The specific
duration for which a Jiva stays within a specific body is described as Ayu. The
Nimitta for this Ayu is known as Ayu Karma. The Ayu Karmas are of four kinds
corresponding to the four types of Gatis, namely Manushya, Tiryanch, Deva and
Narak. However there is a difference between Gati and Ayu. The Gati karma is
part of Naam Karma which is bonded at every moment of a Jiva’s life. At any
given moment a Jiva may be bonding one of the four Gatis depending upon his
bhavas. However the Ayu karma is bonded only on eight occasions in a jiva’s
life which are known as Apakarsha. Once a specific Ayu has been bonded and is
now under fruition, accordingly the Gati Naam Karma would also fructify of the
same type. The other Gati naam karmas which are not fructifying would also be
under fruition by a process called Sankraman (conversion) wherein they would be
converted into the Gati of the kind same as the Ayu of the Jiva, fructify and wither
away.
Ayu Karma
is known to be of two kinds – 1.
Bhujyamaan i.e. the Ayu presently under
fruition and 2. Badhyamaan i.e. the Ayu bound for the next birth. The Badhyamaan
ayu is necessarily bound before the expiry of the current ayu so that the Jiva
may take the requisite form in the next birth after completion of present Ayu.
The
Bhujyamaan Ayu under fruition currently cannot be increased by any means. However it can be reduced by a process
called Kadali-ghat which can be termed as accidental death. With this process
the jiva can suddenly die with the withering away of his current ayukarma.
However if the jiva has already bonded with the next ayu then such a
Kadali-ghat is not possible. Only if he has not bonded the next ayu, then he
can undergo the process of Kadali ghat wherein he bonds with the next ayu and immediately
withers away the current ayu.
The
Badhyamaan ayu can be increased or decreased depending upon the manifestations
of the Jiva. However once a Ayu of specific Gati has been bonded, it cannot be
converted into Ayu of another Gati. Necessarily the Ayu of that specific Gati
which has been bonded first will have to be enjoyed although the duration may
reduce or increase.
Manushya Ayu : To understand the functioning of Apakarsh let us imagine a jiva has died in
the form of a tiryanch and is going to take birth in the form of Manushya. From
the instant of death as Tiryanch, his Manushya Ayu starts fruition (which he
had bonded as Tiryanch earlier). Firstly he enters a transit stage which is
known as Vigrah Gati wherein he does not have physical body but only karmic and
tejas particles body in the shape of the tiryanch which he has just completed.
Here the jiva transits for a maximum of
three samaya period to the place where he is
supposed to take birth in Manushya form. From any point in the Lokakash he can
transit at very high speed in three samaya wherein he travels parallel to axes of
lok and can reach the destination without transiting diagonally.
Once he has
reached the destination he takes birth as an aparyapta (incomplete) jiva wherein
his body, senses, speech, mind etc. start getting formed. This duration is one
antarmuhurta (less than 48 minutes). At the end of it he manifests as Paryapta
jiva with a completed body and mind with speech. This period should not
mistaken to be pregnancy period since the actual birth still takes nine months.
However the jiva has already started living his Manushya Ayu which he had
contracted since the instant he departed from his Tiryanch body. At this stage
it would be interesting to comment that some people who take great pains to plan the birth of a child
at specific auspicious instant ( by undergoing surgery) should know that the
birth of the child had already taken place much-much earlier since his Manushya
Ayu had started and the jiva is already in existence. Therefore his fate is
already sealed.
If a jiva
dies before completing his Paryapti then he is known as Aparyapt Jiva who had
accrued bondage of Aparyapta body only. This duration would be less than
Antarmuhurta. On the other hand once a Jiva has accrued bondage of Paryapta
body then he cannot die before completing his Paryapta form. This period is minimum
of Anatarmuhurta. Subsequently the Jiva is Paryapta for life. In the Aparyapta
forms the least ayu a jiva can have is known to be Labdhi Aparyapta Jiva. Jivas
of all forms from one sensed to five sensed manushyas can have Labdhi Aparyapta
form wherein the Ayu is just 1/18th of a breath period. In fact the
same Jiva can complete 66336 birth cycles of different froms from one sensed to five sensed in one Anatarmuhurta.
It may be noted that Aparyapta forms are not possible in Narak or Deva Gati.
All jivas born there are Paryapta only
and cannot die before completing their accrued bondage of Ayu Karma.
