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such men, being now in the liberated state (and once liberated the Deity is never again embodied, the soul after reaching persection never again becomes imperfect, and an embodied state is an imperfect one.)
Now, what is the difference between the Deva or Arhat as understood in this system of philosophy and the Deity as understood in other systems, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, etc, etc. ?
If you find the following 18 characteristics in him, then he is a Deva. Try to test all the so-called Deities as to whether they have have these 18 characteristics, and then if any is found wanting reject the Deities so-called : that is the Jain teaching. If any one of the following 18 characteristics is missing then he is not a Deva :
1. The antarāya karmas must all have disappeared in him, because so long as there is any antarāya karma in a person, that shows that, that person may be willing to do a right thing and still is not able to do it, it shows that in his nature there is still some kind of weakness; therefore he cannot be an ideal of perfection. There are 5 antarāya karmas, and so that makes the first 5 characteristics.
6. Laughing and joking must have disappeared ; because when some unfamiliar object will produce laughing, it shows a lack of knowledge, and that shows that the jnānāvaraniya karmas are not fully
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