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JAINA CULTURE
lated karmas for a particular life is known as anupūrvi. The Jaina, exactly like the other exponents of the doctrine of transmigration, holds that one has no choice but to reap the fruits of his actions. Sometimes the fruits are reaped in this very life and sometimes they are reaped in a life hereafter. The Jaina thinkers do not agree with those who believe that once consciousness attains to human level, there is no return; though man may become a superman, he will never be less than man. They maintain that the soul of a human being may enter the animal state of existence. Essentially every soul is of the same kind. All variegated forms of life are attributed to the karmic forces associated with the worldly soul from beginningless time. These forces may lead the soul to a higher as well as a lower state of existence in accordance with their innate nature. There are four states of worldly existence, i. e., four kinds of living beings: celestial, infernal, human and animal (including plants etc.).
Infernal Beings :
We live in the middle world. The abodes of heavenly beings are in the upper world. The lower world contains the abodes of infernal beings. It is comprised of seven earths one below the other. The infernal regions rest on solid earth. They are not like the heavenly regions which rest without such substratum. Each of the earths containing the infernal regions is encircled by dense water. The circle of dense water is supported by dense air. The circle of dense air is surrounded by thin air. The circle of thin air rests in space and space rests in itself, as it is itself the support and the supported.
The bodies of infernal beings are more and more deformed, loathsome and hideous in shape and disgusting to look at as we go lower and lower down. They suffer from extreme heat and cold inflicted by the external environment. Their minds are subjugated by pain and suffering. They desire to do things which produce pleasure and happiness but they commit deeds which bring about pain and suffer
