________________
Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
The word 'šarira' has been used here for body. It has a root-based meaning about its nature of withering away. There is another word 'kāya' for body or embodiment which means accumulation of mattergic spacepoi does not tell about the basic nature of body. Hence, this word has not been used even it might have led to the brevity of 2.36. 5. The text defines the five bodies acquired by the soul during and after the worldly birth. We have the visible body called gross body consistig of large accumulation of mattergic particles in different shapes and sizes. The gross body, physically, consists of many parts like bones, tissues, blood, motor organs and brain etc. Acārānga mentions 32 parts.
The scientists of today have added the chemical and other aspects also. It is made up of about 6 common elements forming complex compounds like proteins, DNA, RNA, lipids, vitamins, hormones, enzymes and other specific chemical secretions etc. It consists of 3/4 of water. Currently, we have sufficient details about various systems in this body and to keep it healthy. 6. The transformational (protean) body undergoes multiple body forms. There are eight types of transformation prodigies mentioned in literature.It can be big, small, thick, thin, one and many etc. 7. The ejectable body is formed from auspicious mattergic variforms and is produced only by the sixth stager (and pre-canonists) for specific purposes. 8. The luminous body is formed from firy mattergic substances causing metabolic changes like digestion etc.and glow in the body. It has two varieties - (i) attainmental (outgoing) and (ii) non-atainmental (non-outgoing) attainmental one has auspicious and inauspicious varieties. It goes out of the body and causes cursing or beneficiation. The canons mention Mahävira and Gośālaka in this context. The non-attainmental one causes the digestion etc., increases the internal energy and causes the aural colouration. Currently this body is expressed in many terms- (i) caloric body (ii) electrical or electromagnetic body. It is the main source of transfer of strength through eyes touch, litany-recital and even thoughts. It has a range of about 166.8kms (12Y). 9 The karman body is made up of eight types of karmas and is also the cause of all other karmas. 10 The common man may not have personal awareness of transformational, ejectable and karman body. But they do exist - is confirmed from scriptural stories and concepts.
Why the other bodies are not sense-perceptible like the gross body? The following aphorism intends to answer this question:
Param Param Sūksmam
2.37 The other bodies are successively more and more fine.
The word 'para' (succession) has many meanings. It means 'order' or 'position' as in the case of 'prior or posterior'. It means 'alien or other' as in the
158
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
