________________
...[293]...
living being that enters this class can never leave it. As there is possibility of upapāta in connection with this class, the question naturally arises as to what are the minimum and maximum periods during which no new entry takes place. And we are told that in this connection the minimum period of time is one samaya and the maximum period of time six months (564). But as there is no possibility of udvartana, there does not arise the question of udvartanăvirahakāla in connection with this class. It is possible that the present sūtra 564 is a later interpolation. The reason for this view is that the name Bārasa' of this Adhikära clearly suggests that only those classes that yield the maximum period of 12 muhūrtas are in place here. Be that as it may, but from this naturally follows the established tenet of the Jaina theoreticians that no soul that has entered the class of liberated ones comes back in the transmigratory existence.
Ac. Malayagiri has rightly raised the question as to how the maximum period of time during which no birth takes place can be 12 muhurtas in connection with the general class of infernal beings when in the forthcoming sūtras in connection with any one of seven hells this maximum period is declared to be 24 muhurtas and even more. The explanation offered is that it is 24 muhurtas when seven hells are considered severally and it is 12 muhurtas when all the seven hells are considered jointly. Hence there is no discrepancy. The same logic applies to other three classes of existence.-" yadyapi hi nāma ratnaprabhādişu ekaikanirdharanena caturvimśatimuhūrtādipramāna upapātaviraho vaksyate, tathāpi yadā saptāpi pộthivih samuditā apeksya upapātavirahaś cintyate tada sa dvādaśa-muhurtapramāna eva labhyate, dvādaśa-muhurtānantaram avaśyam anyatarasyām prthivyām utpādasambhavät tatha kevalavedasopalabdheh yas tu pratyekam abhāve samudāye'py abhāvah' iti nyāyaḥ sa kāranakāryadharmānugamacintāyām nănyatra--ity adosah" -Prajñāpanātikā, folio 205 B.
It is necessary to note that this maximum period of 24 muhūrtas is not uniform for all the sub-classes. That is, in regard to some of them it is more or less also. And yet the name given to this Adhikāra is 'Cauvisā.' The reason for this seems to be as follows. The exposition starts with the Ratnaprabhä hell in which the maximum period of time during which no birth takes place is 24 muhūrtas as also the maximum period of time during which no death takes place is also 24 muhurtas; and taking into account this first pada (word) alone the title of this Adhikara seems to have been fixed.
Moreover, Arya śyāma asks us to note that in the case of Jyotişka and Vaimánika gods one should not employ the term udvartanā'; in its place he should employ the term 'cyavana' (608).
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
