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should one deny oneself. One who denies the world (of waterbodied being), denies himself, and one who denies himself denies
the world (of water-bodied beings). Thus do I say. Bhāsyam Sutra 39
There are water-bodied beings that are too subtle to be perceptible to the naked eye. The Sūtra advices us to know them in comparison to ourselves. One should not deny their existence as one cannot deny the existence of oneself. To the query why one should not deny them, the answer is that their denial would involve the denial of oneself inasmuch as oneâs soul was subject to birth as water-bodied being infinite times in the past. In other words, the denial of them is evidently the denial of the vicissitudes of oneself.
Asks the disciple: O Lord, it is very difficult to understand the nature of water-bodied beings, because it is said that they neither hear, nor see, nor smell, nor taste, nor are they found to feel pleasure and pain, there is no throb of life in them, no respiration. Why should they be considered as possessed of souls? The reply to this query is provided by the Ācārānga Niryukti. Just as the body of the elephant embryo at the time of conception, and the watery egg are both sentient liquids, exactly so the water-bodied beings are sentient. This can be syllogized as follows:
Thesis - Water-bodied beings are sentient. Reason - Because they are liquid, and not injured by any weapon.
Concomitance - Whatever is liquid and not injured by any weapon is necessarily sentient. Example - (1) Like the embryo (kalala) that is the material cause of the body of the
elephant. (2) Like the liquid in the egg that has not developed the organs and
where the limbs and the like have not grown.
This problem can also be considered from the standpoint of science. The scientists do not admit the production of water in the absence of oxygen. Does not this necessity of oxygen to produce water prove that there is soul in water?
As in case of earth-bodied beings in the Sūtra 28 above, one should elaborate the concept of water-bodied beings under the sixteen items beginning with respiration and ending in psychical colouring.'
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