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COSMOGONY, COSMOLOGY, ASTRONOMY
121
Through the centre of the universe runs the region of mobile souls (trasa-nāḍī) (HTT,H1). It is 14 rujjus high, 1 rajju thick, and 1 rajju broad. All living beings are here, i.e. all men, animals, gods, and devils, and also immobile souls. But it is called trasa-nāḍī because the mobile (trasa) souls cannot live outside it.
At the lowermost point of the region of mobile souls (at TT) is the seventh or the lowermost hell. Its pain is so acute, and its horrors are so great, that our degenerated race of the fifth age of the arasarpini era is not strong and capable enough to sin so as to deserve being sent to this blackest spot in the universe! Next above it is the sixth hell, and so on till we reach the mildest of them, the first. The names of the hells are: 7th. Maha-tamah-prabha, very dark: 6th. Tamah-prabha, black;
5th. Dhuma-prabhā, smoke : 4th. Panka-prabha, mire or mud; 3rd. Valuka-prabha, sand: 2nd. Šarkarā-prabhā, sugar :
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1st. Ratna-prabha, gem or jewel.
After the first hell, we are still ascending the trasa-nāḍī from TT towards HH,,-we come to the Middle World (Madhya-loka), the region where we ourselves live. It is 100,040 yojanas high: 1 yojunu being nearly 4,000 miles.
Our earth is an immense circular body consisting of a number of concentric rings called islands (drīpas), separated from each other by ring-shaped oceans. In the centre stands Mount Meru. Around this at its foot runs the first continent Jambu-dvīpa. This is
