Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

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PROF. G. R. JAIN
lotus plant emerges from the naval of Lord Viṣņu (Parmātaman). Out of this lotus is born Lord Brahmā. He then performs hard penance; He has four faces; the four Vedas issue therefrom. The creation of the universe again starts. The process of dissolution and creation goes on cyclically for eternity.
There is one more special feature of a Mahayuga which we have not mentioned so far. As already mentioned, each Mahayuga consists of four epochs, respectively called Satyuga Tretā, Dvāpara and Kaliyuga. When we proceed from Satyuga, to Kaliyuga, there is a gradual running down of the universe both physically and spiritually, but the cycle is not performed in the reverse order.
In the Jain Terminology this running down of the universe is called Ava-Sarpim Kala. During the downward flow, the heights of human beings and other creatures, the span of life and the physical strength dwindle down slowly. For instance, at the beginning of Satyuga the maximum of span of life is 10,000 years and the height about 10 ft. In the beginning of Kaliyuga the height is reduced to 6 ft. and the span of life to 120 years. At the end of Kaliyuga, the man will be reduced to thumb size and his span of life will be only a few days.
The concept of Mahapralaya in Jaina Siddhanta is a different story. In what is called as Bharata Kṣetra by the ancient writers, the cycle of Time is first divided into two parts-called Avasarpini and Utsarpini. Then each of them is further divided into six epochs. During the Utsarpini Kala there is a gradual progress and during the Avasarpini Kala there is a gradual decline. Utsarpini comes again and so on alternately. We now begin with the declining cycle. During the first epoch which is of 4 X 1014 Sagaras1 of years, the human span of life is of 3 Palya2 and the height of the human body is 36,000 ft. Hunger is excited after an interval
1.
2.
"Sägara" means 'Sea of years' and is a gigantic unit of time and is equal to 1015 Palya.
'Palya' is another large unit of time.
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