Deshna - Speech of a Tirthankara

[General Idea] 

In Jain mythology, ‘Deshna’ refers to the speech of a Tirthankara. It is believed that such a speech is understood by all creatures. This speech sounds melodious to all and also brings in behavioral changes in listeners. Creatures who listen such a speech will experience a reduction in negative attributes and behaviors. During this speech, there is extreme peace around the place where the speech is delivered.

[A Theoretical Perspective]

We have devices & tools now-a-days which translates any content into different languages. Even Google Translate performs pretty ok in most cases. We do see species of same type communicate with each other in some way though other species may or may not understand that. But emotions, almost everyone can understand, even different species. If we think at the level of energy carriers or micro-particles, then we can understand how ‘Deshna’ works. ‘Deshna’ emanates from Tirthankara. It is not a lecture or speech in the literal sense. It flows on its own and anyone in periphery can understand it.

[The Karma perspective]

Listening ‘Deshna’ from a Tirthankara depends on the fruition of karmas. ‘Deshna’ will come out only if the listeners karma warrants it. This is why there are special ‘Samosarana’ arranged by celestial beings. It is when people assemble and the karmas fructify that ‘Deshna’ emanates from Tirthankaras. Now why Tirthankaras deliver ‘Deshna’ ? It’s because of the sheer compassion they had for all creatures in their previous lives. They aspired for salvation and well-being of all creatures. They felt whatever knowledge they attained & happiness they attained ,everyone in the entire universe should also be benefitted from the same.

The Logical Analysis Of Omniscience Or Keval Gyan

According to Jainism, Keval Gyan (Omniscience) is the highest level of knowledge that can be attained by a soul. It is the absolute knowledge. Nothing remains to be known after attaining Keval Gyan.A Keval Gyani can comprehend and visualize everything in the universe in all times - past, present and future.This knowledge transcends all barriers of time, space, matter and energy. A keval gyani will attain liberation after the life span ends.

As a science student, I am more interested in the mathematics and physics of this phenomenon. Although most of ancient Jain Literature is lost, some Jain monks of this era such as Acharya Mahapragya, and some other eminent philosophers have tried and presented a logical explanation.

We first start with the agamic meaning of keval - alone and independent. As per Jainism, matter has infinite states or 'paryayas'. Imagine the soul of the kevali radiating energies of different types constantly at an infinite rate.And not only this , a Kevali can comprehend the vast information encoded in the sub-atomic particles and energies present in the universe at an infinite rate. This is how the past , the present and the future of all that exists in universe becomes evident.

The speed of light limits our perception. The sun we see is actually the sun approximately 8 minutes ago - the time it takes for light from sun to reach earth. A kevali has the capability of deploying his 'sookshma-pudgals' (massless micro particles) to capture an event at infinite speed. This is how a kevali knows everything in zero time. This is also how a Kevali can be at more than one place at the same time.

Since keval gyanis can convert moving time frames to a static frame they are always in present. Past and future merge for them. And because of this collapse of time, everything in past , present or future is 'just happening' for them. 

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the speed of light is constant or absolute.The equation E=mc2 restricts the maximum speed attained by a particle having negligible mass to speed of light. Any event in universe can be described in terms of space and time.For a kevali, the condition of singularity holds and time = 0(past=present=future) always , so all events in space are known to them. 

Time travel is theoretically possible and moving at a speed greater than that of light is one of the ways in which the same can be achieved.Other ways include use of cosmic strings or blackholes, and travelling through a wormhole or via Alcubierre drive.