Tattvartha Sutra (with commentary)

by Vijay K. Jain | 2018 | 130,587 words | ISBN-10: 8193272625 | ISBN-13: 9788193272626

This page describes right belief also leads to birth as a heavenly being (vaimanika-deva) which is verse 6.21 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 21 of the chapter Influx of Karmas and includes an extensive commentary.

Verse 6.21 - Right belief also leads to birth as a heavenly being (vaimānika-deva)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Tattvartha sūtra 6.21:

सम्यक्त्वं च ॥ ६.२१ ॥

samyaktvaṃ ca || 6.21 ||

Right belief (samyaktva) also causes the influx (āsrava) of life-karma (āyuḥ [āyus]) leading to celestial-birth (deva). (21)

Hindi Anvayarth:

अन्वयार्थ: [सम्यक्त्वं च] सम्यग्दर्शन भी देवायु के आस्रव का कारण है अर्थात् सम्यग्दर्शन के साथ रहा हुआ जो राग है वह भी देवायु के आस्रव का कारण है।

Anvayartha: [samyaktvam ca] samyagdarshana bhi devayu ke asrava ka karana hai arthat samyagdarshana ke satha raha hua jo raga hai vaha bhi devayu ke asrava ka karana hai |

Explanation in English from Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Sarvārthasiddhi:

The influx (āsrava) of life-karma (āyuḥ) leading to celestial-birth (deva) is supplied from the previous sūtra. Though right belief (samyaktva) is mentioned in general as the cause of the influx of life-karma (āyuḥ [āyus]) leading to celestial-birth (deva), it means birth in the heavens (kalpa), commencing from the Saudharma kalpa. How? It is because right belief (samyaktva) is mentioned separately. Does the rule enunciated in the previous sūtra apply uniformly for birth in all classes of deva, without distinction? No. Restraint-with-attachment (sarāgasaṃyama) and restraint-cum-non-restraint (saṃyamāsaṃ-yama) lead to birth in the heavens (kalpa), commencing from the Saudharma kalpa, for, in the absence of right belief (samyaktva), these do not arise. Hence these two are included herein. The purport is that right belief (samyaktva), even without observance of vows, also causes the influx of life-karma leading to birth as a heavenly (vaimānika) deva.[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Hence, persons with right belief (samyaktva), except those whose bondage of life-karma has been accomplished prior to their attainment of right belief, will be reborn among the fourth class of deva–heavenly (vaimānika)–and not among the three lower classes, namely, the residential (bhavanavāsī), the peripatetic (vyantara) and the stellar (jyotiṣka) deva.

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