Chapter 4 · 53 sūtras
The Celestial Beings
Deva Adhyāya
The fourth chapter completes the survey of the four gatis by describing the gods. They fall into four orders — Bhavanavāsī (residential), Vyantara (peripatetic), Jyotiṣka (luminary) and Vaimānika (empyrean) — each with internal ranks modelled on a royal court: Indra, ministers, guards, citizens, servants. The chapter explains that the higher the heaven, the greater the lifespan, power, brilliance and purity of thought-tint, but the lesser the physical stature, pride and sensual craving. It closes by noting which souls can be reborn as which kind of god, and reminds the student that even the highest heaven is still saṃsāra.
Learning objectives
- Name the four orders of gods and one distinguishing feature of each.
- List the ten grades found in each order and explain the court model.
- Explain the inverse relationship between height in the heavens and stature, pride and craving.
- Identify the Jyotiṣka gods as the source of the measurement of time.
- Explain why the Graiveyaka and Anuttara heavens are special.
- Explain why godhood is not the goal of Jain practice.
Key concepts
- Four nikāyas
- Bhavanavāsī live in mansions below the earth's surface; Vyantara roam mountains, forests and space; Jyotiṣka are the sun, moon, planets, constellations and stars; Vaimānika inhabit the ordered heavens above Meru.
- The ten grades
- Indra, Sāmānika (equal in enjoyment but not lordship), Trāyastriṃśa (counsellors), Pāriṣadya (courtiers), Ātmarakṣa (bodyguards), Lokapāla (guardians), Anīka (army), Prakīrṇaka (citizens), Ābhiyogya (servants), Kilbiṣika (menials). The Jyotiṣka and Vyantara lack two of these.
- Kalpopapanna and kalpātīta
- Vaimānika gods up to the sixteen (or twelve) kalpas have the court hierarchy. Above them, the nine Graiveyakas and five Anuttaras are 'beyond the kalpas' — all are equal, all are 'Ahamindra', each his own Indra.
- Inverse gradation
- As one rises: lifespan, power, radiance, purity of leśyā and range of avadhi increase; while motion, stature, attachment and pride decrease. Higher gods are calmer, not greedier.
- The Anuttara gods
- Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta, Aparājita and Sarvārthasiddhi. Souls there have almost pure right faith and knowledge and take at most one or two more human births before liberation.
Diagrams
Each with its own hierarchy (4.1).
Lifespan, radiance and purity rise; stature, craving and pride fall (4.21-4.22).
Sūtras
53 key sūtras of this chapter, with word-level notes and cross-links.
- 4.1
देवाश्चतुर्णिकायाः
devāścaturṇikāyāḥ
The gods are of four orders.
The organising sūtra of the chapter. 'Nikāya' means a body or class — these are not four ranks of one class but four distinct kinds of celestial existence.
- 4.2
आदितस्त्रिषु पीतान्तलेश्याः
āditastriṣu pītāntaleśyāḥ
In the first three orders the thought-tints go up to yellow.
Leśyā is used as a spiritual thermometer. The first three orders have the lower and middle tints; only Vaimānika gods reach the higher, purer tints.
- 4.3
दशाष्टपञ्चद्वादशविकल्पाः कल्पोपपन्नान्ताः
daśāṣṭapañcadvādaśavikalpāḥ kalpopapannāntāḥ
They have ten, eight, five and twelve varieties respectively, ending with those born within the kalpas.
A tally sūtra: Bhavanavāsī have ten classes, Vyantara eight, Jyotiṣka five, and Vaimānika twelve (the twelve kalpas), before the kalpātīta gods are reached.
- 4.4
इन्द्रसामानिकत्रायस्त्रिंशपारिषद्यात्मरक्षलोकपालानीकप्रकीर्णकाभियोग्यकिल्बिषिकाश्चैकशः
indrasāmānikatrāyastriṃśapāriṣadyātmarakṣalokapālānīkaprakīrṇakābhiyogyakilbiṣikāścaikaśaḥ
Each order has Indras, equals, counsellors, courtiers, bodyguards, guardians, armies, citizens, servants and menials.
The heavens are described on the model of an ancient kingdom. The point is that even celestial life is structured by rank, service and inequality — that is, it is still karmically conditioned.
- 4.5
त्रायस्त्रिंशलोकपालवर्जा व्यन्तरज्योतिष्काः
trāyastriṃśalokapālavarjā vyantarajyotiṣkāḥ
The Vyantara and Jyotiṣka orders lack the Trāyastriṃśa and Lokapāla grades.
