Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
2. 26-31] Five Aspects Related to Interval Motion
The manifestation can occur before the four, that is, up to three. The absence of manifestation has a finite time, meaning that the motion of the one without manifestation is of a finite measure in time. A soul remains non-nourishing for one or two times. For each philosophy that believes in rebirth, five questions regarding interval motion arise.
1. When the soul moves for the sake of rebirth or liberation, how does it strive without a gross body during the time of interval motion?
2. According to which rule do moving substances perform motion-related actions?
3. How many types of motion-related actions are there and which souls are entitled to which types of actions?
4. What is the lowest or highest measure of the interval motion time, and on which rule is this measure based?
5. Does the soul eat during the time of interval motion or not? If not, how long does it last at the lowest or highest level, and on which rule is the measure of the non-nourishing state based?
Philosophies that consider the soul as all-pervasive should also reflect on these five questions, as they too must accept the movement of the subtle body and interval motion for the purpose of rebirth. However, the Jain perspective is that the soul is body-pervading, hence it should certainly consider these questions. Here, we are progressively considering these points.
There are two types of yogic interval motion—straight and curved. When a soul moves through straight motion, it does not need to make new efforts, because when it leaves the previous body, it gains momentum from the previous body. Thus, without any further effort, it reaches the new location directly like an arrow shot from a bow. The second type of motion is curved, requiring the soul to make new efforts during its journey, since the momentum from the previous body works only until the soul has to turn around. When the turning point is reached, the momentum generated by the previous body weakens, so from there, the subtle body’s effort takes over, which remains with the soul at that time. This subtle body-generated effort is karmic.