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Acharya Sheelank says-Fire has the attributes like light and heat and it cannot survive in absence of air. It grows by consuming foods like oil and wood and fritters away when deprived of such food. All this is clear evidence of its being a living thing.
(Bhagavati Sutra 16/1/5)
Fire-bodied beings have been called deerghalok-shastra. Deerghalok means plant life or plants. There are three reasons for calling it deerghalok (large-world)-(1) of the five stationary life forms (sthavar) the dimensions of four is said to be uncountable fraction of the width of a human finger, whereas the maximum dimension of plant life form is more than one thousand yojans (a yojan is approximately eight miles) (for more details refer to Acharanga, Hindi commentary by A. Atmaram ji M.); (2) the area covered by plant life is also vast; and (3) the reincarnation of a being as plant life form is also more frequent. That is why plant life is called deerghalok in Agams. Fire acts as weapon against it.
* htt PACOPACOPACO R
Another meaning of deerghalok-shastra is that fire is the sharpest and most devastating weapon. It is mentioned in Uttaradhyayan Sutra that there is no sharper weapon than fire (35/12). It destroys large forests within no time. It is also seen in sea as sea-fire.
The word ashashtra (non-weapon) has been used for asceticdiscipline. Absence of discipline is considered a mental weapon. Therefore discipline, its opposite, is non-weapon or protector of every living being. The statement under reference has an underlying meaning-he who knows violence knows ahimsa and vice versa.
अग्निकायिक जीव-हिंसा-निषेध
३४. वीरेहि एयं अभिभूय दिट्ठ संजएहिं सया जतेहिं सया अप्पमत्तेहिं ।
à quà gufgy à 3 ¿s ugas!
हु
तं परिणाय मेहावी इयाणिं णो जमहं पुव्वमकासी पमाएणं ।
३४. वीरों - ( ज्ञानी पुरुषों) ने, (ज्ञानावरण-दर्शनावरण आदि ) कर्मों का क्षय करके अग्निकायिक जीवों का अस्तित्व देखा है। वे संयमी, सदा यतनाशील और सदा अप्रमत्त रहने वाले थे।
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