________________
१९८
जनविद्या एवं प्राकृत : अन्तरशास्त्रीय अध्ययन
one hence secondary and should not be pursued (PS-53). This topic has been dealt with elsewhere.
There are nine ways to obtain knowledge about an object which involve four ways of verbal statement by name, representation, potentiality and present state (BP-28). After the nomenclature, the gross internal and external properties could be learnt followed by structure, preparation, properties and uses of the object. If the object is a living one, it should be studied under the following heads depicting its physical and spiritual aspects (BP. 31):
(i) 14 gunasthānas or spiritual steps, (ii) 14 mārgaņās or quests, (iii) 6 paryāptis or builders, (iv) 10 prāņas or effects,
(v) 14 Jivsamāsas or soul classes, Details about them are available in Kundakunda and other granthas.
The Physical world
There is a large amount of description of the physical world in various chapters. It has a volume of 343 rajjus 19 (1 rajju - 1021c. miles)20 with a definite shape. It consists of 5 astikāyas (bodies) 6, dravyas (substances) 7 tattvas (realities) and 9 padārthas as below in Table 2-the different terms having the same meaning. A man knows about them with his instrument of knowledge through nine or five heads as the case may be.
Table 2. Constituents of the World 21
9 padārthas
2 Substances 5 bodies
6 substances Suostari
7 realities Living Living
Living
Living Non-living Motion medium Motion medium Non-living
Rest medium Rest medium Asraya Space Space
Bandha Matter Matter
Samvara Time
Nirjarā Nirvana
Living non-living Asrava Punya Papa Bandha Samvara Nirjara Nirvāņa
परिसंवाद-४
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org