Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 284

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An outline of the Jaina cosmography thus came to be drawn centering around loka supported by aloka. The Trasanali runs vertically throughout the center of loka which resembles a man practising dhyana. All jivas are said to reside in this Trasanali, as a rule. Siddhasilā is placed on top of Trasanali, in which are found the three worlds in the upper, middle and lower portions. Therefore, the beings who can stand at the very end of loka are siddhas, or devas and human beings endowed with great rddhi.
A deva with great rddhi is touched upon in the Bhagavatisutra X V1.8.585' in the following way: "A deva endowed with great redhi standing at the end of loka cannot bend or stretch his limbs in aloka, for there is no jiva nor pudgala in aloka. Because motions of jivas and ajivas (in this case, pudgala) occur when jivas try to fetch pudgala for the purpose of nourishing themselves." Jivas, however, will not bend or stretch their limbs only in order to catch other jivas or matter particles for the purpose of eating them. The reasoning given in the above sutra is therefore not at all convincing.
The Sthananga x.931 reads roughly as follows: "Loka cannot become aloka, and aloka cannot become loka in the three tenses of time. Similarly, loka and aloka can never allow their mutual intrusion. Motion occurs inside loka only when Jivas and pudgla exist. And pudgala gets all dried up and crumbles to pieces at the very end of loka, therefore jivas and pudgala cannot go beyond it."
These texts are thus maintaining that the universe consists of loka and aloka, and that these two are independent spaces not allowing mutual intrusion. The argument here is based on the ontological differences of these two spaces: jivas and pudgala exist in loka, but nothing exists in aloka, which is no other than the vast extension of absolute space. The world view of the Jainas had been developed on the basis of this cosmographic dualism. Their world view would have collapsed if this cosmographic dualism had been abandoned. For this reason, it was a pressing issue for the then Jaina theoreticians to demonstrate why jivas and pudgala exist in loka alone but not in aloka. The naive arguments shown in the Bhagavatisutra XV1.8. 585 and the Sthananga X.931 become understandable in the light of this context. These texts, of course, belong to the age prior to the time when the principles of dharma-adharma were established.
The Bhagavatisutra X V1.8.585 takes up a deva with great rddhi as an object of demonstration. However, the highest beings among jivas are the siddhas. Siddhas reside eternally on top of loka that borders on aloka, where devas cannot reach since they are samsaris. The places at the end of the man-shaped loka where devas can stand are those other than Siddha'silla. This text must therefore have been composed at the time when Siddhasila did not yet occur in the world map of the Jainas. And since siddhas stand at the highest position among jivas, the demonstration becomes most effective if even these siddhas are placed in the condition not able to go to