Samavayangasuttam

Author(s): Ashok Kumar Singh
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 25

XV
treatment proper of the fourth anga text Samavāyāya commences with these words— tattha ņam je se cautthe amge samavāe tti āhite tassa ņam ayamatthe, tamjahā.
Here it is noteworthy that the account of life-span of different gods manifested in specific celestial abodes, the interval in breathing in or breathing forth of specific gods, interval in their feeling of hunger, and the sequence of the next re birth in which the liberatable souls are to be liberated is treated at the end of all the first 33 samavāyās. To avoid repetition the summary of above mentioned portions is excluded from the introduction of the subject matter. For specimens the relevant matter of the first two samāvāyas is presented here.Samavāya 1. The longevity of those divinities, manifested as gods, in the celestial abodes Sāgara, Susāgara, Sāgarakānta, Bhava, Manu, Mānuşottara and Lokahita, is expounded, at the most, one ocean- simile (sāgaropama). Those gods breathe in or breathe forth or exhale or inhale [once) in every fortnight. Those gods feel hunger after one thousand years. Among those, the fit to be liberated Dsouls few will get salvation, will become enlightened, will be released, will be emancipated and will annihilate the entire miseries (will become free from the world cycle) in the next birth itself.
Samavāya 2. The longevity, of those divinities, manifested as gods, in the celestial abodes, Subha, śubhakānta, Subhavarna, Subhagandha, śubhaleśya, śubhasparśa and Saudharmāvatarsaka, at the most, is expounded as two oceansimiles (sāgaropama). Those gods breathe in or breathe forth or exhale or inhale [once) in every two fortnights. These gods feel hunger after two thousand years. Among the fit to be liberated souls some will get salvation, will become enlightened, will be released, will be emancipated and will annihilate the entire miseries (will become free from the world cycle) in the second rebirth itself.
In following pages a summary of the topics dealt in the text has been given
1.
1[3] Soul; non-soul; sinful activity; non-sinful activity; activity; nonactivity; universe; non-universe; medium of motion; medium of rest;