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THE CONCEPTION OF SOUL
151 such as water, air etc. It is then called acitta and it possesses no more a soul. The same is the case with water-bodied, fire-bodied, and plant-bodied souls. 13 To take another example, water is a living-matter according to Jaina biology, but when it is taken out from the well and heated, it loses all the characteristics of a jiva. Similarly a fruit, as long a it is green is a living-matter, but it becomes dead matter, or ajiva when it is ripe. Thus it is very clear that Jainism is not animism in the sense that "every thing is possessed of a soul."]4 but on the other hand, it makes a clear distinction between soul and non-soul.
As regards life in the vegetable kingdom, Jainism holds a very important view. "Though some other Indian philosophers admit that the plants possess souls, the Jaina thinkers have developed this theory in a remarkable way." Jainism holds that the plants may be the body of one soul (pratyeka), or it may possess a multitude of embodied souls (sādhārana). In the former case, the plants are always gross, while in the latter the beings are very subtle and invisible and they possess a common body and have their respiration and nourishment in common, but are otherwise separate and distinct from each other. These beings are technically called the Nigodas or monads. It is said that these organisms are in the lowest and most miserable condition of existence. They supply souls to the vacant space caused by the liberated souls.
The Jaina philosophers were great observers of Nature. They had a direct approach to her heart. They loved Nature as they loved their own self. That is why they could see souls not only in earth, water and plant but even in substances like fire and air. Jaina philosophers do not take an ordinary view of these jivas but they go into deeper and greater details and place before us such a remarkable and minute description of the little beings, as was not attempted by any other philosopher in ancient India. The Jaina
13. Daśvaikālika Sūtra, IV. I, Āgamnodaya-samiti edition, p. 136. 14. Colebrooke : Miscellaneous Essays, ii, p. 276.
| SR No. | 006565 |
| Book Title | Studies in Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta |
| Publisher | Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta |
| Publication Year | 1997 |
| Total Pages | 182 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 11 MB |