Teen Lok-The Jain Universe
According to Jain scriptures, there is the general human-shaped occupied universe with a volume of 343 Rajjus in the major central part of the infinite-times-infinitely extensive non-occupied universe or non-universe space as observed by the Venerable Omniscients. The Height of the Universe One Rajju length consists of innumerable Yojanas. In the fourteen Rajju – high universe, the lower universe has a height of seven Rajjus, and the upper universe has a height of seven Rajjus. In between the two parts, there is the middle universe having a height of 99, 040 Yojanas. This height is a very small portion of the upper universe which is negligible in comparison to the Rajju unit. The Width of the Universe The width of the universe is seven Rajjus in its base (of the lower portion). It is one Rajju in the central or middle universe with gradual decrement from its base. Later, the width gradually increases up to five Rajjus up to the fifth heaven from the middle universe and, then, it decreases to one Rajju at the tip of the universe. Trasa-nÂlÍ (The Mobile Channel) There is a trasa-nÂlÍ in the center of the three portions of the universe which is one Rajju wide, one Rajju thick and a little lees than 13 Rajju high. The mobile class of living beings (Trasas) are found only in this channel. The Lower Universe (Adholok) It is divided into 10 parts. The first earth is Ratna prabha and it is divided again into three parts-Khar, Pank & Abbahul. The first hell is situated at Abbahul part. Below this, is the second earth named as Sharkara prabha. It is followed by third earth named as Baluka prabha, the fourth earth is Pank prabha, the fifty earth is Dhoom prabha, the sixth earth is Tamah prabha and the seventh earth named as Maha Tamah prabha. At last there is the tenth division of Nigod. You should know here that destinities (i.e. Gatis) are four-Manushya Gati (i.e. human beings), Tiryanch Gati (i.e. animals, plants etc.), Dev Gati (i.e. celestial beings) and Narak Gati (i.e. hellish beings). Out of these the Celestial beings or deities are of four types-Bhavanvasi (i.e. mansional deities), Vyantarvasi (i.e. Peripatetic deities), Jyotirvasi (i.e. Astral deities) and Kalpvasi (i.e. Graded Empyrean deities). There are ten types of Bhavanvasi deities-Asur Kumar, Nag Kumar etc., while Vyantar deities are of eight types as-Kinnar, Kimpurush, Rakshas etc. Nine types of Bhavanvasi deities except Asur Kumars and seven types of Vyantar deities except Rakshas live in Khar part of the first earth. Asur Kumars and Rakshas deities live in Pank part of the first earth. All these types of deities are very nice in appearance and not fierce as their names suggest. There are 77200000 Jain Temples of Bhavanvasi deities in khar and Pank divisions, while there are innumerable Jain Temples of Vyantar deities in both thses divisions. Usually, people think that there are only hellish beings in the lower Universe, but it is not correct, because as told above there are crores of Jin Temples there. After the Khar and Pank divisions, there are seven hells, where hellish beings live. The seventh hell is followed by Nigod, where Nigodia beings take birth and die 18 times in the time span of one breath. These Nigodia beings can not be seen by eyes even after using the highest powered microscope. Only Omniscient Lords see them. The Middle Universe (Madhya Lok ) There is Middle Universe between the upper and the lower Universe. It’s height is equal to that of the Sumeru Mountain i.e. 1 Lac 40 Yojan. It’s width is 1 Rajju i.e. innumerable yojans in the form of a plate. Here are innumerable concentric Islands & Oceans alternately. The first Island is Jambudweep and the last Island is Svayambhuraman dweep. The existence of human beings is limited upto two & a half Islands i.e. Jambudweep, Dhatki Khand dweep & half Pushkarvar dweep (Pushkarardh dweep). Beyond these two & a half Islands, only animals and deities remain present. In this Middle Universe, there are the abodes (Vimans) of Astral deities at the height of 790 Yojans. These Astral deities are-Sun (Surya), Moon (Chandrama), Planets (Grahas), Constellations (Nakshatras) and Stars (Tare). These are dispersed upto innumerable Islands & Oceans. Because there is a Jain Temple in each of the abodes of these Astral deities, there become innumerable Jain Temples in Middle Universe. In essence, you have to know that there are 458 natural Jain Temples upto 13 Islands and innumerable Jain Temples of Peripatetic deities & Astral deities upto last Island. The Upper Universe (Urdhva Lok) There is 7 Rajju high upper universe above the middle universe. Infact, the negligible height (1 lac 40 yojans) of middle universe has been derived from the upper universe only. There are 16 heavens (in 8 pairs), 9 Graiveyakas, 9 Anudiías and 5 