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Microcosmology : Atom
entire physical reality is a dynamic world of integrating and disintegrating patterns of matter, revealing the intrinsically dynamic character of matter as propounded by the Jain seers. These aspects of pudgala show that the different attributes of pudgala can be understood only in terms of its activity and modification - that is its interaction with itself and other substances.
Both integration and disintegration are of two kinds : (i) natural (ii) poduced by animate organisms and they have been discussed in the preceding chapters. All the natural elements found on earth are the result of natural integration of subatomic particles but none of them is without a beginning. Space and ethers are the only instances of natural and beginningless integration. All integrated physical objects found anywhere in the universe have a beginning. The ultimate atom (paramānu) is the only physical reality that is eternal and has no beginning, but it is singularity not an integrated identity.
Two kinds of touch-glueyness (snigdha) and dryness (rūkşa) are important characteristics of integrating constituents. These are, to some extent, equivalent to the positive and negative charges of subatomic particles. Precise rules for integration vis-a-vis these two kinds of touch have been discovered and formulated by Jains and we shall discuss them in a subsequent section.
