Living beings are of 2 kinds.
- Moveable
- Immoveable
The immoveable ones are of 3 kinds.
- Earth lives
- Water lives
- Plants
There are subdivisions for each of them as follows. The Earth lives are of 2 kinds, subtile and gross, both of them either fully developed or undeveloped. The Gross and fully developed are of 2 kinds, smooth or rough. The smooth ones are of 7 kinds and the rough ones are of 36 kinds. The subtile species is distributed all over the world. With regard to time or development of the earth body it is in continuous flow without a beginning and an end. But with regard to its existence in the present form it has both a beginning and an end. Twenty two thousand years is the longest duration of earth lives. Its shortest is less than a muhurtha (48 minutes).
The Water lives are of 2 kinds. The subtile and the gross ones, both of them are either fully developed or undeveloped. The gross and fully developed ones are of 5 kinds, pure water, dew, exudations, fog and ice. The subtile water is of 1 kind as there is no variety. The subtile species is distributed all over the world. But the gross one is found in a part of the world only. With regard to time or development of the water body it is in continuous flow without a beginning and an end. But with regard to its existence in the present form it has both a beginning and an end. Seven thousand years is the longest duration of water lives. Its shortest is less than a muhurtha (48 minutes).
Plants are of 2 kinds subtile and gross ones, either fully developed or undeveloped. The gross and fully developed plants are of 2 kinds, either many have one body in common, or each has its own body. Those who severally have their own body are of many kinds like, trees, shrubby plants, shrubs, big plants, creeping plants, grass etc. These are called plants possessing their own body. Those plants of which many have one body in common are of many kinds, for eg. potato, raddish, ginger, onion, garlic etc. The subtile plants are of one kind as there is no variety. They are distributed all over the world. Gross plants are found in a part of the world only. With regard to time or development of the plant body it is in continuous flow without a beginning and an end. But with regard to its existence in the present form it has both a beginning and an end. Ten thousand years is the longest duration of plant lives. Its shortest is less than a muhurtha (48 minutes).
Thus the 3 kinds of immoveable living beings have been mentioned.
Now the 3 kinds of moveable living beings are as follows. Moveable beings are, fire lives, wind lives and those with an organic body. There are many subdivisions for each of them.
The Fire lives are of 2 kinds subtile and gross ones, both either fully developed or undeveloped. The gross and fully developed ones are of many kinds such as coal, burning chaff, fire, flame of fire, meteors, lightning. The subtile fire lives are of one kind and there is no variety. The longest duration of fire lives is 3 days and shortest is less than a muhurtha.
The wind lives are of two kinds, subtile and gross, both either fully developed or undeveloped. The gross and fully developed ones are of 5 kinds wich are, squalls, whirl winds, thick winds, high and low winds and hurricanes. The subtile winds are but of one kind as there is no variety. The longest duration of wind lives is three thousand years. The shortest is less than a muhurtha.
Moveable beings with organic bodies are of 4 kinds, those possessing two, three, four, five organs of sense. All are subtile or either gross ones. There are many subdivisions too. Two organs of sense are worms, cells, conches, leeches, cowries. Duration of lives of beings with two organs of sense is twelve years maximum and shortest less than a muhurtha. Beings with three organs of sense are ants, bugs, centipedes, insects which originate in the kernel of a cotton seed. The longest duration is forty nine days and shortest less than a muhurtha. Beings with four organs of sense are flies, mosquitos, bees, moths. The longest duration of lives is six months and shortest is less than a muhurtha. Beings with five organs of sense are of four kinds denizens of hell, animals, men, gods. There are 7 kinds of denizens of hell. Longest duration of lives of denizens of hell is several sagaropamas and ten thousand years. The animals which possess five organs of sense are of 2 kinds, those which originate by generatio aequivoca (sammurchim) and those wich are born from the womb. Either of them are again of three kinds aquatic, terrestrial and aerial animals. Fishes, octopus, whales etc are aquatic. Quadrapeds and reptiles are two kinds of terrestrial animals. Quadrapeds are of four kinds solidungular (horses), biungular (cows), multiungular (elephants) and animals having toes with nails (lions). The reptiles are of two kinds, those which walk on their arms like lizards and those which move on their breast like snakes. Both are again of many kinds. Winged animals are of four kinds. Those with membraneous wings, those with feathered wings, those with wings in the shape of a box, and those (which sit on) outspread wings. Men are of two kinds. Men born from generatio aequivico and men born from the womb. Those born in the womb are from karmabhumi and other from akarmabhumi and those living on minor continents. Gods are of four kinds called as bhavanpatis, vyantaras, jyotishkas, vaimanikas. There are ten kinds of bhavanpatis, eight of those who live in woods (vyantaras), five of jyotishkas and two if vaimanikas.
After having read and understood all mentioned above let us examine whether fire is a living thing. There are certain characteristics of a living thing in the modern science. And if these characteristics are fulfilled then it is considered as a living thing. The characteristics are as follows:
- Movement
- Metabolism (heat)
- Inhalation and exhalation
- Consumption and excretion
- Reproduction
- Growth, decay and death
Fire has a movement. It cannot exist in the absence of oxygen, consumes fuel, the residue is the excretion. As amoeba is a single cell organism it reproduces itself by splitting up. Similarly one can light fire with another fire. What one actually does is makes circumstances conducive to its reproduction. With fuel it grows and in its absence it decays and dies which is extinguishing of the fire. It is a dangerous weapon. It burns evrything that comes in its contact. When one lights the fire one is party to killing all beings around the fire. When one extinguishes the fire is a party to killing the fire. It is considered as the best purifier among the other three namely earth, water and wind. Earth purifier includes all kinds of chemicals. Water includes all kinds of liquid purifier. So also wind. Earth, water and wind in the process of purifying becomes impure whereas the fire does not.
One should not act sinfully towards the earth body. He does so for the sake of splendor, honour, glory of this life, birth, death and final liberation. This deprives him of happiness and perfect wisdom. It includes damaging the environment.
Hence, one should not act sinfully towards earth bodied, water bodied, wind bodied, plant bodied and fire bodied living beings.
