________________
228
Bhagavati satra
hára naya. According to the former, a thing is considered to be actually finished as soon as it is started ; but according to the latter, a thing is completed only when it is really finished.
21. A line of demarcation is drawn at the end of the first four terms which are stated to have same import, though different sounds and different suggestions. This is so for a number of reasons. First, all the four have the same import because they are all in the same state of karma-movement till separation (uppannapakkhassa). Second, they have the same import because all of them together have a span which is no bigger than an antar-muhurta (i.e., less than 48 minutes). Third, they have the same import because by taking out karma-atoms from the soul-spaces, they lead to the achievement of the same result which is the attainment of omniscience.
The last five terms, though in one group because of their being in the state of karma-exit (vigayapakkhassa), have different imports, different sounds, different suggestions. These take place when one desirous of liberation is already at the thirteenth stage of ascent (gunasthāna), an omniscient, but still with some activities of body, mind and speech (sayogi kevali). Now start the processes, one distinct from the other, of, transform.ing karma with a longs-span into one having a shortspan, changing the deep-effect one into a slow-effect one and vice versa, and so on, so that the omniscient now gets rid of the activities of the body, mind and speech, and is without them (ayogi kevalī). This is total severance of karma bondage. With the dropping out of the body, at last, go name, lineage, life-span and suffering, and the soul joins the rank of the liberated souls and attains the state of infinite bliss.
22. The discussion starts with the infernal beings and is extended to all the four forms of existence, viz., infernal beings, non-human beings (animals), human beings and celestial beings, who make in all 24 categories (dandakas) as follows:
