Tattvartha Sutra (with commentary)
by Vijay K. Jain | 2018 | 130,587 words | ISBN-10: 8193272625 | ISBN-13: 9788193272626
This page describes four bodies can be attained simultaneously which is verse 2.43 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 43 of the chapter Category of the Living and includes an extensive commentary.
Verse 2.43 - Four bodies can be attained simultaneously
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Tattvartha sūtra 2.43:
तदादीनि भाज्यानि युगपदेकस्मिन्नाचतुर्थ्यः ॥ २.४३ ॥
tadādīni bhājyāni yugapadekasminnācaturthyaḥ || 2.43 ||
Commencing with these (two), up to four bodies can be had simultaneously by a single soul. (43)
Hindi Anvayarth:
अन्वयार्थ: [तदादीनि] उन तैजस और कार्मण शरीरों से प्रारम्भ करके [युगपत्] एक साथ [एकस्मिन्] एक जीव के [आचतुर्थ्यः] चार शरीर तक [भाज्यानि] विभक्त करना चाहिये अर्थात् जानना चाहिये।
Anvayartha: [tadadini] una taijasa aura karmana sharirom se prarambha karake [yugapat] eka satha [ekasmin] eka jiva ke [acaturthyah] cara sharira taka [bhajyani] vibhakta karana cahiye arthat janana cahiye |
Explanation in English from Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Sarvārthasiddhi:
‘Tat’–‘that’–refers to the luminous (taijasa) and the karmic (kārmaṇa) bodies, which are under consideration. ‘Tadādi’ means those which have the luminous and the karmic bodies in the beginning. ‘Bhājyāni’ means ‘can be attained’. Up to what? Up to four bodies can be attained simultaneously by one soul. Some souls have two, namely, the luminous (taijasa) and the karmic (kārmaṇa) bodies. Some others have three, namely, the gross (audārika), the luminous and the karmic bodies, or the transformable (vaikriyika), the luminous and the karmic bodies. Yet others have four, namely, the gross, the transformable, the luminous and the karmic bodies.
It is mentioned (see sūtra 2-47) that attainment (labdhi) through austerities is also a cause of the origin of the transformable (vaikriyika) body. Can an ascetic with supernatural powers–ṛddhi–have all the five kinds of bodies, including the projectable (āhāraka) and the transformable (vaikriyika)? No. Firstly, both these bodies–the projectable (āhāraka) and the transformable (vaikriyika)–do not originate simultaneously. Secondly, the transformable (vaikriyika) body originating through austerities is another form of the projectable (āhāraka) body only, not an independent transformable body. The Doctrine proclaims that only the transformable (vaikriyika) body obtained on the rise of the ‘vaikriyika śarīra’ name-karma (nāmakarma) should be known as the transformable (vaikriyika) body. Thus, a single soul can have only four kinds of bodies simultaneously.
Other details pertaining to these are mentioned.
[see next sūtra]