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TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
uptil the second, the birds uptil the third, the lions uptil the fourth, the serpents uptil the fifth, the women uptil the sixth, the fishes and human beings uptil the seventh. The idea is that only the animals and human beings-not the heavenly beings and hellish beings—can be born in a hellish ground, the reason for it is that the heavenly beings and hellish beings are devoid of such (spiritual) states as are responsible for birth in a hellish ground. As a matter of fact, the hellish beings can, after their death, be born neither among the hellish beings nor among the heavenly beings; they can be born only among the animals or among the human beings.
The hellish beings belonging to the first three grounds can, when they are born among the human beings, even attain the status of a tīrthankara; those belonging to the first four grounds can then even attain mokşa; those belonging to the first five grounds can then attain total discipline; those belonging to the first six grounds can then attain partial discipline; those belonging to any of the seven grounds can then attain right-inclination.
The Possibility of Continents, Oceans etc. :
În none of the hellish grounds, except ratnaprabhā, are there to be found either continents, oceans, mountains, ponds, or villages, towns etc; or the gross plant-bodied beings like trees creepers etc., or the beings from two-sensed upto the five-sensed ones, or the human beings, or any of the types of heavenly beings. Here an exception is made in the case of ratnaprabhā because a small part of it is situated in the middle loka-portionthe loka—portion that is transverse—and in that part there can well be found the just mentioned phenomena like continents, oceans, villages, towns, plants, animals, human beings, heavenly beings. In the six grounds that remain there after excluding ratnaprabhā there are to be found only the hellish beings and certain one-sensed beings. To this general rule there are however several exceptions; for in the case of these six hellish grounds sometimes and at some places it can possibly happen that they are occupied also by certain human beings, heavenly beings and
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