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COSMOLOGY : OLD AND NEW
THE SUMMARY
ACCORDING to Jaina Cosmology the universe comprises of six dravpas, Substances or Realities. A dravya, substance or reality has been defined as any substantiality or existence which has the important characteristic of persistence through change, i.e., it undergoes a transformation and re-appears in a new form while the original substantiality still abides. Also a Reality is the basis in which attributes rest and modifications take place.
The six realities are (1) The Soul, (2) Matter (ujiva), (3) Space, (akäsu) (4) Time, (kala) (5) a Non-meterial medium for the motion of souls and the propagation of matter and energy (dharma) and (6) the Field through which the gravitational and electro-magnetic forces operate for maintaining the unity of the microscopics as well as of the macroscopic worlds (adharma).
The number of substances is fixed as six: it can never be seven or five. These substances are eternal and unchanging in their characteristics. Leaving aside the substance matter all others are non-material and formless and hence devoid of all properties associated with matter.
For explaining cosmical and physical phenomena the three fundamental units of space, matter and time have been chosen corresponding to the units of length, mass and time i.e., the C.G.S. or the F.P.S. systems of modern science. The unit of space is called the pradeśu (space-point) and is defined as the space occupied by one indivisible particle of matter and capable of being occupied by even an infinite number of such particles under abnormal condensations. The unit of matter is the paramanu (the smallest indivisible particle of matter, the electron, negative or positive) and the unit of Time is the samava (790), which is defined as the time required by a paramanu to traverse one space-point.
