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Personality of Lord Mahâvîra and his Sermon at Champa
without repentance, who have died by jumping from a mountain or crushed by a rock, who have died by falling from a tree or by the falling of tree, who have died for coming to an arid region, who have died by plunging from a mountain or from a tree, or who have died in the sand of a desert, or those who have died by entering into water, by walking into the fire, by administering poison, by piercing one's person with some weapon, by tying a rope round one's throat, by jumping into the sky from the branch of some tree, by entering into some carcass and thereafter being pecked by vultures, by dying in a forest or during a famine, if such people are not in misery at the time of death, then, by dying at some point in the eternal time, they are born in one or an other of the heavens occupied by the Vanavyantaras. Their entry in these heavens, their length of stay and their genesis have been stated.
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Gautama Bhante! How long is their stay there? Mahâvîra Gautama! Twelve thousand years.
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Gautama Bhante! Do these celestial beings possess fortune, glow, fame, strength, vigour, vitality and prowess?
Mahâvîra Yes, they do.
Gautama Bhante! Do they propitiate the next birth? Mahâvîra: No, they do not.
Those human beings who live in villages, mines, towns, etc., etc., who are gentle by nature, who are tranquil by nature, who have little anger, pride, attachment and greed, who are tender, sheltered with their elders, polite, serving their parents, who never violate the words of their parents, with little hankering, little endeavour, little property, little slaughter, little torture, little slaughter-torture for the earning of their livelihood, if people live like this for many years, such ones, after death at some point in eternal time, are born in one of the heavens meant for the Vanavyantaras.
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Gautama Bhante! How long is the span of their stay there?
Women living in village, mines, towns, etc., etc., residing in the harem, whose men have gone out of the country, who have become widows in rather young age, who have been abandoned by their men, who are sheltered by their mothers, fathers or brothers, who are protected by the parental families or by the
