Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 730

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METEMPSYCHOSIS
punishments or rewards, or pay any attention to the good
or evil done by men here below.
Matter is eternal and independent of the Godhead. That
which exists now has always existed and will always exist.
And not only is matter eternal, but also the order and
harmony which reign throughout the universe the fixed
and unchanging movements of the stars, the division of
light from darkness, the succession and constant renewal of
the seasons, the production and reproduction of animal and
vegetable life, the nature and properties of the elements
—
;
in fact, all things visible are eternal, and will continue to
exist just as they have existed from all time.
Metempsychosis
The fundamental doctrine
.
is metempsychosis.
Their belief in this differs in no way from that of the Brah-
mins.
But they do not agree with the latter with regard to
the four lokas or worlds. These they refuse to recognize.
They also reject the three principal Abodes of Bliss Sattya-
loka, Vaikuntha, and Kailasa, that is to say, the paradises
of Brahma, of Vishnu, and of Siva.
They recognize three
worlds only, which they describe by the generic name of
Jagat-triya, and which are the Urddhwa-loka or superior
world, the Adha-loka or inferior world, which they also call
Patala, and the Madhya-loka or middle world, that is to say,
the earth where mortals dwell.
of the Jains
Urddhwa-loka.
This world, which
also called Swarga, is the first of the
Jagat-triya, and Devendra is lord of it.
There are sixteen
distinct abodes in it, in each of which a different degree of
happiness is enjoyed in proportion to the merits of the
righteous souls who are admitted.
The first and highest of
is
these habitations is the Sadhu-dharma
Only the very purest
souls have access to this, and they there enjoy unbroken
happiness for thirty-three thousand years. The Achuda-
karpa, which is the last and lowest of the sixteen habitations,
is destined for the souls of those who possess exactly the
requisite amount of merit, neither more nor less, necessary
to procure their admittance into the Urddhwa-loka.
They
.