The ''sanskrit'' word Deva has multiple meanings in Jainism. In many places the word has been used to refer to the ''

Tirthankara In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (Sanskrit: '; English: literally a 'ford-maker') is a saviour and spiritual teacher of the ''dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a '' tirtha'', which is a fordable passag ...

s'' (spiritual teachers of Dharma). But in common usage it is used to refer to the heavenly beings. These beings are born instantaneously in special beds without any parents just like

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

beings (''naraki''). According to Jain texts, clairvoyance (''avadhi jnana'') based on birth is possessed by the celestial beings.

Classes of heavenly beings

According to Jain texts, the celestial beings are of four orders (classes):- * ''Bhavanavāsī'' (residential) * ''Vyantara'' (intermediaries or peripatetic) * ''Jyotiṣka'' (luminaries or stellar) * ''Vaimānika'' (Astral or heavenly beings) There are of ten, eight, five and twelve classes up to the Heavenly beings (''kalpavasis''). There are ten grades in each of these classes of celestial beings, the Lord (Indra), his Equal, the Minister, the courtiers, the bodyguards, the police, the army, the citizens, the servants, and the menials.

Abode

The abode of Devas is ''Svarga'' (heaven). According to Jain texts, persons with right faith (except those whose bondage of life-karma has been accomplished prior to their attainment of right belief) are reborn among the fourth order of ''devas'' and not among the three lower orders, namely the Residential, the Peripatetic and the Stellar ''devas''. Those practising restraint with attachment and restraint-cum-non-restraint are also characterized by right belief. Hence they are reborn in the higher heavens of ''Saudharma Kalpa'' and so on and not among the three lower orders of celestial beings. Merit which leads to the highest celestial state such as ''Sarvārthasiddhi'' is said to be acquired in the ''Bharata'', ''Airāvata'', and ''Videha Kshetra''

Lifetime

1. Minimum lifetime of the Residential ''devas'' is ten thousand years. 2. Peripatetic ''devas'' is a little over one ''palyopama''. 3. Stellar ''devas'' same as Peripatetic ''devas''.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

* {{Authority control Jain philosophical concepts Jain cosmology Heavenly attendants in Jainism