Anuttara abodes or vimÂnas in the upper universe with Siddha êil at the top. Deities of Heavens or Graded Empyreans (KalpvÂsÍ Devas) Names of Sixteen Heavens : There are sixteen heavens (Kaplas, graded empyreans’ abodes) named as below : (1) Saudharma (2) ËíÂna (3) SanatkumÂra (4) MÂhendra (5) Brahma (6) Brahmottara (7) LÂntava (8) KÂpiîtha (9) êukra (10) MahÂíukra (11) êatÂra (12) SahasrÂra (13) ÀnÂta (14) PrÂàata (15) Àraàa (16) Acyuta Twelve Kalpas (Residence of Indras of Heavens) It is stated that (1) There are two Indras of the Saudharma-ÍíÂna – pair of heavens. (2) There are two Indras of the SanatkumÂra – MÂhendra pair of heavens. (3) There is one Indra of the pair of Brahma – Brahmattara heavens. (4) There is one Indra of the pair of LÂntava – KÂpiîtha heavens. (5) There is one Indra of the pair of êukra – MahÂíukra heavens. (6) There is one Indra of the pair of êatÂra – SahasrÂra heavens. (7) There are two Indras of the pair of Ànata – PrÂàata heavens. (8) There are two Indras of the pair of Àraàa-Acyuta heavens. The residences of these Indras are known as ‘Kalpas’. Thus, there are twelve Kalpas as there are twelve Indras as above. Beyond-Kalpa or Non-graded (KalpÂtÍta) Abodes (or Heavens) There are 9 Graiveyakas, 9 Anudiías and 5 Anuttara abodes or VimÂnas of heavenly beings beyond the above sixteen heavens or twelve Kalpas. There are no classes of deities like Indras etc. there as in case of 16 heavens. Hence, these are called Beyond Kalpa (KalpÂtÍta or non-graded) heavens. All the deities in them are called ‘Ahamindra’ (I am Indra). Nine Graiveyakas The nine Graiveyakas are given below : 3 Lower ones (Adhastana) 3 Medial ones (Madhyama) 3 Upper ones (Uparima) Nine Anudiías The nine Anudiías are the following : (1) Four serially-ordered (êreàÍ-baddha) : (i) Arci, (ii) Arci – mÂlinÍ, (iii) Vaira,(iv) Vairnocana. They are in the four directions – one in each. (2) Four Dispersed (PrakÍràaka) : (i) Soma, (ii) Somaröpa, (iii) Anka and (iv) Sphatika. They are located in the oblique-directions and, hence, are called dispersed (PrakÍràakas). (3) Àditya in the center of all of them. Five Anuttaras There are four heavenly abodes of (i) Vijaya, (ii) Vaijayanta, (iii) Jayanta and (iv) AparÂjita – one in each of the four directions. The fifth one is SarvÂrtha – Siddhi in the center of these four ones. To summarize, there are 21 parts in the Upper Universe, the 1st part consists of Sumeru Mountain (Middle Universe), 8 parts consist of 16 heavens, 9 parts consist of 9 Graiveyaks, 1 part consists of 9 Anudishas, 1 part consists of 5 Anuttaras and the topmost part consists of Siddhashila, where reside the Siddha Bhagwan or Liberated Beings. Total Natural Jina Temples and Jina Idols of all the three universe As mentioned above, there are 7 crore 72 lac natural (Akçtrima) Jina temples (of Mansional deities) in the lower universe, 458 Jina temples in the middle universe and 84 lac 97 thousand & 23 Jina temples in the upper universe, thus a total of 8 crore 56 lac 97 thousand 481 natural Jina temples are present in three universe. There being 108 Jina idols in each temple, a sum total 925 crore, 53 lac, 27 thousand, 948 idols are present in the whole universe. I sincerely bow down to all these natural Jina temples & idols. Except these, I also bow down to innumerable Jina temples & idols of peripatetic and astral deities along with numerable constructed (Kçtrima) Jina temples & idols of the middle universe. This completes the description of three Universe i.e. Teen Lok in short. Now we have to understand the importance of knowing all these details. According to Indian thought, there are four principal pursuits i.e. Purusharths in human life-Dharma (Religion), Arth (earning money), Kam (sensual desires) & Moksha (Salvation). Those who are indulged in only Arth and Kam purusharths, they transmigrate in all the four destinities (Gatis) and maximize their worldly existense. Those who adopt the Dharma purusharth or religious path, they minimize their worldly transmigration and attain Salvation in due course of time. According to Jain Tirthankars, there are 5 types of sins broadly-Violence (Himsa), Falsehood (Jhunth), Stealing (Chori), Non-celibacy (Kusheel) & Over Possessions (Parigrah) and because of the involvement in these sins, the humanbeings can take birth in lower destinities like Hells, Animals etc. after death. So the most important fact to be understood, is that by doing the sinful activities, a human being can take birth in hells or animals and by performing virtuous deeds, he can become the deity in heavens or human being in Middle Universe, so one should understand the utmost importance of being the human and adopting the morally-sound life style i.e. practising vegetarianism, avoiding all types of vices, the nature of deceiving others & telling lie. etc.
