JAIN
COSMOLOGY
By
Dr. Amrut Vora
From
a Jain perspective, the Universe is conceived to have two
parts: One is occupied by entities (all 6 dravyas) & is
called Lokakash. It is of finite dimensions. The unoccupied
part is called Alokakash. It has only space and has no other
dravyas. It is infinite & surrounds the Lokakasha from
all sides.
The
occupied universe, Lokakash, is shaped as a human being with
3 parts: upper, middle and lower. A channel referred to as
“Trashnali” extends in a narrow band throughout the
extent of Lokakash. Mobile beings live only in within the
Trashnali while immobile beings may live both inside and
outside it. The Trashnali has the height of fourteen “Rajju”
and the width of one ‘Rajju”. One “Rajju” is defined
as the distance covered by flying nonstop for 6 months at a
speed of 2,057,152 yojanas per second. One yojan is
approximately equal to 6 miles. For astronomy calculations,
Jains use Pramana Yojan (1000 yojanas). One Rajju is equal
to 1160,000,000,000,000 miles.
The
overall dimensions of the universe are immense. As per the
Jain view there are many suns, moons, nakshatras and earths
and there is life everywhere in Trasanali. Modern astronomy
too, has identified many stars (Suns) with planetary system,
some of which may have life. Panspermia, literally meaning
“seeds everywhere”, is a modern theory which maintains
that life-bearing protospores are prevalent throughout the
universe.
The
Siddhas or the liberated souls live at the top of the
universe, in the area called the Siddhashila. The upper
world is occupied by Celestial Beings. Humans, animals,
plants, astral bodies and some heavenly beings occupy the
middle world while the hellish beings reside in lower world.
Three
layers viz. Dense Water, Dense Air and Thin Air,
respectively, surround the whole occupied universe. Beyond
this lies empty space. Lokakasha is widest at the base,
being 7 Rajjus and then tapers to a constricted centre with
width of 1 Rajju. From the centre upwards, it increases in
width to a maximum of 5 Rajjus and then tapers again at apex
which is one Rajju wide.
The
Middle world is the only region where soul can attain
liberation. Jambu continent, where we inhabit, occupies the
centre of the middle world, being surrounded by various
continents and oceans. The two and half continents viz.
Jambu Dweep, Dhatki Khand, half of Pushkara dweep, Lavanya
Samudra and Kalodadhi Samudra, are called, Manushyaloka
where mortals reside and where liberation of the soul is
possible. These are areas called Karmabhommis because the
laws of Karma apply. The Karmabhoomi’s are: Bharat,
Airawat & Mahavideha Kshetra. Human beings living in
Mahavideha Kshetra can easily attain liberation. Twenty
tirthankaras live and preach in Mahavideha Kshetra at any
given time.
Jambu
dweep is the region where humans reside. In its centre is
Mount Meru, 100,000 yojana high, 100,00 yojana wide at the
base and reducing to 1000 yojanas at the peak. There are
many suns, moons, nakshatras, grahas and taras which rotate
around Meru Mountain. The
universe is composed of 6 dravyas or substances viz, Jiva,
Pudgala, Dharmastikaya, Adhrmastikaya, Akash, and Kala. A
dravya, a substance or reality is one which has
characteristics of persistence through change, i.e., it
undergoes a transformation and appears in new form while the
origin substantiality still persists. Pudgala is a matter
having physical properties like form, smell, taste, color
and touch. All other dravyas are nonmaterial and formless.
SOUL
(CONSCIOUNESS):
Soul possesses the faculty of knowing. A Soul can occupy
smallest possible space as well as the entire universe under
special circumstances. Actions of an embodied living beings
are followed by influx of fine molecules of energy, Karman
matter, towards the soul, resulting in infinite cycles of
births/deaths & transmigration into 4 gatis. When karmic
matter is shed off the soul by following Path of Liberation,
the latter, being the lightest substance, rises to the top
of universe and rests there as Pure Divine. It can not
travel further owing to absence of Media of motion &
rest beyond the Lokakash. Consciousness
can not be explained on the basis of available scientific
knowledge. Hence, the existence of soul remains
unchallenged.
