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womb. It has been noticed that in plant and animal kingdom birth can occur even without male and female mating. Jaina philosophy describes this process as agglutination.
ii) Jaina concept of sammūrcchima as described in the commentaries Jaina philosophy believes in karma theory. According to this, the future birth of living being is decided by the karma of that particular being. The one who is destined to be born as agglutinated being takes birth at its appropriate place. During this the living being is accompanied by its own protean and karmic body. The soul along with its protean and karmic body absorbs the material particles that lie at the place of its birth. After absorbing the desired material particles, the soul takes the form of the particular being. This type of birth is, 'birth by agglutination'.
Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra says - अत्र सम्मूर्छामात्रं सम्मूर्छनम् , यस्मिन् स्थाने स उत्पत्स्यते जन्तुस्तत्रत्यपुद्गलानुपसृज्य शरीरीकुर्वन् सम्मूर्च्छनं जन्म लभते , तदेव हि
तादृक् सम्मूर्च्छन जन्मोच्यते ।
iii) Detailed description of agglutinated beings according to Jaina philosophy * There are three types of birth - birth by agglutination, birth by womb and birth by descent.
a) Birth by agglutination : All one to four-sensed beings, five-sensed animals born by asexual reproduction and human beings born by asexual reproduction (having no mind) are the examples of this kind of birth.
b) Birth by womb : Livings beings born by sexual reproduction viz, five-sensed animals and humans (with mind).
c) Birth by descent : Infernal beings and divine beings." * Agglutinated human beings are without power of thought (without physical mind) (or having no
mind)
* Agglutinated beings range from one to five-sensed beings.
* According to the realm of birth, agglutinated beings exist only in human and subhuman species * There are 84 lakh birth-places, out of which agglutinated beings take birth in 58 lakh places and even more. Apart from these birth-places, some agglutinated beings also take birth in four lakh five-sensed subhuman birth-places and fourteen lakh human birth places. Here lies the importance of the detailed thinking of these beings. * The 84 lakh birth-places are broadly categorized into nine varieties like sacitta, acitta, miśra etc.
Agglutinated beings can take birth in any of these nine places. To
* Agglutinated beings have gross, fiery and karmic bodies."
* All agglutinated beings are necessarily hermaphrodite." * Maximum and minimum life spans of all agglutinated beings are noted down in different manner.
But agglutinated humans have life less than one antar-muhurta (upto 48 minutes).'s
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