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> Celestial beings in heavenly realms > Human beings in the earthly realm > One-sensed to five-sensed creatures, such as plants and animals, known as tiryanch, which also reside in the earthly realm
‣ Infernal beings in hellish realms
Let us now try to understand what leads a soul to different destinies.
Celestial life (Dev gati): When a soul performs meritorious deeds, it begets a heavenly birth. Endowed with excellence in body and mind, it is now blessed with divine powers and enjoys the pleasures of heaven. It is important to understand that celestial life is temporary, just like the human life. It is different from the abode of liberation or moksha where the soul finds eternal bliss.
Human life (Manushya gati): When one has faith in right knowledge and adopts the right conduct, then he is likely to be born as a human being. He is now blessed with the ability to discriminate right from wrong, and noble from evil. He can exercise his will power to perform merits and austerities. Human life is conducive for spiritual practices and is the only form from which liberation can be attained.
Animal and plant life (Tiryanch gati): When one wishes happiness for oneself
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but sorrows for others, he is likely to take birth as plant or animal life. This includes all forms of vegetation and organisms from the one-sensed worm to five-sensed animals. In this life, there is a great degree of passive suffering and dependency, and hence it is not conducive for spiritual activities.
Infernal life (Narak gati): When one resorts to excessive violence and destruction, he is likely to be born in hell as an infernal being. Here he continues to suffer the harsh conditions of hell because of his previous misdeeds.
On the face of it, it would seem that among the life-forms mentioned above, life in heaven would be the most coveted one. But according to the seers, it is human life which is most precious. For it is the human being who is bestowed with free-will, choice and spiritual practices which is the path to liberation. The celestial being can enjoy the pleasures of heaven, but cannot perform fresh actions to generate merit. For that, one has to be born as a human being. Hence even the celestial beings aspire for human birth. No wonder then, human life is considered as a rare gem and even more precious than celestial life.
According to Jainism, in heaven and
