Dravyasamgraha

Author(s): Nemichandra Acharya, Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp

Page 95

Dravyasamgraha
past, the present and the future is of prime importance, and the idea of time is subordinate. For conventional time depends on the substances endowed with activity and on real time.
Jain, S.A., Reality, p. 148-150.
Real Time (niscaya kāla) Kāla or time, though not an element of the physical universe, may be mentioned here. Since change and motion are admitted to be real, time also must be considered real. The real or absolute time as contrasted with the relative time is constituted by simple elements known as kālāņus or instants. Instants, points and atoms are the characteristic conceptions of Jaina thought and in this respect it has a wonderful corroboration from the field of modern mathematics.
The Jaina thinkers in distinguishing time from the five astikāyas made use of an important idea. Astikāya is spatiality or extensive magnitude. The extensive magnitude is denoted by a technical name, tiryak pracaya or horizontal extension...
...But time of kāla has only urdhva pracaya. The elements are in a forward direction. The series is mono-demensional or linear order. Therefore kāla has no extension either directly or indirectly. Hence it is not an astikāya. Though it is not an astikāya it is distinctly a real entity which accounts for changes in other things.
Chakravarti, A. (Prof.), Acārya Kundakunda's Samayasāra, Introduction, p. xxxviii-xxxix.
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