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63
स एष यज्ञायुधी यजमानोऽअसा स्वलोंके गच्छति । Sa éşa yajnāyudhî yajamāno' njasă svarlokam gacchati
That is to say-A devotee who is in possession, of the weapon of 'yajna" i.e a sacrifice, immediately goes to heaventhe residence of gods.
This Védic statement clearly proves that gods do exist; becalise how can there be svarga loka-heavens or residence of gods if, the gods themselves do not exist ? On account of such contradictory Védic statements, you have a doubt whether the gods exist or not
But O Maurya-putra! this doubt of yours, is groundless, because you, as well as I, actually see these gods who have come into the Samavasarana here.
Besides, all people can see the Vimãnas or aerial conveyances or vehicles of the luminary deities, like the Sun, the Moon etc. How can there be those conveyances if there are no gods riding them? The Vedic words that describe the gods as an illusion, mean to say that the existence even of gods is transi tory. That is to say even the gods with very long lives, cease to exist when their lives corre to their ends, and hence, they are as transitory as other objects are. By thus suggesting the transjtoriness of the lives of gods, the Vedic statement aims at advising people not to hanker after achieving the status of a god, but to have an idea of achieving Salvation which is Infinite or Permanent, and to strive to attain it. These Vedic statements do not assert that the gods do not exist. Inspite of the fact that the gods are free and powerful, they do not come to this world, because of their attachment to the activities pertaining to music, dancing, etc, because, of their love of divinity because of their
love of pleasures, and because of the stench of the terrible Jain Edluisance that prevails in this world.se Only
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