DHARMATIKAYA-
Medium of Motion / ADHARMASTIKAYA-Medium of Rest :
Dharmastikaya is called medium of motion. It assists the
motion of a moving object akin to water facilitating
movement of a fish. It does not move by itself. Adharmastikaya
is medium of rest. An object is able to be at rest because
of this. It does not stop a moving object but facilitates
its position of rest when it has stopped moving.
These
media are inactive, neutral & formless. Without these
media, equilibrium in the universe would have been
impossible. There could be no stable world if there were
nothing to prevent the souls and atoms from flying away into
infinite space. These media are present in every bit of the
universe and do not interfere with the function of each
other. It is like co-existence of electrostatic, magnetic
and gravitational field, which, although of different
characters, do not mix with or interfere each other. The
modern analogy of medium of motion & the medium of rest
is ‘field’. This is a medium through which binding
forces of Electromagnetism & Gravitation operate and
keep the microscopic as well as macroscopic world
together.
If
we regard our universe as infinite, it can not be stable at
the same time, for in that case everything will scatter into
infinity. For stability, the universe is conceived as of
finite dimensions so that when the energy traveling at the
velocity of 1,86,00 miles/sec reaches the confines of the
universe , is reflected back & not lost into infinity.
The total amount of energy will remain constant in this
case. Einstein introduced the idea of finite universe by
postulating that the space gets curved under the stress of
matter and confines itself into finite space. The idea of
space becoming curved due to presence of matter and thus
closing in to form a finite world may be hard pill to
swallow. Jain view explains the finite world better:
according to Jain view, there are no media of motion or rest
beyond a certain limit (Lokakash), so that matter or energy
can not get out of this limit, resulting in finiteness of
Lokakasha.This also result in constancy of total energy
& mass of the universe for eternity. Jains believe that
Lokakash is finite (343 cubic Rajjus) and Alokakash is
infinite.
AKASA
OR SPACE :
Akasha or space has function of accommodating all other
dravyas. The occupied world (Lokakasha) is surrounded by
unoccupied world (Alokakasha) which is nothing but pure
space. There is no other dravya there. Pradesa is the
unit of space occupied by one indivisible atom of matter.
Such one pradesa of space can accommodate , one pradesa of
Dharma, one pradesa of Adharma, one particle of Kala, and
innumerable atoms of matter.
The
totality of space is so curved that a ray of light, after
traveling in a direct line for a long enough time, would
come back to its starting point. Roughly, it will take 10
trillion years for a round trip in the totality of curvature
of the unuverse. Space, if there is matter inside it, bends
round until it closes up. The more matter there is, the
smaller space there must be. The space could only be
infinite if it contained no matter. This
closely agrees with Jain view of finite Loka with matter
inside and infinite Aloka with no matter inside.
Following
is the view of modern physics (Reader’s Digest Sept
2004):
Universe goes only as far as light has traveled in the
billions of years (13.7 billion yrs) since the universe was
formed as per Big Bang Theory. The visible universe - the
universe we know and can talk about- is a million million
million million (that is 1000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)
kilometers across. But according to most theories , the
universe at large – the meta-universe, as it is sometimes
called- is vastly roomier still. According to Martin Rees,
Britain’s Astronomer Royal, the number of light years to
the edge of this large,unseen universe would be written not
‘with ten zeros,not even with a hundred , but with
millions’. Isn’t it something similar to Jina-vani ?
TIME
OR KALA:
Time is divided into Apparent & Absolute time. Apparent
time that which assists substances in continuing to exist is
the auxiliary cause of different kinds of modifications in
them & is measured by some conventional units.
