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[The Six Aras
(4) taking the satisfaction of sensual passions for true happiness in absence of any other recreation. We shall prove the truth of our statement by an example. We have often noticed beggars sitting by the road side in all big and small cities. They have no other material happiness except the pleasures of satisfying their sensuality. Hence, it is that they have got plenty of children; while rich persons generally suffer from a want of children. It is the absence of these very causes that the number of people in SukhamaSukhama Ara was so small that they could be counted or finger tips.
In this Ara, man possesses a good and handsome physique and bears a sweet temper. He dies with his wife when their son and daughter reach their youth. The dead bodies are not cremated; the funeral rite consists only in placing them about in the jungles. In this way, the Ara lasts for four Kotakoti (5000 billions of) Sagaropamas. At its completion begins the next Ara, called the Sukhama Ara.
THE SECOND ARA
SUKHMA.
The second Ara, 'Sukhama', is similar in many respects with the former. The only difference is that the degree of happiness in this period is lower; the span of life comes down to two Palyopamas; and the child, who attained to youth within 49 days of his birth in the previous Ara, now takes 64 days to be so strong and wise. The duration of this Ara is said to be three Kotakoti Sagaropamas. The happiness decreases with the passage of this period. Fruits become less sweet, less juicy and less nourishing; and men, who did not care for food for three days after taking one fruit diet, now
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