________________
Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
The maximum interval for gross body acquiremnt is an under-Muhurta (period of non-completion) more than the 33 Sagarapamas.
How this maximum interval is calculated?
A human being is born as celestial with a duration of 33 Sagaropamas. On completion of this life-span, he is born again as human beings, which has a non-completion period of an under-Muhurta before acquiring the next gross body. Thus, the maximum interval time is equal to 33 Sagaropamas + 1 Muhurata.
Q.
A.
The minimum interval for the transformable body is an underMuhurta. This can be estimated from the fact that a human or subhuman being is born as a 10,000-year durationed celestial after his death there. After completion of celestial life-span, he is again born as human or animal, experiences the non-completioned period of an under-Muhurta and acquires a new body with bondage of celestial destinity. This gives the minimum interval for tansformable body. This is the body possessed by the celestials.
The maximum interval of the transformable body is the infinite period. This could be learnt from the following fact. A living being in celestical destinity in born as human or sub-human being and wanders in the world for infinite period after which he is reborn as a celestial, experiences the period of non-completion and aquires a new transformable body. Thus, he has an interval of infinite period between the acquirement of two successive transformable bodies.
The ejectable body has a minimum interval of an under-Muhurata. This could be guessed from the fact that the sixth stager- non-vigilant restrained-produces the ejectable body and projects it for the desired object for an under-Muhurta and returns to the base. Then again due to super-attainment, the body produced the newer ejectable body after an under-Muhurta which is the interval between the two successive bodies of the same living being.
The maximum interval for an ejectable body is the half-matter-changeperiod less by an under-Muhurta. This is arrived at in this way. An eternally wrong-faithed being subsides the faith-deluding karma and attains subsidential right-faith and restraint simultaneously. Then, he falls from subsidential faith and takes birth with realisational faith, remains with it for an under-Muhurta and binds the ejectable body at the seventh stage and drops from there to the sixth stage to produce ejectable body and attains the wrong-faith stage. The same being wanders in the world for the half-matter-change period and takes birth as human being. He repeats the above process of acquiring right faith and destroying the faith deluding karma at the fourth or fifth spiritual stage and acquires the restrained stage, binds the ejectable body karma at the seventh stage, drops down to the sixth stage to produce ejectable body again. Thus, there is an interval of half-matter-change period between the two successive ejectable bodies.
Jain Education International
180
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org