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## Second Understanding: The Duration of a Man Remaining in the Form of a Man
**[151]** **O Bhagavan!** For how long can a man remain continuously in the form of a man? **Gautama:** From the least, an antarmukhurta, to the most, a time exceeding three palyopama by a shatapruthaktva (two hundred to nine hundred sagaropama). **O Bhagavan!** For how long can a man of the animal realm remain continuously in that form? **Gautama:** From the least, an antarmukhurta, to the most, a time exceeding three palyopama by a purvakotiprthaktva. **[54]**
**O Bhagavan!** For how long can a man remain continuously in the form of a man? **Gautama:** From the least, an antarmukhurta, to the most, a time exceeding three palyopama by a shatapruthaktva (two hundred to nine hundred sagaropama). **O Bhagavan!** For how long can a man of the animal realm remain continuously in that form? **Gautama:** From the least, an antarmukhurta, to the most, a time exceeding three palyopama by a purvakotiprthaktva.
Thus, the duration of a man remaining in the form of a man is the same as the duration of a woman remaining in the form of a woman, and so on, up to the duration of a man of the animal realm. The duration of a man of the akarmabhumi is the same as the duration of a woman of the akarmabhumi. Similarly, the duration of a man of the antaradvipa is the same as the duration of a man of the akarmabhumi. The duration of a deva is the same as the duration of a deva of the sarvarthasiddha.
**Discussion:** For how long can a man remain continuously in the form of a man without abandoning the man-form? In response to this question, Bhagavan said that from the least, an antarmukhurta, to the most, a time exceeding two hundred to nine hundred sagaropama. A man who dies after an antarmukhurta and is reborn as a woman, etc., is considered to have lived for an antarmukhurta. Generally, in the realms of the animal, human, and deva, a man can remain in the form of a man for this duration. This duration should be understood as slightly more than the duration of a human realm. A man cannot remain continuously in the form of a man for a longer duration than this. He will inevitably be reborn as a woman, etc. The same applies to men of the animal realm as it does to women of the animal realm.