Answer

In Jain Dharma, after the present Avasarpiṇī half-cycle ends, the next half-cycle is Utsarpiṇī. In that Utsarpiṇī, there will be a new set of 24 Tirthankars.

People of that future time will primarily receive the Dharma from, and worship, the Tirthankars of their own time-cycle because those Tirthankars will be the living or historically immediate revealers of Dharma for that era.

However, the Tirthankars of our present Avasarpiṇī do not lose their spiritual greatness. Bhagwan Rishabhdev, Bhagwan Mahavir Swami, and the other Tirthankars of this Chovisi remain eternally Siddha after moksha. Their souls are beyond rebirth, beyond time, and remain worthy of reverence as perfected beings.

Explanation

According to Jain cosmology:

• Time moves in endless cycles.
• Each full cycle has two halves:
  • Avasarpiṇī – descending half-cycle
  • Utsarpiṇī – ascending half-cycle
• Each half-cycle has 6 ārās.
• In certain periods of each half-cycle, 24 Tirthankars appear.

So the 24 Tirthankars of this Avasarpiṇī are the Tirthankars for our present descending half-cycle. In the coming Utsarpiṇī, another 24 Tirthankars will appear and establish the fourfold Jain Sangh in that era.

For the people of that future Utsarpiṇī, their religious practice will naturally center around the Tirthankars of their own Chovisi, just as our worship today centers on the 24 Tirthankars of this Avasarpiṇī.

Spiritual Understanding

In Jain Dharma, worship of a Tirthankar is not like worship of a creator God who controls the world. A Tirthankar is worshipped because they have destroyed all karmas, attained kevaljnan, shown the path to moksha, and finally become Siddha.

Therefore:

• The present 24 Tirthankars remain eternally liberated Siddhas.
• The future 24 Tirthankars will also become Siddhas.
• All Siddhas are spiritually equal in purity, knowledge, bliss, and liberation.

The names remembered in worship may differ according to time, place, tradition, and availability of teachings, but the spiritual ideal remains the same: reverence for the perfected soul and following the path of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct.

Takeaway

Future beings in the next Utsarpiṇī will mainly follow and worship the Tirthankars of their own Chovisi, but the 24 Tirthankars of our present Avasarpiṇī remain eternally worthy as Siddhas. In Jain Dharma, all liberated souls are equally pure and forever reverable.