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116
body, unlike the karmaṇa, does not last so long as the worldly existence lasts, but that, like the āhāraka body, it is acquired only through a super-ordinary power. On this view, at the time of transmigratory motion there remains with a soul just the kārmaṇa body. Thus in that case there arises the possibility of a soul possessing just one body.
Question: It has been said that the super-ordinary power of vaikriya-formation and that of. āhāraka-formation these two are never exercised simultaneously. Why is that so?
TATTVARTHA SUTRA
Answer At the time when the super-ordinary power of vaikriya-formation is exercised and when a vaikriya body is thus formed the soul concerned is necessarily in a state of negligence1. But such is not the case with the aharaka body; for even if the exercise of the super-ordinary power of āhāraka-formation takes place in a state of negligence when the āhāraka body is thus formed a state of lack of negligence ensues on account of the possibility of spiritual purification. Hence it is that the simultaneous exercise of the two super-ordinary powers in question is impossible. The idea is that when it is said that five bodies do not exist simultaneously the reference is to these bodies appearing in a manifested form. On the other hand, so far as the capacity to form these bodies is concerned all the five of them can well appear simultaneously; for a monk possessing the superordinary power of āhāraka-formation can well possess that of vaikriya-formation as well. 44.
Purpose:
Every thing serves some purpose or other, so the bodies too must serve some purpose. But the question is as to what is their chief purpose and as to whether this purpose is common to all the bodies or it exhibits some peculiarity in one case or another. It is this question that is answered here. The chief purpose of a body is upabhoga which is possible only on the part
1. The idea occurs in the Bhasyavṛtti on chapter 2, aphorism 44.
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