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160
TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
The Relative Superiority and Inferiority of Gods in Respect of Certain Matters :
As for sthiti or life-duration, prabhāva or efficacy, sukha or pleasure, dyuti or glow leśyāviśuddhi or purity of soulcolouring, indriyavisaya or object of sensuous cognition, avadhivisaya or object of avadhi-cognition-a god has more of it the higher he is seated. 21.
As for gati or movement, sarīra or body parigraha or appropriation, abhimāna or arrogance-a god has less of it the higher he is seated. 22.
So far as seven things are concerned a higher seated god has more of them than a lower seated one.
This as follows:
1. Sthiti or Life-duration :
The special details as to this question are offered in the aphorisms 30 to 53.
2. Prabhāva or Efficacy :
The power to punish and to benefit, the power to superordinary realization like animā or turning small, mahimā or turning huge, etc., the power to attack others and thus make them act in one's own interest—these are the components of efficacy. And though a higher seated god has got more of efficacy thus understood he makes a lesser use of it because he suffers less from arrogance and mental perturbation.
3. 4. Sukha or Pleasure and Dyuti or Glow :
To experience through sense-organs the objects graspable through them is sukha or pleasure. The brightness radiating from body, clothes, weapons etc. is glow. The reason why a higher situated god has more of pleasure and glow thus understood is that owing to the very nature of its location a higher situated loka-region is characterized by a more auspicious type of physical transformations.
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