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THE BRIGHT ONES IN JAINISM 249 which they are wearing in their comparatively longer or shorter sojourn in the heavens.
Q. 7. In the paragraph on "Their Respiration " if Jain terms had been used along with the English version, it would have been clearer.
Ans. The following equivalents are here given;
Vitality of sense-Indriya Prana i.e. the prana which manifests itself in the vitality or functioning of one or other of the five senses. Vitality of Power "Bala Prana", i.e. the Prana which manifests itself as the vitality or power of the body, speech or mind.
Vitality of age- Ayu Prana i.e. the Prana which manifests itself as the vitality which keeps a man alive. This is in accordance with popular Indian parlance also, when a dying man says my Pranas are going out of me ( mere Prana nikle jate hain).
Vitality of Respiration. Suasa uchchhuasa prana i.e. the prana which manifests itself as the vitality of our inhalation and exhalation.
Q. 8. Is it a Jaina Siddhanta that for Moksha even Gods must be born again as men? Can Gods be called “superman"?
Ans. Yes. The final glory of attaining Liberation ( Moksha) is reserved for the human condition of existence. It may be for this reason that Christianity calls man, “the Lord of Creation" and Muhammedanism calls him Ashraf-ul-Makhlupat, "the Noblest of Creatures."
It would be misleading to call Gods "supermen" as their constitution is so obviously and in so many details different from that of human beings.
Q. 9. I am glad to find you have taken the human form as a reality in the Universe also. How would you take the Biblical idea that God made man in His image ?
Ans. Your question has a very deep implication. It implies that the from of God is the form of the Universe and the form of man being that of the Universe, Jainism may be said to support the idea that “God made man in His own image." As I have said above, Jainism does not attribute to God the creation
of man or of anything. The shoe may possibly be on the other Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
