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COSMOLOGY : OLD AND NEW
धर्मादीनि द्रव्याणि यदि निष्क्रियाणि ततस्तेषामुत्पादो न भवेत् । उत्पादाभावाच्च व्ययाभाव इति ।। 178
(Tr.-If dravyas, dharma etc., are incapable of motion from place to place how is utpada and vyaya maintained which is the chief characteristic of a substance). (See page 49 ante.) From the very nature of definition of a substance it follows that generation (utpäda) and decay (vyaya) must go on in these dravyas is some form or the other. The same author answers the point saying :
अनन्तानाम् अगुरुलघुगुणानामागमप्रामाण्यादभ्युपगम्यमानानां षट्स्थानपतितया वृद्धया हान्या च प्रवर्तमानानां स्वभावादेतेषामुत्पादो व्ययश्च ।।
Amongst the six common attributes of substances, viz., astitva (indestructibility), vastutva (functionality), dravyatva (changeability), prameyatva (capacity of being the subject to knowledge), agurulaghutva (individuality) and pradeśarva (capacity of having some form), the agurulaghu (376EU attribute is such that an imperceptible rythmic rise and fall is constantly taking place in its parts in six different steps and these natural rythms rising and decaying produce utpada and vyaya. Agurulaghu attribute is said to be responsible for maintaining the individuality of the substance and its characteristic properties. The sadguṇī hānivrddhi or six different steps of infinitesimal changes, an entirely ingenious idea of the Jaina thinkers, – can be explained as follows:
Enumeration has been divided into three classes: (i) sankhyāta, i.e., countable; (ii) asankhyāta, i.e., countless, and (iii) ananta i.e., infinite.
To explain the full meaning of these three classes with their 21 sub-divisions is a long mathematics and would carry us far beyond the present theme. It is enough to mention the distinction between countless and infinite. The former has a limit, though it is beyond the power of even an omniscient being '79 to count them, the latter is inexhaustible and without limits.
178. Ibid. 179. "Tennifestaritarrat HedT;" "तदनुपलब्धेरसर्वज्ञत्वप्रसंग इतिचेन, तेनात्मनावसितत्वात्।"
(Tattvartha-rajavartika, 5.8)
