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Verse 27
one sense only) along with their subtle bodies dwell even in the space occupied by a single one-sensed nigoda jīva. There is no obstruction among themselves and between them and the gross ones. So there is no contradiction in the fact of infinite times infinite souls residing in the innumerable units of space of the universe.
It has been said that each soul is of the same units of space as the universe. How, then, can a soul reside in one unit of space (the universe-space divided into innumerable parts)? Should not each soul permeate the entire universe?
The soul which is non-material somehow assumes material form on account of beginningless bondage. And it dwells in small or big bodies on account of its karmic body by contraction and expansion as the light of the lamp. Therefore, the soul can dwell in one, two, etc. of the innumerable parts of the universe. The light of a lamp lit in an open space extends far and wide. But it extends only to the limit of a dish or a room in which the lamp is placed.
It is contended that the medium of motion and the rest will become one by their commingling with one another because of their reciprocal spatial interpenetration. But it is not so. Though there is reciprocal commingling of the substances, these do not give up their intrinsic nature. “All the substances interpenetrate, they give space (accommodation) to one another, and they commingle with one another. Yet these never give up their own nature.”
Jain, S.A., Reality, p. 140-141
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