Philosophy In Jain Agams: Transcendental and Empirical Time

Time is of two kinds - Transcendental and Empirical. The characteristic of Transcendental is vartanā (to be, existence).^[1] This characteristic of time is stated in Uttarādhyayana sūtra. Acharya Akalanka opines that the experience of the existence of self is vartanā (the duration).^[2] All the substances have existence so, vartanā is found in all the substances.

In Tattvārtha Sūtra, five characteristics of time have been given, namely-

1. Duration (Vartanā)
2. Transformation (Pariṇāma)
3. Action (Kriyā)
4. Priority (Paratva)
5. Posteriority (Aparatva)^[3]

Among these, first two are related to the transcendental time and last three are related to the empirical time.

Akalanka opined, only with the help of empirical time i.e. samaya, āvalikā etc. one can know the duration of karma, bhava sthiti- life span of a soul in the present life of all beings, kāyasthiti-the period of continuation of stay of a jīva in the same form of life in spite of undergoing the birth and death etc. The determination of numerable, innumerable and infinite time is completely based on empirical time.^[4]

Modern science too does not consider time to be an independent real existent. According to it time is subjective. The notion of time in modern science can be known through the explanation of Stephen Hawking ''... Our views on nature of time have changed over the years. Upton the beginning of this century people believed in an absolute time. That is, each event could be labelled by a number called 'time' in a unique way and all clocks would agree on the time interval between two events. However, the discovery that the speed of life appeared the same to every observer, no matter how he was moving, led to the theory of relativity- and in that one had to abandon the idea that there was a unique absolute time. Instead each observer would have his own reaching of time as recorded by a clock that one carried. Clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily show the same time. Thus, time became more a personal concept relative to the observer who measured it.'^[5]

Regarding the nature of time, there can be different notions but its pragmatic value in the empirical world is beyond doubt. Due to its utmost utility, it is counted in the category of basic constituent substances of the universe, Upakārakaṃ dravyaṃ that which has utility is a substance. The utility of time is apparent, hence, it must be accepted.

The Kālavādī philosophers (who believe that time is the ultimate cause of the universe) - believe that time is the exclusive determinator of the events of the universe.^[6] If we do not go for such an absolutistic expression, we must at least assume that it is one of the most important constituents of the universe.

In the discussion of ontology, some important concepts regarding time have been included in this chapter. Bhagavatī possesses several important concepts regarding substances and astikāya. Except jīvāstikāya, all other five substances have been brought into discussion in this chapter. The next chapter would exclusively discuss the concept of jīvāstikāya in Jain philosophy.