Only Bhavanavāsī and Vaimānika courts have the full ten ranks; the wandering and luminary gods have a simpler eightfold court.
- 4.6
पूर्वयोर्द्वीन्द्राः
pūrvayordvīndrāḥ
The first two orders have two Indras each (in each class).
Bhavanavāsī and Vyantara classes are each ruled by a pair of Indras — one in the southern and one in the northern half of their domain.
- 4.7
सागरोपमे स्थितिरधिके च
sāgaropame sthitiradhike ca
Their lifespan is a sāgaropama, and somewhat more for one of the two Indras.
Among the paired Indras of the Bhavanavāsī and Vyantara orders, the southern Indra's lifespan slightly exceeds that of the northern.
- 4.8
अपरा पल्योपमम्
aparā palyopamam
The minimum lifespan among these gods is a palyopama.
This sets the lower bound of celestial lifespan for Bhavanavāsī and Vyantara gods, contrasted with the sāgaropama maximum of the previous sūtra.
- 4.9
परा पल्योपममधिकं च ज्योतिष्काणाम्
parā palyopamamadhikaṃ ca jyotiṣkāṇām
Among the Jyotiṣka gods the maximum lifespan is a palyopama and somewhat more.
The luminary gods, though restless in motion, exceed the wandering gods slightly in maximum lifespan.
- 4.10
जघन्या त्वष्टभागः
jaghanyā tvaṣṭabhāgaḥ
Their minimum lifespan is one-eighth of a palyopama.
Completes the lifespan bracket for the Jyotiṣka order, whose gods live far shorter than the Vaimānika but still immensely longer than humans.
- 4.11
भवनवासिनोऽसुरनागविद्युत्सुपर्णाग्निवातस्तनितोदधिद्वीपदिक्कुमाराः
bhavanavāsino'suranāgavidyutsuparṇāgnivātastanitodadhidvīpadikkumārāḥ
The residential gods are the Asura, Nāga, Vidyut, Suparṇa, Agni, Vāta, Stanita, Udadhi, Dvīpa and Dik Kumāras.
Ten classes, all called 'Kumāra' (youth) because of their perpetually youthful appearance, dress and playful temperament.
- 4.12
व्यन्तराः किन्नरकिम्पुरुषमहोरगगन्धर्वयक्षराक्षसभूतपिशाचाः
vyantarāḥ kinnarakimpuruṣamahoragagandharvayakṣarākṣasabhūtapiśācāḥ
The peripatetic gods are Kinnaras, Kimpuruṣas, Mahoragas, Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Bhūtas and Piśācas.
These are the folk deities of popular religion, placed here in the system: real beings, low in the celestial order, and emphatically not objects of worship for one seeking liberation.
- 4.13
ज्योतिष्काः सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ ग्रहनक्षत्रप्रकीर्णकतारकाश्च
jyotiṣkāḥ sūryācandramasau grahanakṣatraprakīrṇakatārakāśca
The luminaries are the suns and moons, planets, constellations and scattered stars.
The heavenly bodies are themselves the vehicles of gods. Their movement around Meru is what constitutes the divisions of time.
- 4.14
मेरुप्रदक्षिणा नित्यगतयो नृलोके
meruprapradakṣiṇā nityagatayo nṛloke
In the human world they move perpetually around Meru.
Circumambulation of Meru gives day and night. Outside the human world the luminaries are stationary, so there is no reckoning of time by them there.
- 4.15
तत्कृतः कालविभागः
tatkṛtaḥ kālavibhāgaḥ
The divisions of time are made by their movement.
Conventional time (vyāvahārika kāla) is measured by celestial motion, as distinct from kāla as a substance, treated in chapter 5.
- 4.16
बहिरवस्थिताः
bahiravasthitāḥ
Outside the human world they are stationary.
Beyond Manuṣyaloka the luminaries hang fixed in place; without their motion there is no day, night or calendar there, only in the inhabited middle world.
- 4.17
वैमानिकाः
vaimānikāḥ
The empyrean gods.
So called because they dwell in vimānas — celestial vehicles or palaces — arranged in ordered tiers above Meru.
- 4.18
कल्पोपपन्नाः कल्पातीताश्च
kalpopapannāḥ kalpātītāśca
They are born within the kalpas or beyond the kalpas.
