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-II, 50]
Pravacanasāra
399
44. The sky or space pervades Loka and Aloka; Loka is occupied by the principles of motion and rest, by time which rests with the other two (viz., soul and matter) and by soul and matter.
45. Just as there are points of space, so are there of the remaining (substances); a primary atom is without space-points, because (being an unit) it gives rise to the (measure of) space-point.
46. The moment of time is without space-points; it is equal to the time required by that unit of substance measured by one pradesa to traverse one space-point of the sky-substance.
47. That much duration required for crossing from one to the other spatial point is known as) samaya, instant or moment; the objective entity before and after is time; samaya is liable to origination and destruction.3
48. That much portion of the space occupied by one atom is called the space-point and it is capable of giving room to the atoms of all (substances).
49. All substances (excepting time) have one, two, many, innumerable or even infinite space-points, while time has only one space-point viz., samaya, instant or moment.
50. That samaya or instant, which has origination and destruction at one and the same moment, is (still) a samaya established in its nature.
1. TS. V, 11.
2. It is an interesting feature of Jaina physics that it has accepted Time and Space as realities, as much facts as matter; and even their ultimate units are recognised with their mutual relation settled. A primary atom, an ultimate indivisible unit of matter, is an unit of matter; the space occupied by an atom is pradeda or space-point, which is the unit of space, and finally, the time required for an atom to traverse one space-point is samaya, instant or moment, which is an unit of time. The co-ordination of these three fundamental and ultimate facts of physical universe shows the insight with which the Indian mind pursued the analysis of any subject.
3. Compare P. 24 etc. Time, according to Jainism, is a substance, a reality forming a condition of the introduction of changes in other things. The ultimate unit of time is samaya. The Sāmkhya school, though it does not admit the reality of time, is quite in agreement with the Jaina definition of samaya. Time is both absolute and relative. Absolute time is a non-corporeal substance conditioning the introduction of change in various things; while moments, hours etc. are the modes of relative time only. Like other substances it is characterised by existence, but it differs from others in the fact that it is made up of simple elements called käläņu. Because of this manner of constitution, time is not looked upon as an astikāya.
Time as a driving force is almost deified in Atharvaveda. Nyāya-Vaisesikas infer the existence of time from such notions as past, present and future. Buddhism does not accept the reality of time, as its theory of momentariness cannot harbour the possibility of any continuity. According to Buddhist authors, time is treated merely as a subjective element.
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