Now let us imagine
that the accrued Ayu of of a Manushya Jiva was 6561 years which we call as
BhujyaMaan Ayu since he would live that long barring any untoward death due to
Kadalighat. After completion of two third of that Ayu he has remaining 2187
years to live. This is the moment of first Apakarsh (occasion) wherein he can
now accrue the Ayu corresponding to next birth. The period of this Apakarsh is
one Antarmuhurta (less than 48 minutes max). Actually jiva has no control of
his own, the manifestation depends upon his karmas and bhavas. If the jiva does
not accrue bondage of next Ayu then after passage of two third of remaining
2187 years i.e. with a balance of 729 years remaining the next Apakarsh occurs.
Here again he can bond with the Ayu corresponding to next birth within a period
of an Antarmuhurta max. If he does not bond the same then with passage of two
third of remaining 729 years i.e. with balance of 243 years the third Apakarsh
occurs. If he does not bond the Ayu karma now, then the fourth Apakarsh occurs
with 81 years remaining. In the same way the 5th, 6th, 7th,
8th Apakarsh occur with 27,
9, 3 and 1 year remaining of the existing Ayu. Each time there is a window of
antarmuhurta period within which he can bond with Ayu karma of the next birth.
However it is not necessary that the ayu has to be bonded in these eight
Apakarsh.
Now if a
jiva has not bonded with the Ayu for next birth then how does he accrue the
same? When the of life period as small
as innumerable division of one Avali ( measure of time far smaller than a
second) is remaining, prior to that the Jiva bonds with the Ayu for next birth
in a period of Antarmuhurta.
It may be
noted that once a Jiva has bonded with Ayu for the next birth, the balance of
Bhjuamaan Ayu becomes Abadha Kaal ( quiescent period ) for the Badhyamaan Ayu.
Although the Badhyamaan Ayu has not come into fruition as yet but the waiting
period has started. This period cannot be changed now. It means that the jiva
who has bonded with Ayu of the next birth cannot die out of Kadali Ghat. Only
those jivas who have not yet bonded with the Ayu of next birth can undergo
Kadali Ghat. Although it is a must that even the jiva undergoing Kadali Ghat
should bond with next Ayu prior to death, the event unfolds in different
manner. Necessarily the Jiva bonds with the Ayu of next birth just prior to
Kadali Ghat and within a very short period of innumerable portion of one Avali
he dissipates his entire Ayu karma and dies.
This Kadali
Ghat can occur due to suicide, accident, murder etc. different ways. To some
people it may appear that Kadali Ghat establishes that everything is not as per
destiny and things may not happen as they are destined to be. But this is
incorrect. All the events which occur
happen in accordance with how they are reflected in the knowledge of Kevali
Bhagwan. Although me or you may not know that a particular jiva may die of
kadali ghat, Kvali Bhagwan is aware of the same. Hence even Kadali Ghat is
predestined.
Out of the Jivas of all the four gatis
only tiryanch and Manushya of
Karma Bhoomi can die with kadali ghat.
Devas or Narakis cannot die earlier than their bonded ayu, nor can Manushya or
Tiryanch of Bhog Bhoomi. For those who are not familiar with the term
BhogBhoomi, the periods corresponding to first, second and third kaals of
present Avasarpini Kaal of our Bharat Kshetra where we reside happened to
correspond to periods of Bhog Bhoomi wherein the Ayu of Jivas is upto three palyopam, two palyopam and one palyopam
respectively. The Palyopam is term corrrepsonding to innumerable period of time
and ten kodakodi palyopam is equal to one Sagar
of time. Besides Bharat Kshetra where BhogBhoomi is not permanent, there
are permanent BhogBhoomis of Uttam(best), Madhyam (medium) and Jaghanya (least)
kinds wherein the Munushya and tiryanch who are destined to take birth in Deva
Gati next take birth in BhogBhoomi. It means that after Bhogbhoomi they would
take birth next in Deva Lok only. Further they do not have Kadali ghat in
Bhogbhoomi. The minimum Ayu is one Poorva koti plus one samaya which is higher
than the maximum ayu one can have as Manushya or tiryanch in Karma Bhoomi which
is one poorva koti.
