Tattvartha Sutra (with commentary)
by Vijay K. Jain | 2018 | 130,587 words | ISBN-10: 8193272625 | ISBN-13: 9788193272626
This page describes movement with bend (vigraha) which is verse 2.28 of the English translation of the Tattvartha Sutra which represents the essentials of Jainism and Jain dharma and deals with the basics on Karma, Cosmology, Ethics, Celestial beings and Liberation. The Tattvarthasutra is authorative among both Digambara and Shvetambara. This is verse 28 of the chapter Category of the Living and includes an extensive commentary.
Verse 2.28 - Movement with bend (vigraha)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Tattvartha sūtra 2.28:
विग्रहवती च संसारिणः प्राक्चतुर्थ्यः ॥ २.२८ ॥
vigrahavatī ca saṃsāriṇaḥ prākcaturthyaḥ || 2.28 ||
The movement of the transmigrating souls is with bend also prior to the fourth instant. (28)
Hindi Anvayarth:
अन्वयार्थ: [संसारिणः] संसारी जीव की गति [चतुर्थ्यः प्राक्] चार समय से पहिले [विग्रहवती च] वक्रता-मोड़ सहित तथा रहित होती है।
Anvayartha: [samsarinah] samsari jiva ki gati [caturthyah prak] cara samaya se pahile [vigrahavati ca] vakrata-moda़ sahita tatha rahita hoti hai |
Explanation in English from Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Sarvārthasiddhi:
The liberated soul is free from ties. Hence it goes up without impediment to the end of the universe. Is there obstruction in case of the embodied soul, or is it as in case of the liberated soul?
Prior to the fourth–prākcaturbhya–is intended to indicate the limit of time. The word ‘prāk’–prior–indicates the limit. Movement with a bend occurs up to three instants but not in the fourth. How is it? The being, who is to be born in the special region outside the mobile channel (in the niṣkuṭa kṣetra[1]) from another such region commences motion with three bends as in such case no straight movement is possible. Here, there is no need for the fourth bend, as there is no place of birth which requires further bends. Hence movement with bend is only up to three instants and not in the fourth instant. ‘Ca’ is intended for indicating both types of motion, i.e., with and without bends.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Niṣkuṭa kṣetra is located in the topmost corner of the universe outside the mobile channel (trasa nāḍī). Living beings endowed with more than one sense are found only within the boundaries of the mobile channel and not outside it. Hence it is called the mobile channel (trasa nāḍī). But one-sensed creatures are found within as well as outside the mobile channel. The mobile channel is the region that runs through the centre of the universe. It is in the form of a prism having a square base, each side measuring one rajju, extending throughout the universe of fourteen rajju in height.