Imagine the universe laid out like a grand cosmic tapestry—intricate, layered, and humming with life. The Bhagavati Sutra paints it exactly that way, dividing everything into three towering realms. Up at the top sits the heavenly zone (Urdhva Loka), home to gods and celestial beings. Right beneath, the middle realm—Madhya Loka—hosts humans, animals, plants, and all familiar landscapes. Deeper still, the lower zone (Adho Loka) houses the infernal regions, where souls endure darker experiences.

At the heart of the middle realm stands Jambudvipa, an enormous continental mass shaped like a disc, encircled by concentric oceans and other lands. Picture rippling water rings, each girdling a new island continent—an almost fractal design centuries ahead of its time. Towards the center of Jambudvipa lies Mount Meru, a sacred peak reaching skyward, anchoring both geography and spirituality.

Above and below these core levels lie countless layers: fourteen Rajolokas for ascending celestial beings, each more sublime than the last, and seven hellish strata below, each more intense. Crowning the very top is Siddha Lok, the abode of liberated souls, free from all bonds—a realm beyond time and space, resonating with eternal bliss.

It’s striking how this tiered vision echoes today’s cosmic explorations. Just as NASA’s Webb telescope peers into distant galaxies, the Bhagavati Sutra invites a telescope of the soul inward, mapping unseen territories of existence. Modern astrophysicists divide the cosmos into observable and dark sectors; Jain sages split reality into the known realms of life and the hidden domains of karmic consequence.

Rather than a flat map, the Bhagavati Sutra offers a spherical, almost organic cosmos—rings within rings, each with its own laws and beings. This isn’t simply ancient mythmaking; it’s an attempt to catalog every stitch of reality, from soaring deities to the depths of suffering, all connected in a harmonious, if intricate, whole. Just as today’s explorers keep pushing boundaries, Jain cosmology encourages perpetual curiosity—because the universe, seen or unseen, never stops revealing its secrets.