258 SKETCH OF THE 



Vayubht5ti doubts if life be not body, which the Sage denies, as the 

 objects of the senses may be remembered after the senses cease to act, 

 even after death, that is, in a succeeding state of existence occasionally. 



Vyakta questions the reality of elementary matter, referring it with 

 the Vedantis to illusion ; the Sage replies that the doctrine of vacuity is 

 false, illustrating his position rather obscurely, by asking if there are no 

 other worlds than the Gandharha, cities of dreams, or castles in the air. 



Sudherma imagines that the same kind of bodies which are worn in 

 one life will be assumed in another, or that a human being must be born 

 again amongst mankind; for as the tree is always of the same nature as 

 the seed, so must the consequences of acts, in a peculiar capacity, lead to 

 results adapted to a similar condition. This Mahavira contradicts, and 

 says that causes and effects are not necessarily of the same nature as 

 horn, and similar materials are convertible into arrow barbs, and the 

 like. 



Mandita has not made up his mind on the subjects of bondage and 

 liberation, (JBandha and Moksha); the Jina explains the former to be 

 connexion with and dependance on worldly acts, whilst the latter is total 

 detachment from them, and independence of them effected by knowledge. 



Mauryaputra doubts of the existence of gods, to which Mahavira 

 opposes the fact of the presence of Indra, and the rest around his throne. 

 They cannot bear the odour of mere mortality, he adds ; but they never fail 

 to attend at the birth, inauguration, and other passages of the life of a Jina. 



Arampita is disposed to disbelieve the existence of the spirits of hell, 

 because he cannot see them ; but the Sage says that they are visible to 

 those possessing certain knowledge, of whom he is one. 



