Jain Journal 1968 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 47

OCTOBER, 1968
91
the monarch of all I survey) and who in consequence never leave their abodes. On top of them are the pañca-vimāna-anuttara, all on one level, conisting of Sarvarthasiddha, Aparajita, Jayanta, Vaijayanta and Vijaya. And above all the region of isipabhāra, the place of the siddhas, above which the loka ends.
11. Jaina view of the Central Sphere (Tiriya-loga or Tiryak-loka)
The Central Sphere should be the most important not only because in the very heart of it lies the human abode, but also because a portion of it at least, our own planet, the Earth, is under scientific observation and exploitation. These apart, it is the Central Sphere which has dominated all the conventional views of cosmology, Western as well as Eastern, till the time of the opernican revolution. That it should be so is corroborated by modern science (cf. the section on choice of preferred position' below). From the spiritual point of view too, the Central Sphere should be significant, since located here is the karma-bhūmi (land of spiritual action) as distinguished from the bhoga-bhūmi (which is the land where the outcome of karma, good as well as bad, are exhausted through enjoying and suffering). It is from the karma-bhūmi that one may have an ascent straight to Siddhaśīlā provided one has stopped the influx as well as the accumulation. It is for this rea that portions of the Central Sphere at least which constitute the karmabhūmi are even coveted of the gods.
We are not interested here in the measurement of the various islands and seas in the Central Sphere. That will make the paper unusually
ly. Shorn of these, the centre of interest in the Central Sphere is the Jambu-dvipa, so called because of the dominance of Jambu (berry) trees on the island. Encircling it, like the bangles used by women, are a number of islands and seas alternately arranged, thus widening each circle. In the aggregate, the Central Sphere looks like a cymbal (Jhālar). It is interesting that some of the details have corroboration with similar things in the Vişnupurāna. The Jaina view of the Central Sphere has been shown at p. 93 (names within brackets are taken from the Vişnupurāņa).
The Jambu-dvipa is surrounded on all sides by an enclosure which has numerous window-like openings. In the four main directions openings are much bigger and be called gates. The rivers Sita and Sitoda fall into the eastern and the western gates, since they form the entrance leading to the Lavana-samudra (Salt-sea). Beyond the Lavana-samudra, we have the continent of Dhataki-khanda, where the world trees are Dhayairukkha and Maha-dhayairukkha. Beyond Dhataki-khanda and