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GENERAL SURVEY
ascertain their common features of resemblance as well as their points of difference.
Jainism lays down the following seven tattvas (essentials or heads of study) :
(i) jiva (spirit), (ii) ajiva (non-spirit), (ii) á srava (influx of matter into spirit), (iv) bandha (bondage), (v) samvara (stoppage of influx), (vi) nirjarå (destruction of bondage), and
(vii) moksha (salvation). There are nine prrddrathas, formed by the addition of two other subjects namely,
(viii) punya (merit) and
(ix) papa (demerit) to the seven tattvas. The world is eternal and uncreate, and comprises two kinds of substance, namely, spirit, or living substance and non-spirit, or njiva, which class includes several realities such as matter, space, ether etc. Of these spirit and matter are the two really important substances. Spirit comprises an infinite num. ber of units, or individuals, termed jivas (living beings), and matter (pudgala) is atomic. The changing, shifting nature of the universe is due to the interaction between spirit and matter, which is governed by certain welldefined laws of nature. Mundane souls are spirits existing in combination with matter by whose union the natural attributes of the former are curtailed in
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