Jain Digest 2006 07 Vol 24 No 3

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 32

TIME OF LIBERATION
Time of Liberation
In Jain literature, it is stated that a soul can attain liberation only during the 3rd and 4th ara of any half time cycle. In other four aras, a soul can prepare but cannot attain liberation. It is implicitly assumed here that the concept of a single time be applied to all souls in a linear, universal and absolute fashion. Jains also assert that there is no Supreme God. A soul attains the liberation purely by its self-efforts by working out its karma and there is no external agency that can prevent it. This raises a serious question: if a soul has exhausted/worked out all it karmas, let's say in the 5th ara in the Bharat-kshetra, then why is it not allowed to attain Moksha and, more importantly, who prevents it? This seems to put at odds the concepts of selfeffort (purushartha) and a single absolute time. Both of them cannot be true simultaneously. One way to resolve this apparent contradiction is by understanding time from a slightly different point of view.
Time denotes change or movement either on a physical or mental level. If the world were to freeze at this very moment in its every aspect, time would lose its meaning. For a liberated soul (siddha), there is no time because there is no change in its state. While we are experiencing the passage of time in terms of flow of thoughts or motion of objects, the siddhas do not experience the passage of time since they are in a state that experiences no change, i.e., a siddha soul is a perfect soul. Therefore, the time that we experience is different then the time a liberated soul experiences even at this very moment. That means there is more than one kind of time.
At the beginning of 20th century, in the western culture, time was considered a single, absolute and linear quantity. However, we have already come to accept that the flow of time is not absolute but relative, as described by Einstein's theory of relativity. This, of course, relates to the external time that applies to everyone uniformly and can be measured by external means such as motion of stars and planets. The external time can be made to change differently for different persons if they can travel with different speeds that are close to the speed of light. However, at this point, we do not have the technology to do that. On the other hand, in Indian thoughts, time has always been considered as relative and nonlinear (e.g., see Yoga Vasistha). A very good example to explain this aspect of time is the dream state. In a dream lasting a few minutes, a person can have a lifetime of experiences. How much time has really passed
Mukesh Chhajer, Raleigh, NC
for him? From the point of view of physical aging, he is only a few minutes older but from the point of view of change in his understanding, he has gained the experience of a lifetime. Furthermore, if we have a particularly painful or joyous experience, we tend to relive it over-and-over. The number of repetitions and their intensities depends upon the intensity of the original experience. Even though the incident that caused the experience physically occurred only once, mentally we revisit it many times before it completely vanishes from our consciousness; we are reliving the same time again-and again. If the time can be equated to a straight thread in the western thought then in the Indian thought it is like a thread with curves and loops. For each jiva we can define two different time: at the physical level an external/ universal time and at the mental level an internal/personal time. The internal time relates to the state of mind of the jiva and we may say that fluctuation in the state of mind of a jiva is its internal time. The more a mind is agitated and restless, the slower the jiva is evolving towards liberation. So, if the mind can be made to evolve at a rate that is different than the passage of external time, then one can evolve at a rate slower or faster than the external time. In this context, the external time can be defined as the collective fluctuations in the minds of all jivas in the universe. As long as there is even one jiva experiencing these fluctuations, the external time will
exist.
In general, the 3rd and 4th aras may correspond to an external time when a critical mass of people, conditions and/ or ideas come together to make liberation more probable.
Even on the material level, this is true. Industrial revolution of 19th century in Europe and the recent electronics revolution are just two examples of such events. However, the following example may be more illustrative of our dilemma. Traditionally, mangos have been available only during the months of May-June. If a thousand years ago someone in India said that mango trees give fruits only during the months of May-June, then before coming to any broader conclusions we have to keep in mind that it was said within certain context. First, we need to remember that it was said in the context of India where May and June are the months of summer that is harvesting season for mangoes. If we go to Australia, that is the time of winter there and we will not get a harvest of mangoes there. Second, it must have proper soil. Mango trees do not grow in every type of soil. If the either even if it is summer months of May-June. Third, it soil contains a lot of sand then mango cannot grow there
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