Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra
by Helen M. Johnson | 1931 | 742,503 words
This page describes Life as a god which is the twelfth part of chapter I of the English translation of the Ajitanatha-caritra, contained within the “Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra”: a massive Jain narrative relgious text composed by Hemacandra in the 12th century. Ajitanatha in jainism is the second Tirthankara (Jina) and one of the 63 illustrious beings or worthy persons.
Part 12: Life as a god
He became a god in the palace Vijaya in the Anuttaravimānas, with a life-period of thirty-three sāgaras. With a body a cubit tall, white as moon-beams, an Ahamindra, free from arrogance, adorned with beautiful ornaments, always free from opposition, placed on a beautiful couch, not going to another[1] place, not making an uttaravaikriya (body), beholding the lokanāli[2] through a wealth of clairvoyant knowledge, he experienced the highest bliss indicative of the bliss of emancipation. He breathed by fortnights corresponding to the sāgaras of his life,[3] and desired to eat by corresponding thousands of years. When, six months of his life (as a god) remained, there was no confusion (of senses) as in the case of other gods,[4] but on the contrary his splendor grew from merit attained. So, immersed in an abundance of wonderful bliss, like a haṃsa in a pool of nectar, he passed thirty-three sāgaras like a day.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The gods can not descend to earth in their natural bodies, but make another body called ‘uttaravaikriya.’ K., p. 307, says that in the Graiveyaka- and Anuttara-heavens, the gods have only their natural bodies (bhavadhāraṇīya). In the lower heavens, they have both kinds.
[2]:
The part of the universe which contains both movable and immovable lives. See below, Chap. III.
[3]:
I.e., once in 33 fortnights, and he ate once in 33,000 years.
[4]:
Usually before a god ‘fell’ his powers deteriorated. See I, p. 58