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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsun Gyanmandir
Universe, Soul and Liberation
Skandaka: "O noble one! Do the universe, the soul and moksha have an
end ? Or, are they endless ?"
Mahavira : "O Skandaka ! The universe has four aspects - substantive,
spatial, temporal and modal. From the substantive standpoint the universe is one and has an end. From the spatial standpoint its length and breadth are of innumerable-crore times. innumerable-crore yojanas (1 yojana = 4 miles), its circumference or boundary is also innumerable-crore-timesinnumerable-crore yojanas, and so it has an end. From the temporal standpoint there was not a day when it did not exist, there is not a day when it does not exist and there will not be a day when it will not exist. It exists always in all the three divisions of time. It is permanent, eternal and indestructible. So it has no end. From the modal standpoint it has endless modes of colour, smell, flavour and touch; it has endless modes of structure; it has endless modes of the quality 'light-heavy'; and it has endless modes of quality 'neither-light-nor-heavy'. So from the modal standpoint the universe has no end."
Skandaka : "O nobel one ! This means that from the substantive and
spatial standpoints the universe has an end but from the temporal and modal standpoints it has no end. Thus, the universe is both with an end and with no end or endless."
Mahavira : "O Skandaka ! If one ponders over the soul from the
substantive, spatial, temporal and modal standpoints, one will naturally arrive at the following conclusion. From the substantive standpoint it is one and has an end. From the spatial standpoint it has innumerable space-points and hence it has an end. From the temporal standpoint it existed in the past, it exists in the present and it will exist in future; so it is permanent it will have no end at any time. From the modal standpoint it has endless modes of cognition, it has endless modes of the quality 'light-heavy'. So from the modal standpoint the soul has no end. Thus, O Skandaka, from the
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