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CHAPTER XX END-CAUSING ACTIVITY
The activity that causes the end of the present birth is called antakriyā (end-causing-activity). There follows from this activity either of the two results, viz. new birth or emancipation (mokşa). Thus the term 'antakriya' is here used in the sense of death as well as emancipation. The chapter takes up 24 classes of living beings one by one in each case discussing the question of endcausing activity employing the following ten dvaras.
(4)
(1) Can a living being belonging to this or that class perform
end-causing activity (emancipation)? (2) Can it perform end-causing activity (emancipation in the
immediate next birth or in the birth after many births ? (3) If it can perform end-causing activity (emancipation) in the
immediate next birth, then how many can do so simultaneously? In which class a living being belonging to this or that class
can possibly take birth after death? (5) Can a living being belonging to this or that class become a
tirthankara after death? (6) Can it become a cakravarti (world-conqueror) after death ? (7) Can it become a baladeva after death ?
8) Can it become a vasudeva after death? (9) Can it become a māndalika after death ? (10) Can it become a ratna after death ?
On the basis of these ten dvāras we can say that here the term antakriya' is employed in two senses. In the first three dvaras the discussion is about moksa (emancipation). And the remaining dvāras too pertain to antakriyā but here the term 'antakriya' has the sense of death. It is also possible to take it in the sense of moksa because in these 4-10 dvāras there occurs the discussion about the question as to whether or not the mokşa is possible in the case of a living being taking birth in this or that class (yoni) after death.
The essence of the first dvåra is that it is only the human beings that can attain moksa; but it does not mean that all the human beings attain moksa (1408[3]). A living being can belong
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