What is Jainism

Jainism is the religion professed by the Jains, so called Jainism and

they follow the system expounded and preached by the Jina.
Jina conqueror of self, also known as
Arihant ( who have destroyed inner enemies)
Sidhha ( Who are liberated)
Kevali ( possessor of absolute knowledge)
Nirgranth ( Without any attachments)
Shraman (the practitioner of equanimity)
Tirthankar (Ford maker, one who establishes the path that takes
people safely across the ocean of misery, cycles of birth and
death leading to liberation)
There are innumerable Jinas or Kevalis but only 24 Tirthankars per
ascending or descending Kalchakra
Jainism suggests an austere path by which individual being caught
in the cycles of birth and death can achieve liberation and become
Jina

What is Jainism
Indian Culture consists of two main trends:
Shramanic
Brahmanic
Vedic traditions come under Brahmanic trend
Shramanic trend covers Jain, Buddhist and
similar other ascetic traditions
Brahmanic schools accepts the authority of
Vedas and Vedic literature.
Jains and Buddhists have their own canons and
canonical literature and accept their author

What is Jainism
Jainism is an independent and most ancient religion of India
It is an eternal religion, it has always existed, it is existing now and
will always exist in future forever
Jainism has existed since eternity and it is like the Jain Universe no
beginning and would have no end
There is pre-historic time of Jainism and there is historic time of
Jainism. Jainism is revealed in every cyclic period of the Universe,
this constitutes the Pre-historic time of Jainism. And there is
recorded history of Jainism since about 3000-3500 BC.
Most of the saints of Jainism belong to remote ages, millions and
billions of years ago.
However, for practical purpose we may take Lord Mahavir
(599-527 BC), last great Tirthankar (Fordmaker, Saint), as a
historical figure.
Lord Mahavir was a contemporary of the Buddha

Jain History
Jain doctrine teaches that Jainism has always existed and will
always exist, Like most ancient Indian religions, Jainism has its
roots from the Indus Valley Civilization, (2600 1900 BCE)
reflecting native spirituality prior to the Indo-Aryan migration
into India (1800 BCE) Other scholars suggested the Shramana
traditions were separate and contemporaneous with IndoAryan religious practices of the historical Vedic religion.
In August 2005, Supreme Court of India gave verdict that
Jainism, Sikhism (and Buddhism) are distinct religions, but are
inter-connected and inter-related to Hinduism, so these three
are part of wider broader Hindu religion, based on the historic
background on how the Constitution had come into existence
after.
In the 2006 verdict, although Supreme Court of India found that
the "Jain Religion is indisputably not a part of the Hindu
Religion"

Jain History
On January 20, 2014, the Government of India awarded
the minority status to the Jain community in India, as per
Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM) Act (NCM), 1992. This made the Jain community
which makes for 4.5 million or 0.36 percent of the
population as per 2011 census, the sixth community to
be designated this status as a "national minority", after
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.[17]

Kal Chakra overview

The cycle of time is traditionally represented as a wheel
with 12 spokes, known as the Klacakra. In the first
phase of six half-cycles the quality of life gradually
deteriorates while in the second one it slowly improves
over the six periods.
In traditional Jain cosmology, time is endless and for
humans is an unbroken sequence of cycles of time.
Each cycle or kalpa is made up of two half-cycles or
phases. Each half-cycle has six periods, lasting different
lengths of time. Each of these periods of time is
enormously long, far longer than a human lifetime, but
has a fixed length.
In the first phase of six half-cycles the quality of life
slowly worsens while in the second one it gradually gets
better over the six periods. A full cycle of time therefore
has 12 periods of time in total, half of them deteriorating,
half of them improving.

4 Koda Kodi Sagropam ( KKS) = 400 Trillion Sagropam

3 Koda Kodi Sagropam (KKS) = 300 Trillion Sagropam
2 Koda Kodi Sagropam ( KKS) = 200 Trillion Sagropam
1 Koda Kodi Sagropam (KKS) = 100 Trillion Sagropam

