Basic Principles Of Jainism

Author(s): Narayan Lal Kachhara
Publisher: Narayan Lal Kachhara

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motion that when a soul is freed from the impurity of the Karma, it goes upward to the end of the loka, to Siddha-Shila.
The samsari Jivas or the transmigrating souls are divided into two kinds: those with minds (samanaska) and those without minds (amanaska). The mind is physical (dravya) and also psychical (bhava). According to Jaina thinkers, mind is anindriya or no-sense-organ. The other senses are external while the mind is internal. The mind does not come in contact directly with any object; it cognizes such objects as are already perceived by the senses. The physical mind is nothing but the subtle material transformed into the form of mind. The psychic mind is part of the soul. Those endowed with mind possess the power of discriminating between the good and the evil.
The transmigrating souls are of two classes: trasa (mobile) and sthavara (immobile). The immobile beings which are possessed of one sense viz. the sense of touch are of various kinds, while tras Jivas are classified on the basis of the number of senses they are possessed of viz. two, three, four, five. Jivas with the senses are of two classes, that is, those with mind and those without mind. Jivas having one sense are either badara (big) or suksma (very small). They are all again divided into two varieties each viz. paryapta or developable (on conception or in the beginning of life) and aparyapta or undevelopable.
From the protoplasm of the germ-cell to a full grown up human being there are infinite number of souls or living beings in the universe. The protoplasm so far as is known at present has no ears to hear, no eyes to see, no nose to smell, no tongue to taste; it is has only the sense of touch. The human being has all the five senses fully developed and a mind also which is a sort of additional and higher sense (a quasi sense), invisible to us. It is made up of subtle matter called Manovargana. Its form is like a lotus with eight petals near the heart according to Digambara tradition, and it extends the whole body space according to Svetambara tradition. Professor Troud an eminent war-surgeons dispute the brain as the seat of mental activity. In war time operations, brains were removed without impairing the mental faculties.
The sthavara or immobile Jivas which are possessed of one sense, the sense of touch, are either gross (badara) or fine (suksma). Again, they are either developable (paryapta) or undevelopable (aparyapta). These beings are earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied. air-bodied beings, and as the vegetation and plants. They are possessed of the four vitalities: the senseorgan of touch, strength of body or energy, respiration and span of life. The earth-bodied being is that which has earth for its body; to put it in another way, it is the soul that lives in the earth body. The same is the case with water - bodied beings. Examples for the first type are quarry, diamond or coal in mine, stones, metals, vermilion, orpiment (or yellow mineral), etc., for the second type: water, dew, snow, fog; for the third type: flames, lightening, meteors, salamander etc.; for the fourth type: the tiny living creature we breathe in. The fifth class is of the vegetablesoul kingdom.
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