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The Sanskrit wordDeva has multiple meanings in Jainism. In many places the word has been used to refer to theTirthankaras (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 likehell beings (naraki).[1][2] According to Jain texts, clairvoyance (avadhi jnana) based on birth is possessed by the celestial beings.[3]
According to Jain texts, the celestial beings are of four orders (classes):[4][5]-
There are of ten, eight, five and twelve classes up to the Heavenly beings (kalpavasis).[further explanation needed] 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.[6]
The abode of Devas isSvarga (heaven).[2] 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 ofdevas and not among the three lower orders, namely the Residential, the Peripatetic and the Stellardevas. Those practising restraint with attachment and restraint-cum-non-restraint are also characterized by right belief. Hence they are reborn in the higher heavens ofSaudharma Kalpa and so on and not among the three lower orders of celestial beings.[7] Merit which leads to the highest celestial state such asSarvārthasiddhi is said to be acquired in theBharata,Airāvata, andVideha Kshetra[7]
1. The minimum lifetime of the Residentialdevas is ten thousand years.[8]2. That of Peripateticdevas is a little over onepalyopama.3. The minimum lifetime of Stellardevas is the same as for Peripateticdevas.
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