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...
Chapter 4: Types of worldly beings
Venue: Rājagṛha.... made the following submission:
Q. 78. Bhante! How many types have been stated to be the worldly beings?
A. 78. Gautama! The worldly beings have been stated to be of six types, viz., earth bodies, water bodies, air bodies, fire bodies and plant life and (the whole range of) mobile beings. The whole description, till right activity and wrong activity, as contained in the Jīvābhigama Sutra.
Gāthā:
Living beings are of six types,
So are also the earth bodies,
Their state of being and worldly life,
Their vacancy, homeless monk,
Right activity, wrong activity.
(All as stated in the Jīvābhigama).
—Bhante: Right you are. It is truly so.
Chapter Four ends.
Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):
Q/A. 78. On the six types of earth bodies, we have
saṇhā ya suddha bālu ya maṇossilā sakkarāya kharapuḍhavī |
iga bāra coddasa solaḍhāra[?] bāvīsasayasahassā ||
They are saṃhā or ślakṣṇā, pure earth, sand, rock, ordinary soil and alkaline soil. The maximum stay of a soul in these forms, in proper order, are one, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen and twenty-two thousand years.
For the infernal and the heavenly beings, the minimum stay is ten thousand years and the maximum is 33 sāgaras. In human and subhuman life, the minimum stay is less than a muhurta and the maximum may be as long as three palyopamas. For details, Chapter on Sthitipada in the Prajñāpaṇā Sūtra.
Nillevaṇa signifies the state of vacancy when in a particular species, there is no soul at a particular time. Such a vacancy may exist in earth, water, air and fire bodies. It takes place over innumerable phases of the upswing and the downswing of the time-cycle, though the time-span on the side of the maximum is much more than that on the side of the minimum. Plant life is so varied that in their case, the state of vacancy never arises. The state of vacancy in the case of mobile beings may be over a hundred sāgaropamas both in the minimum and the maximum, the latter being invariably more than the former.
On activities, the heretics hold that a living being may simultaneously indulge in right and wrong activities. This is not correct. A living being may indulge in one activity at a time, but never two. For details, Chapter Two of the Jīvābhigama Sūtra.