Each era is divided into six parts. The duration and the name of its part is defined as follows:
Six parts of Declining Era (Avasarpini) Time Cycle
1. Happy_happy
4 x 10E14 Sagaropams
2. Happy
3 x 10E14 Sagaropams
3. Happy_unhappy
2 x 10E14 Sagaropams
4. Unhappy_happy
1 x 10E14 Sagaropams - 42000 years
5. Unhappy
21000 years (present Era passed @2500years)
6. Unhappy_unhappy
21000 years
Six parts of Rising Era (Utsarpini) Time Cycle
1. Unhappy_unhappy
21000 years
2. Unhappy
21000 years
3. Unhappy_happy
1 x 10E14 Sagaropams - 42000 years
4. Happy_unhappy
2 x 10E14 Sagaropams
5. Happy
3 x 10E14 Sagaropams
6. Happy_happy
4 x 10E14 Sagaropams

Kalchakra

Each Ascending and Descending Cycle is 10 KKS

(10,000 Trillion Sagropam).
Total one Kalchakra is 20 KKS (20,000 Trillion Sagropam).
It keeps repeating.

24 Tirthankars are born at the end of third ara and in

fourth ara inAvsarpini Kal
24 Tirthankars are born in third and the beginning of
fourth ara in Utsarpini Kal

Definition of Time
Smallest unit is Samay
Largest is Sagropam
Second = 1
(in this time scale)

Jain Universe Middle Section ( Madhya Lok)

In Middle Section, there is Adhi Dweep consists of Two and Half Continents
Jambhu Dweep : 1 Bharat Kshetra + 1 Mahavideh Kshetra + 1 Airavat Kshetra
Dhathki Khand : 2 Bharat Kshetra + 2 Mahavideh Kshetra + 2 Airavat Kshetra
Ardha Pushkar Dweep : 2 Bharat Kshetra + 2 Mahavideh Kshetra + 2 Airavat
Kshetra
5 Bharat Kshetra, 5 Mahavideh Kshetra & 5 Airavat Kshetra. These are known as
Karma Bhumi (Land), as one can shed all his Karmas and attain Salvation (Moksha)
only from these Kshtras (Areas). No salvation from Akarma Bhumi.
Currently we are in 5th division (Pancham Ara). These time changes takes place only
in 5 Bharat Kshetra & 5 Airavat Kshetra. Airavat and Bharat are very very similar to
each other in all aspects, viz., the changing period of Aras, Birth of Thirthankaras etc.,
There is no such Ara in 5 Mahavideh Kshetras where it is constant, similar to 4th
division (downward) ara of Bharat & Airavat
There are at least 20 Tirthankar in this Addi Dweep at any given period.

Calculation for Minimum count of 20 Thirthankaras and

Maximum count of 160 or 170 Thirthankaras
1) Minimum count : 20
In each Mahavideh Kshtras there are 4 Thirthankaras. (4x5=20)
Mahavideh is divided in to 32 sections known as Vijay. a set of 8
Vijays make a group. 2 groups East of Meru Parvat and 2 groups is
West of Meru Parvat. forming 2X2 martix and Meru Parvat in the
middle. There is 1 Thirthankara in each group of 8 Vijay.
2) Maximum Count of 160/170 :
32 Vijay x 5 Mahavideh = 160. One Thirthankar in each Vijay of
Mahavideh.
1 Thirthankar each in 5 Bharat and 5 Airavat Kshetras. =10
Therefore 160 + 10 = 170. This maximum of 170 reached at the
period of Ajitnath Bhagwan ( 2nd Tirthankar)

Summary of Kalchakra
In one Kalchakra,
Utsarpini : 6 Aras - Ascending
Avsarpani : 6 Aras Descending
In Ascending Utasarpini aras, peoples life span, height, strength,
happiness etc.keep increasing where as in Descending Avsarpini aras
they decrease
The 1st ara of Avsarpini = 6th ara of Utsarpini, and so on
Kalchakra applies only to Bharat & Airavat Kshetra

Following statements are with respect to Avsarpini ara

In Bharat & Airavat Kshetra, YUGLIK MANUSHYAS are in the
1st, 2nd, and up to the end of the 3rd ara
Tirthankars are born towards the end of the 3rd ara and the 4th ara
The teachings of the 24th Tirthankar lasts till the end of the 5th ara
Today, the 5th ara is going on in Bharat & Airavat Kshetra
In 6th ara there is no religion

In Mahavideh Kshetra & all Akarma bhumis there are no

Kalchakras, hence, they have constant period of time as 4th ara of
Avasarpini in Bharat and Airavat.
Mahavideh Kshetra always has living Tirthankars (Min 20)
Tirthankars are never born in an Akarma bhumi or in 56
Antardweeps