The dividing line of celestial society. Below it, hierarchy; above it, equality — every god of the Graiveyakas and Anuttaras is an Ahamindra.
- 4.19
ब्रह्मलोकालयाः लान्तका महाशुक्रसहस्रारेषु सप्तेन्द्राष्टकं भवति
brahmalokālayāḥ lāntakā mahāśukrasahasrāreṣu saptendrāṣṭakaṃ bhavati
The twelve kalpas are named Saudharma, Aiśāna, Sanatkumāra, Māhendra, Brahmaloka, Lāntaka, Mahāśukra, Sahasrāra, Ānata, Prāṇata, Āraṇa and Acyuta.
The full roster of the ranked heavens, arranged in ascending pairs; above Acyuta there is no more Indra-based hierarchy.
- 4.20
नवसु ग्रैवेयकेषु विजयादिषु चतुर्षु सर्वार्थसिद्धौ च
navasu graiveyakeṣu vijayādiṣu caturṣu sarvārthasiddhau ca
Beyond them are the nine Graiveyakas, the four heavens beginning with Vijaya, and Sarvārthasiddhi.
These fourteen kalpātīta abodes complete the Vaimānika tally: nine 'necklace' heavens and five Anuttaras, of which Sarvārthasiddhi is the summit.
- 4.21
स्थितिप्रभावसुखद्युतिलेश्याविशुद्धीन्द्रियावधिविषयतोऽधिकाः
sthitiprabhāvasukhadyutileśyāviśuddhīndriyāvadhiviṣayato'dhikāḥ
In lifespan, power, happiness, radiance, purity of thought-tint, sense-range and clairvoyance-range, they are progressively greater.
One half of the gradation rule. Note that 'purity of leśyā' is listed among the increases — the higher heavens are morally as well as materially superior.
- 4.22
गतिशरीरपरिग्रहाभिमानतो हीनाः
gatiśarīraparigrahābhimānato hīnāḥ
In motion, stature, possessions and pride, they are progressively less.
The complement of the previous sūtra, and the ethically important half: spiritual altitude shows itself as less restlessness, less bulk, less grasping and less ego.
- 4.23
सौधर्मादिषु यथाक्रमम्
saudharmādiṣu yathākramam
In Saudharma and the heavens above it, the grades occur in the same ascending order.
The court hierarchy of sūtra 4 applies rank by rank as one rises through the kalpas, up to the boundary of kalpopapanna existence.
- 4.24
आ ऐशानात् कल्पद्वयेन्द्रयोः सामान्यम्
ā aiśānāt kalpadvayendrayoḥ sāmānyam
Up to Aiśāna the two Indras of the first two kalpas share a common general order.
Saudharma and Aiśāna, though ruled by separate Indras, together form a single tier in the overall Vaimānika structure.
- 4.25
सिद्धस्य च मध्ये लोकान्तिकाः
brahmalokālaye ṣv arciṣmatpraṇītāḥ lokāntikāḥ
In the Brahmaloka heaven dwell the Lokāntika gods.
The Lokāntika gods, resident in the eighth heaven's outer ring, are all bound for a single further human birth ending in liberation, and it is they who traditionally urge a Tīrthaṅkara toward renunciation.
- 4.26
कायप्रविचारा आ ऐशानात्
kāyapraviṇcārā ā aiśānāt
Up to Aiśāna heaven, sexual enjoyment is by body.
The following sūtras trace a striking progression: bodily union, then touch, then sight, then sound, then mere thought — and above the kalpas, none at all. Craving thins out as purity increases.
- 4.27
शेषाः स्पर्शरूपशब्दमनःप्रवीचारा द्वयोर्द्वयोः
śeṣāḥ sparśarūpaśabdamanaḥpravīcārā dvayordvayoḥ
The remaining pairs of heavens enjoy sexual satisfaction by touch, by sight, by sound and by mind, respectively.
Continuing from Aiśāna's bodily union, each successive pair of kalpas is content with a subtler mode: touch, then a glance, then a sound, then a mere thought.
- 4.28
परेऽप्रवीचाराः
pare'pravīcārāḥ
The gods beyond these are free of sexual craving altogether.
From Ānata upward, and certainly in the Graiveyakas and Anuttaras, desire has thinned to nothing; purity of leśyā has replaced craving entirely.
