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Mathematical Formulary of Jinistic Precepts
: 133
(11)
(10)
(5)
Humans
Lower
life
Higher
lite
2
Fig. 2 : Serpant Ladder of Spiritual Stages. This purity depends inversely on karmic density. Thus, the spiritual stages reduce the karmic density gradually leading to better and better happiness. These stages represent the fluctuations and improvements of mental yolitions of the living beings. It is observed that they form a ladder from which a person may fall or move upwards based on the nature of his volitions. A ladder, therefore, could be framed to understand this theory. There are many such ladders out of which one a serpent-ladder is shown in Fig. 2 as per Mardia. It indicates a person may fall from stage 7 to 2 and 11 to 5 and may move upward from stage 5 to 8, 10 to 12 and 1 to 3. The elaboration of this theory needs another article.
One can, thus, see that many basic Jaina postulates can be mathematically and graphically expressed. This approach may lead to better understanding the religion in comparison to expressing them in traditional way. It is hoped that many such formulae can be developed for many other tenets of Jaina religion.
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