________________
Microcosmology: Atom
Although the four qualities are permanently possessed by a paramāņu, the intensity or the potency of the qualities does not remain constant. A paramāņu, possessing one unit of blackness at any moment, may sometimes later possess two, three or many units of blackness. It follows from this that at any given moment there would be paramāņus with different intensities of blackness etc. In the same way there would be paramāņus with various degrees of other qualities.
122
The term paramāņu is the short form of dravya paramāņu or paramāņu-pudgala. The Bhagavati Sūtral enumerates four types of paramāņus -indivisible units, just as paramāņu pudgala is the indivisible unit of pudgala. The four types are:
(a) dravya paramāņu or pudgala-paramāņu - the indivisible unit of pudgala substance.
(b) kṣetra paramāņu - the indivisible unit of space i.e. spacepoint or ākāśa-pradeśa,
(c) kāla paramāņu-the indivisible unit of time or time-point called samaya.
(d) bhāva paramāņu-the indivisible unit or quantum of intensity of sensuous qualities, viz. colour, odour, taste and touch.
Thus, paramāņu is the direct unit of the physical substance (pudgala) and also the indirect unit of space, time and modification. The quantitative difference in matter-space-time as well as the qualitative difference in physical objects may ultimately be traced to constitution of paramāņu. Thus, being the constituent element of physical composite bodies, it may be considered to be the determinant of the difference of aggregates, and for the same reason, it is also their substantial cause. By its own motion (vibration, oscillation, etc.), it becomes the measure of time, i.e., a samaya (time-point) corresponds to a unit shift of a paramāņu from one position to the immediately next. (It should be remembered that time itself is quantized, and a samaya a quantum of time and is, therefore, indivisible.)
1. Bhag. Sut. 20/6/37-41.
