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A SOURCB-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
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extension of Ratnaprabhā comes to about 1,80,000 yojanas. From the second to the seventh worlds in the nether universe, there are no parts as we get in the Ratnaprabhā. All the matter they have is of the same kind. The second nether world measures 1,32,000 yojanas. The third measures 1,28,000 yojanas. The fourth world extends for 1,20,000 yojanas. The fifth world measures 1,10,000 yojanas. The sixth and the seventh measures 1,16,000 and 1,08,000 yojanas respectively. The thick layer of liquid below the seven nether worlds also varies in quantity and measurements.
The beings in hell reside in the different nether worlds just in the middle of each part leaving one thousand yojanas on the upper and the lower parts. For instance, in the Ratnaprabhā measuring 1,80,000 yojanas in dimension, the hellish beings reside in the central part leaving aside 1,000 yojanas on the upper and 1,000 yojanas on the lower portions of the world. Similarly, in the other six nether worlds there is habitation of the hellish beings in the central parts leaving aside one thousand yojanas each on the upper and the lower parts of each world.
Beings living in these nether worlds are considered to be hellish beings (Näraki Jiva). The lower we go in the stages of the nether worlds, we find beings suffering and infected with ugliness, they are frightful in appearance and nature, and they suffer from various disabilities in increasing degrees. In these places, there are extremes of heat and cold. The residents of these hellish worlds suffer untold misery, though they seek to get some pleasure. Their lot is one of never-ending misery. They see others with extreme anger and with bloodshot eyes. They fight with each other like cats and dogs remembering their animosity in the previous lives. They cut each other mercilessly with their weapons and even with hands, feet and teeth. Their bodies become deformed and cut asunder into pieces. But like mercury, the parts of the body join again and form a whole. The hellish beings suffer indescribable pain when they are subjected to drink hot boiling lead. The devilish gods make them embrace the red-hot iron-bars and force them to climb the trees brimming with sharpest thorns. The devil-gods torturing them are most cruel. They are found to be going upto the first three nether worlds. They
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Şarvārthasiddhi 1 3, 1.
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