Bhagavati-sutra (Viyaha-pannatti)
by K. C. Lalwani | 1973 | 185,989 words
The English translation of the Bhagavati-sutra which is the fifth Jaina Agama (canonical literature). It is a large encyclopedic work in the form of a dialogue where Mahavira replies to various question. The present form of the Sutra dates to the fifth century A.D. Abhayadeva Suri wrote a vritti (commentary) on the Bhagavati in A.D. 1071. In his J...
Part 3 - On movement down
Q. 150. Bhante! When faith-deluding karma has already come up, does a living being endeavour to move down?
A. 150. Yes, (he) endeavours to move down.
Q. 151. Bhante! (Does he endeavour to move down by the fool’s energy, the prudent’s energy or) by mixed energy?
A. 151. Gautama! (He) moves down by the fool’s energy, not by the prudent’s energy, but sometimes by mixed energy. Just as two statements have been made about moving up, so two statements have to be made about moving down, with this difference that the movement up takes place by the prudent’s energy, and the movement down by mixed energy94.
Q. 152. Bhante! Does the movement down take place by soul or by non-soul?
A. 152. Gautama! The movement down takes place by soul, not by non-soul.
Q. 153. Bhante! Why does it happen like this when faith-deluding karma is being suffered?
A. 153. Gautama! Previously he relished in this, but now he does not. Hence it happens like this95.
Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):
94. Movement down is (he reverse of the movement up. When karma generating falsehood is up, a living being moves down, and this he does by the energy of the fool, and sometimes also by the mixed energy, but never by the energy of the prudent. An alternative reading, viz., that ‘he comes down by the energy of the fool, and not by the energy of the prudent, nor by the energy of the mixed type’, does not stand; for the last line of the Sūtra clearly says, ‘the movement up takes place by the prudent’s energy, and the movement down by the mixed energy.’ Another point worthy of note is that real movement up takes place only by the energy of the prudent, not by the energy of the fool. Hence Q./A. 149, which states that ‘moves up by the energy of the fool’ refers only to a striving, not to its outcome. Movement down, it is specifically stated, is by the mixed energy.
95. This happens when the living being, who had initially faith in the Jaina fundamentals, in Ahiṃsā as the very basis of religion, in the words of the Jina, starts losing faith in them. From a state of equanimity and righteousness, he slips to falsehood,—from a higher to a lower stage.