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12
KĀLA (TIME : THE FOURTH DIMENSION)
Time (Kāla) -
Jaina concept of time runs along two distinct streams. According to the first, the time is characterised by its passage. This is a continuous and incessant process that never stops for anybody or anything. The time has been in a state of continuous flux from ever in the past, it is in a state of flux at present and will be in a state of flux forever in the future. It is this characteristic of time that has earned it the epithet, “Time and tide wait for none”. According to the second concept the time is the medium of change for everything and every-being that ever was, that is or that will ever be there. Things change with the passage of time, for in this ever-changing universe there is nothing that is constant and invariable.
Time is the fourth dimension that controls everything in the universe by not letting it to remain unaffected by its passage. It has never happened in the past, it is not happening at present nor is it ever likely to happen in future that the time has passed and the things have remained the same.
In this chapter we shall deal with the passage part of time. With respect to its passage, the time is divided into three distinct parts, the measurable time, the immeasurable time and the infinite