Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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The Unknown Pilgrims
bitter, nor sharp, nor astringent, nor acid, nor sweet, nor hard, nor soft nor heavy, nor light, nor cold, nor hot, nor smooth, nor rough; bodiless; he is not born over again; he [is] without contact (with matter); neither woman nor man, nor neutral (without sex]; he has perfect knowledge, he [is] conscious, but there is no comparison (possible between him and anything else); being without form, indescribable; he [is] neither sound nor form, nor odour, nor taste, nor touch, nor anything of this sort. Thus say 1.52
We have made an attempt to describe, or rather to imagine, the community of the siddhas 3 with the help of conjectures found in the doctrine. The place reserved for them at the summit of the universe is sometimes called işat-prāgbhārā, slightly inclined, which suggests the shape of an uptumed umbrella, but it is better known under the name siddha-loka.54 Eight characteristics are attributed to the siddhas and it is indicated that they possess the form of a man, without the meaning of this phrase being made clear.55 An attempt is also made to differentiate them in accordance with twelve aspects related to their
32 se na dihe, na hasse, ņa vatte, na taṁse, ņa caurasse, na parimamdale. na kinhe, na nile, na lohie, na hālidde, na sukkille. na subbhigamdhe, na durabhigamdhe. na titte, na kadue, na kasāe, na ambile, na mahure. ņa kakkhade, na maue, ņa garue, na lahue, na sie, na unhe, ņa şiddhe, na lukkhe. na kāū. na ruhe. na saṁge. na itthi, na purise, pa annahā parinne sanne.
a na vijjae, arūvi satta, apayassa payam patthi. se na sadde, na rūve, na gaṁdhe. ņa rase, na phäse, iccetāva. tti bemi. ASI, 5, 6, 4.
53 Cf. Aupapātika-sūtra 153-189; US XXXVI, 56-57; 64-68.
54 For a description of this place, cf. US XXXVI, 58-63; JSK III, p. 334335.
55 Cf. DravSam 51. According to AS I, 5, 6, 4 and US XXXVI, 67 they are arūpa, formless, that is to say, immaterial beings and thus without visible form; US XXXVI, 65 says that the dimension of the atman of any one of them is in accordance with that possessed by this same embodied atman before Liberation.