Dr. N.L. Kachhara
Akasastikaya is a real substance. It is the container of all other substances, stationary or moving. It is boundless / infinite, eternal and one indivisible unit. It is non material and so does not possess the qualities of touch, taste, smell and colour. The portion of akasa which is occupied by other substances is called loka (cosmos). Loka is finite and is surrounded in all direction by aloka which is inert, empty pure boundless space. Beyond loka there is no object - animate or inanimate. No paramanu or Jiva can cross the boundary and go beyond the limit of loka. The dharma and adharma determine the boundary of the lokaakasa by their own finiteness and thus divided akasastikaya in two parts loka and aloka.
Dharma and adharma are mutually inter-penetrating and concomitant with loka. Their existence and influence do not extend beyond loka, but within the cosmos they are all-pervading and co-extensive. They have a unity of locality with diversity of functions. Without these two, the systematic structure of the cosmos would have been a chaos. Akasa has infinite pradesa and all other substances have innumerable pradesa.
What are directions? According to Jain philosophy directions are relative and point to location of objects. The directions and sub-directions are defined only in the middle loka. A line joining two pradesa becomes a direction. The direction of sunrise is taken as east and that of sunset as west. When facing east the direction on right in south and that on the left is north. These are called solar directions. For a given specific purpose directions are also defined with respect to the observer. The front of the observer is east and back is west. South is on right side and north is on left side. These are called observer directions. Truly speaking there are no absolute directions in akasa.
