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Atom in Jain Philosophy
105
also unite to form one larger object. Sometimes a few paramānus only may unite with an aggregate.
In fission, aggregates break up and may result in -(a) smaller aggregates, (b) smaller aggregates and free paramāņus, and (c) free paramānus. Sometimes a few paramānus only may separate from the main aggregate.
For instance, an aggregate composed of four primary atoms (para mānus) may break up in the following four ways :
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0 + 0 + 100
- O + + + 1. One free atom and a tri-atomic aggregate. 2. Two di-atomic aggregates.
3. Two free atoms and a di-atomic aggregate.
4. Four free atoms.
LAWS CONTROLLING THE PROCESS OF FUSION
Out of the four characteristic qualities of pudgala, viz. sparśa, rasa, gandha and varna, only the first one, i.e. the sparsa is mainly responsible for the process of fusion.
Jain sages by their profound knowledge of the structure of pudgala have established that the process of fusion of paramānus and production of skandhas follow some definite rules.
All forms of pudgala including paramānus possess the qualities of glueiness (snigdhatva) and dryness (rūkşatva) of varying intensities. The minimum intensity is the unit (quantum) of intensities, and the intensity possessed by a composite body or a paramāņu can always be expressed by an integral number and not by a fraction.
