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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
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philosophical schools of India held sound as the attribute of space, Jainism held it as the attribute of matter and had moreover declared that it was capable of covering both the extreme poles of the earth in a moment. The said declaration is justified with the invention of radio waves in ether. Thus jain philosophy is very subtle and realistic and the scholars are being convinced on this point day to day.
Karma is a material entity, so we shall have to be first conversant with matter (Pudgala).
A
Now matter can exist as an atom and as a joint body (Skandha) also. We perceive very minute particles of dust rolling in a streak of light penetrating through a hole in a room. We call them very small, very minute, but this is our usual way of talking. five year old child is no doubt a small one as compared with an old woman of seventy, father of fifty or other brothers and sisters of twenty or twenty five but in fact the said child is not very small in age as he would prove older than the new babe perhaps to be born still in future. Thereby we mean that these particles are no doubt small but are not extremely small or the smallest possible ones. These particles can be split up and the parts thereof can further be split up to the extent to remain invisible in any amount of light.
Still we can mentally cognize them. We can conceive of the 8th, 16th, 100th or 1000th part of a particle. Thus by such mental division when we arrive at the indivisible entity we should call it the minutest or the subtlest possible particle. This very entity is termed as atom (anu) by the authors of the sacred texts. It is Paramanu (the highest Anu) as smaller than that is not possible. Smallest possible matter is atom (Anu). It remains imperceptible even with the help of most gigantic microscope.
When two atoms combine they form a "Skandha" (composite body). Two atoms make a devayanuka, three of them make Trayanuka, four make Chaturnaka, innumerable atoms constitute Asamkhayatanuka and infinite number of atoms make Anantanuka. All these constitute various forms of composite bodies and thus composite bodies are infinite in number.
Jain scriptures have laid down the tenure of existence of a composite body viz. 'Skandha'. The lowest types exist for a