Tiryanch
Ayu : While the number of Paryapta Manushya Jivas are said
to be numerable only and the aparyapta
Manushyas are innumerable, the Tiryanch Jivas are infinite hence they really
form bulk of the jiva forms. Of these the one sensed comprise of five kinds
Prithvi, Agni, Vayu, Jala and Vanaspati kayik jivas who are said to have bodies
of the kind of Prithvi, Agni, Vayu, Jala or Vanaspati forms. Again of these the
Vanaspati bodies support Nigod Jivas. The maximum Ayu of such Jivas is
mentioned in a table enclosed.
While Sangyi
Panchendriya Tiryanch can take births in all Tiryanch, Manushya, Deva of Narak
gati, the Asangyi tiryanch of lower order can take birth in tiryanch or
manushya form. Still it may be noted that Agni Kayik of Vayu Kayik Jivas cannot
take birth as Manushya Jivas. They necessarily take birth in tiryanch forms
only.
At this
point it would be worthwhile to list the various rules corresponding to birth
and death in Manushya and Tiryanch Gatis:
1. While for Manushya and Tiryanch of
Karma Bhoomi the ayu karma for next birth is bonded after completion of two
third of Bhujyamaan ayu (at least), the same rule does not apply to BhogBhoomi.
In Bhog Bhoomi the next Ayu is bonded when nine months of balance Ayu is
remaining ( in some other reference it is six months) and subsequent Apakarsh
occur when two third of remaining period is completed. Similarly next Apakarsh
would occur after two third of balance being completed and so on.
2. Jivas who are Samyak Drishti in
Manushya or Tiryanch Gati cannot die and take birth as Naraki, Manushya or
Tiryanch. They necessarily would bond with Deva Ayu. If a Jiva had bonded Narak
Ayu prior to attaining Samyaktva then he cannot die with Samyaktva. Necessarily
he would revert to Mithytva before death and can take birth in any of the four
gatis.
3. There is a corollary to the rule
described above. If the Jiva has attained Kshayik Samyak darshan (attained with
complete destruction of Darshan Mohaniya
karmas) then he can take birth in Narak if already accrued. However it
would not be higher than first Narak and duration is not more than 84000 years.
At this juncture it is worthwhile to recall the story of King Shrenik who is
going to be first Tirthankara of next cycle in Bharat Kshetra. He accrued ayu
of 33 sagar in seventh Narak on account of disrespect to Muni. However at a
later stage he attained Kshayik Samyak darshan in the Samosharan of Bhagwan
Mahaveer. This caused the Narak Ayu to be slashed to 84000 years only in the
first Narak.
4. Jivas who had already accrued ayu of
Tiryanch or Manushya gati prior to attaining Kshayik Samyak darshan, then they
take birth in Bhog Bhoomi only, from where they can proceed to Deva Gati in
next birth. However in Bhog Bhoomi one cannot have greater than fourth
gunasthana.
5. A normal Mithyadrishti Jiva can bond
with all four gati Ayu. However for bonding with Deva or Narak ayu he has to be
Sangyi Panchendriya at least. Since Manushya are anyway Sangyi Panchendriya
therefore they can bond with Ayu of all four Gatis. However in Tiryanch, one to
four sensed Jivas are Asangyi (without
mind). Asangyi panchendriya tiryanch also exist. They cannot bond with Deva or Narak Ayu.
Sangyi Panchedriya jivas can accrue ayu of all four gati.
6. The minimum Ayu in Deva or narak Gati
is 10000 years and maximum in both is 33 sagar. In Manushya and Tiryanch Gati
the minimum ayu is that of Labdhi Aparyaptak Jiva which is equal to 1/18th
of the period of one breath. The maximum Ayu in both of them is one poorva
koti, barring that of Bhog Bhoomi which is already mentioned above.
7. In Tiryanch Gati the maximum Ayu for
different sensed jivas are different.
|
Type of
Jiva |
Maximum
Ayu |
|
Ekendriya Prithvikayik |
22000 years |
|
Ekendriya Jalakayik |
7000 years |
|
Ekendriya Agnikayik |
3 days |
|
Ekendriya Vayukayik |
3000 years |
|
Ekendriya Vegetable |
10000 years |
|
Vikalenriya two sensed |
12 years |
|
Vikalendriya three sensed |
49 days |
|
Vikalendriya four sensed |
6 months |
|
Panchandriya Asangyi |
1 crore poorva |
|
Panchendriya Sangyi |
1 crore poorva |
Narak Ayu
: As mentioned earlier only sangyi panchendriya jivas
take birth in narak gati having accrued narak ayu on account of their karmas. A
jiva is always born as Paryapta and always completes the Ayu contracted before
exiting from Narak. Even though the Jiva may wish earlier death he cannot die
earlier. The Minimum Ayu is 10000 years in 1st level of Narak while the maximum
ayu is 33 sagar in 7th level of the Narak which is the worst. All
jivas born in Narak are necessarily Napunsak Ling only. While in Manushya Gati
and Tiryanch Gati jivas are born of all the three genders, there is only one
gender in Narak gati. Six months prior to completion of Narak Ayu he can have
first Apakarsh wherein he can bond with the Ayu pertaining to next birth. If he
does not accrue bondage of the same, the next Apakarsh occurs when 2/3rd
of the balance 6 months are completed and so on. In this way eight Apakarsh are
encountered. If he still does not bond with the Ayu then he would bond the same
when innumerable portion of Avali period is remaining prior to his death.