Absolute
Time : It has no beginning or end. It is one-dimensional
having only longitudinal direction. All other dravyas are
multidimensional. It has no beginning or end. Time is absent
in Alokakasha ( so are other dravyas too, except Akasha)
Jain
Concept of Time:
It is imagined as a wheel moving in clock-wise direction and
divided into cycles each of 2 equal parts – the descending
cycle (Avasarpini) and the ascending cycle (Utsarpini). Each
cycle is divide into 6 aras. Present time is 5th Ara of
Avasarpini Jala. In
Avasarpini Kala, amount of good pudgala diminishes but that
of bad pudgala becomes abundant. Converse is true for
Utsarpini Kala. Present time is 5th ara of Avasarpini Kala.
PUDGALA
OR MATTER :
Pudgala means ‘the entity which manifests itself in
various forms by the process of integration and
disintegration’. Physical manifestations of pudgala are
matter and energy. Jain view regards every form of energy as
a manifestation of pudgala, and hence one form of energy
could be intra-converted into another. That every form of
energy has mass and that there is no difference between
matter and energy but that of form ,has been proved by
Einstein only in recent past while jain view is old.
Pudgala
is smallest , indivisible particle (Parmanu) of the matter
something akin to , say, electron, neutron or quark
(ultimate building block of the universe). It is the subject
of sense perception as it has a form in contrast to other 5
dravyas which are formless. In conformity with modern
kinetic and electronic theories of matter, the Jain
philosophy also regards elementary particles inside an atom
to be in a state of constant motion. Also
called Karmic matter, pudgala is responsible for dragging
soul from one gati to another in infinite births till
liberation on shedding all the karmas is attained.
Activities of mind, body and speech are followed by influx
of pudgala to soul causing bondage. As
per jain view, matter and energy are different phases of the
same entity viz Pudgala. According to Theory of Relativity
of Einstein, mass and energy are essentially the same. It is
well known that when an electron meets a positron, their
entire mass is converted into gamma-ray energy – example
of mass converting into energy.
CONCLUSION
:
As per Jain view, the universe has no beginning and no end.
It is permanent, eternal & self-perpetual . There is
neither a creator nor a destroyer. One
will note great contrast between the never changing laws of
Nature enunciated by Jain Tirthankaras and the ever changing
theories of modern science. Einstein
has quoted thus: ‘We can know only the relative truth, the
Real Truth is known only to the Universal Observer’.
What
is the relevance of this Universe to the Soul, for which
,liberation is the only aim ?
It
is shown that soul develops bondages by attracting karmic
matter on activity of mind, body and speech. It
transmigrates through all 4 gatis viz Hellish, Tiryanch,
Human and celestial. ,These gatis have particular position
in the universe. The beings born in lowest order viz Hellish
suffer the most. As one ascends in order from Hellish to
Tiryanch ,then human and finally celestial one, the level of
happiness and happiness increases. One does not, of course,
rise in that particular order of Gatis. Celestials may have
most physical comforts,but liberation of the soul is
possible only from the human gati. By
following the Path of Liberation, the soul ultimately sheds
of all karmas in human life and ascends to siddhashila as
pure soul. The Path of Liberation is to achieve samyak gyan,
darshan and charitra by positive efforts of mind, body and
speech, This is the only way of liberation of the soul to
achieve eternal bliss.
___________________________________________
The
article was presented in Jain Doctors' International
Conference "An Amalgamation of Science and Spirituality
for Living" held at Terapanth Bhawan on 8th and
9th January 2005 at Mumbai. The conference was attended by
more 2000 Jain doctors from six countries and 22 states of
India. Acharya Padmasagarsuriji, Acharya Pushpadantsagarji,Pujya Kamalmuniji Kamlesh,Sadhvi Vidyavatiji
also addressed the conference delegates. Click here to
read the press report about the conference.
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Article Courtesy: Ms. Raksha Shah, Email : shahraksha99@yahoo.com.
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