- 4.29
पीतपद्मशुक्ललेश्या द्वित्रिशेषेषु
pītapadmaśuklaleśyā dvitriśeṣeṣu
Yellow, pink and white thought-tints occur respectively in the next two, next three, and remaining heavens.
Refines the earlier statement about leśyā: within the Vaimānika order itself the tint keeps rising, with the purest white confined to the topmost heavens.
- 4.30
प्राग् ग्रैवेयकेभ्यः कल्पाः
prāg graiveyakebhyaḥ kalpāḥ
Before the Graiveyakas come the kalpas.
A structural marker fixing that the twelve ranked heavens precede, and are distinct from, the unranked Graiveyaka abodes above them.
- 4.31
ब्रह्मलोकालयाः लान्तवकाः
brahmalokālayā lāntavakāḥ
The Lāntaka gods dwell above the Brahmaloka.
A geographic note situating the sixth kalpa directly above the fifth, continuing the ascent begun in sūtra 19.
- 4.32
स्थितिः प्रकर्षतो द्वादशयोजनसहस्राणि
sthitiḥ prakarṣato dvādaśayojanasahasrāṇi
The maximum lifespan in the lowest kalpa is measured in sāgaropamas rising toward the higher heavens.
Introduces the systematic account of maximum lifespans: two sāgaropamas in Saudharma, rising heaven by heaven to thirty-three in Sarvārthasiddhi.
- 4.33
अपरा तु पूर्वा पूर्वापेक्षया विशेषाधिका
aparā tu pūrvā pūrvāpekṣayā viśeṣādhikā
The minimum lifespan in each heaven slightly exceeds the maximum of the heaven just below it.
There is no gap between the heavens: the lowest lifespan possible in a higher abode is fractionally more than the highest lifespan possible in the one beneath it.
- 4.34
सर्वार्थसिद्धे तु
sarvārthasiddhe tu
But in Sarvārthasiddhi this rule does not apply.
Since Sarvārthasiddhi is the single highest abode with no heaven above it, its gods share one uniform lifespan of thirty-three sāgaropamas.
- 4.35
अपरिगृहीता देव्यः परिगृहीताश्च कल्पेषु
aparigṛhītā devyaḥ parigṛhītāśca kalpeṣu
Among the gods of the kalpas there are both unattached and attached goddesses.
In the lower heavens celestial consorts exist in two conditions, married and unmarried, reflecting the persisting, if attenuated, craving of these realms.
- 4.36
ता आ ऐशानात्
tā ā aiśānāt
These goddesses exist only up to Aiśāna heaven.
Above the second heaven there are no more goddesses at all; enjoyment there is entirely without female consorts, in keeping with the thinning of craving.
- 4.37
शेषास्त्वप्रवीचारा एव
śeṣāstvapravīcārā eva
The remaining gods are entirely without sexual enjoyment.
Restates and confirms that all the higher kalpas, the Graiveyakas and the Anuttaras are wholly free of the residue of sexual craving.
- 4.38
पूर्वं पूर्वं प्रीतिकरम्
pūrvaṃ pūrvaṃ prītikaram
Each preceding mode of union gives more pleasure than the one after it.
Counter-intuitively, the coarser bodily mode of union among the lower gods is described as more intensely pleasurable than the subtler modes above.
- 4.39
आपराजितादेकावतारिणः
āparājitādekāvatārinaḥ
From Vijaya up to Aparājita, the gods will take at most one more birth as a human before liberation.
The four Anuttaras beneath Sarvārthasiddhi already guarantee a nearly final rebirth; these gods possess right faith of an exceptionally settled kind.
- 4.40
औपपातिकमनुष्येभ्योऽन्यत्र
aupapātikamanuṣyebhyo'nyatra
The clairvoyant knowledge of these gods extends everywhere except among beings born by spontaneous generation and lowest humans.
Even the exalted avadhi-jñāna of the Anuttara gods has a defined field; certain classes of embodied beings fall outside its direct range.
- 4.41
गतिस्थितेस्त्वेकादश
gatisthitestvekādaśa
But regarding motion and habitation, this restriction extends only up to the eleventh heaven.
The unhindered movement enjoyed by lower gods (visiting Nandīśvara and the middle world) is bounded; beyond a certain point in the kalpas, the gods no longer descend.
- 4.42
औपपातिकमनुष्येभ्यः शेषास्तिर्यग्योनयः
aupapātikamanuṣyebhyaḥ śeṣāstiryagyonayaḥ
Apart from beings born by descent and humans, the rest are of the animal order.
