At the end of this Ärä, a period of Utsarpini will start and the time wheel will take an upward swing. Miseries will gradually diminish and happiness will gradually increase until every phase is once again reached. First 23 Tirthankars will be born during the 3rd Ärä and 24th Tirthankar will be born in the early phase of the 4th Ärä of the next half cycle. The time cycle will keep on rolling until eternity.
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
Page 49 of 398