One does not
bond with Deva Ayu while in Narak, hence he can bond with Tiryanch or Manushya
Ayu only. That too is that of Sangyi Panchendriya only. However if some one had
attained Samyak Darshan in Narak then he would accrue Manushya Ayu only.
Another rule
is corresponding to 7th Narak. From 7th Narak one cannot
die as Samyak Drishti although they can attain the same while being there.
Necessarily they would revert to Mithyatva before death. The reason is that
they cannot take birth as Manushya. They would take birth as Tiryanch only.
Lastly it
may be noted that Tiryanch or Manushya with female gender cannot accrue bondage
of 7th Narak Ayu . They can only bond with 5th Narak Ayu
at most.
Deva Ayu
: Like Narak ayu,
only sangyi panchendriya jivas can accrue ayu pertaining to Deva Gati. Here
too the Jiva is born as Paryapta and
does not suffer premature death. In Deva Gati there is no Neuter gender hence
Jivas are born as Male or Female Devas only. However the Ayu ranges are different
for them. While a male deva can have ayu ranging from 10000 years minimum to 33
sagar maximum, the Ayu of a Devi would range from 10000 years to 55 Palyopam
maximum.
Six months
prior to death, the Devas or Devis encounter the first Apakarsh for bonding
with the Ayu pertaining to the next birth. They also encounter eight Apakarsh
similar to that of Narak Gati. Lastly if they have not bonded with Ayu in those
eight Apakarsh then they bond it just prior to death with innumerable portion
of Avali period remaining. Another feature is that the Devas wear a garland
around their neck which indicates to them when their Ayu is going to be over.
Six months prior to death the garland withers away which is indicative of six
months of Ayu remaining.
Devas a cannot take birth in Narak after death
next hence they can accrue Tiryanch or Manushya Ayu of Sangyi Panchendriya.
However there is an important difference. Devas upto the level of first level of Vaimanik devas
i.e. Soudharma-Eishan swarga inclusive of three kinds of lower order Bhavanatrik devas can accrue ayu of ekendriya
Jiva and can directly take birth as an ekendriya. One can imagine the fall of deva from the
lofty position of Deva gati to that of one sensed ekendriya jiva and see how
the nature plays its role. However he does not take birth as ekendriya
Agnikayik or Vyukayik jiva. But he can take birth as remaining ekendriya jiva
of badar form. Depending upon the bhavas
of the deva he accrues the ayu corresponding to ekendriya. It also goes to
prove that one cannot be satisfied with being deva just because punya karmas
were accrued. The enjoyments of those punyas only lead to the down fall and
life goes round a full circle.
Conclusion
: The objective of this article is just to show how the
Ayu karma works and how the jiva transmigrates from one gati to next. It has to
be remembered that a jiva spends most of his time in Nigod form which is called as Nitya Nigod
wherein he has always stayed permanently. By some chance of destiny he comes
out and take birth as ekendriya jiva of the five kinds known as Sthavar Jivas.
In this form also he stays for immensely
long period of time before he gets a chance to be born as Trasa Jiva. The
maximum duration of time that he can stay as Trasa is 2000 Sagar after which
definitely he would revert to ekendriya form. Here the trasa form implies
transmigration into gatis of Tiryanch, Manushya, Deva and Naraki. Once he goes
back to ekendriya form then it may again take enormous amount of time before he
may get a chance to take birth as Trasa jiva. These transmigrations are
dependent upon the bhavas of the Jiva which decide upon the type of Ayu and
gati etc. that he would bond with. Hence one should realise that he does not
know how much time he has left to do something for his own spiritual
upliftment.
The End
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