A structural sūtra completing the four gatis: whatever is neither a god, hell-being nor human is tiryañc — and tiryañc are by far the most numerous.
- 4.43
समूर्च्छनजमन्तरा
samūrcchanajamantarā
Some of these animal-born beings arise spontaneously by aggregation, without an intervening womb.
Among the tiryañc, the lowest and simplest life forms (like many one-sensed beings) come into existence by mere congealing of matter, not by sexual generation.
- 4.44
गर्भव्युत्क्रान्तयो रजोऽनुरागा जरायुजाण्डजपोतजाः
garbhavyutkrāntayo rajo'nurāgā jarāyujāṇḍajapotajāḥ
Womb-born beings, arising from the union of parental fluids, are placenta-born, egg-born or born fully formed.
Higher tiryañc and humans arise by conception; this sūtra distinguishes mammals, oviparous creatures, and those born already developed.
- 4.45
देवनारकाणामुपपातः
devanārakāṇāmupapātaḥ
Gods and hell-beings arise by spontaneous rebirth (upapāta).
Neither gods nor hell-beings pass through a womb; they appear fully formed on a couch or in a chamber, the third of the three modes of birth alongside sammūrchana and garbha.
- 4.46
नारकसम्मूर्च्छिनो नपुंसकानि
nārakasammūrcchino napuṃsakāni
Hell-beings and spontaneously generated beings are all of neuter sex.
Neither hell-beings nor the simplest one-sensed and aggregated life forms possess a determinate male or female gender; only womb-born and celestially-born beings do.
- 4.47
औपपातिकचरमोत्तमदेहासंख्येयवर्षायुषोऽनपवर्त्यायुषः
aupapātikacaramottamadehāsaṃkhyeyavarṣāyuṣo'napavartyāyuṣaḥ
Beings born by upapāta, those in their last body, those of the highest embodiment, and beings whose lifespan is innumerable years, do not have their lifespan cut short.
For gods, hell-beings, those destined for liberation in this very life, and beings of the ancient long-lived Kuru lands, the karmic lifespan cannot be prematurely terminated by accident.
- 4.48
तद्भवमौपपातिकम्
tadbhavamaupapātikam
Birth by upapāta occurs immediately in that very body, without intervening development.
Unlike womb-birth's gradual growth, a god or hell-being manifests instantly at full size, appropriate to its station.
- 4.49
स्थितिरधस्तनेषु सागरोपमे
sthitiradhastaneṣu sāgaropame
In the lowest heaven the lifespan reaches up to two sāgaropamas.
Anchors the ladder of Vaimānika lifespans described in sūtra 32 with the concrete figure for Saudharma, the first kalpa.
- 4.50
सप्तदशैकविंशतित्रयोविंशत्यष्टाविंशतित्रयस्त्रिंशत्सागरोपमाणि
saptadaśaikaviṃśatitrayoviṃśatyaṣṭāviṃśatitrayastriṃśatsāgaropamāṇi
Seventeen, twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-eight, and thirty-three sāgaropamas mark successive Graiveyaka and Anuttara lifespans.
Completes the ascending lifespan figures culminating in Sarvārthasiddhi's thirty-three sāgaropamas, the maximum possible for any embodied soul.
- 4.51
अपरा जघन्येन
aparā jaghanyena
The minimum lifespan of the lower gods and hell-beings is correspondingly the shortest.
Sets the floor of the celestial lifespan scale, complementing the ceiling figures just given, and mirroring the parallel account of hell in chapter three.
- 4.52
नारकाणां च द्वितीयादिषु
nārakāṇāṃ ca dvitīyādiṣu
Similarly for hell-beings, from the second hell downward, the maximum equals the minimum of the hell above increased slightly.
By analogy with the gods, this closes the account of celestial and infernal lifespans on the same continuous, gapless scale.
- 4.53
सर्वार्थसिद्धेऽपराजितादिषु त्रयस्त्रिंशत्
sarvārthasiddhe'parājitādiṣu trayastriṃśat
In Sarvārthasiddhi and the neighbouring Aparājita and other Anuttara heavens, the lifespan is thirty-three sāgaropamas.
The longest celestial life. A soul in Sarvārthasiddhi is 'eka-bhava-avatārī' — one human birth away from liberation. Even so, the text presents this as a delay, not a destination.