Elusive Consciousness

Author(s): Narendra Bhandari, Surendrasingh Pokharana, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Jīva and karmas, made up of special type of pudgala-skandhas (karman vargana), are mutually associated. Karma pudgalas affect jīva in a peculiar way. All the souls in this universe undergo effects such as sorrow, happiness, birth, death etc. so long as they are afflicted by karma-pudgalas. The souls who get emancipated from the effects of karma-pudgalas are designated as 'Paramatma' or "Siddha'.
Jiva, though being conscious and non-corporeal, becomes corporeal by the effect of collected (formed) corporeal body up to the moment of existence of such body. As to its relation with body it is defined that mundane soul is identical with body, with the former existing in the latter. Thus the soul is corporeal and noncorporeal, conscious and non-conscious, living and non-living and it is of beings and non-beings also. Dimension of extent (parimana) of soul decreases and increases according to the size of body. This change does not affect its fundamental substantiality; its basic nature remains unchanged. This is one kind of doctrine of transformation and also the doctrine of permanence-in-change. Its other aspect is the variation in manifestation of the quality or capacity of soul; it becomes the nature of permanence-in-change of the capacity.
Souls are existent in every iota of space beginning with one or more countless fractions of it up to the whole universe, i.e. if space is divided into countless points the size of a soul can be so small as to occupy one or more of these points of space, called pradesas, and in special cases, of samudaghata, the size of a single soul can fill the whole universe. Thus the number of pradesas in each individual soul is assumed to be equal to the number of pradesas in the Universe, which is countless. There is no such place in the universe where there is no existence of souls having fine or gross bodies.
There are infinite number of souls in both the mundane and the emancipated categories. In the multitude of souls the inherent capacity of soul is accepted as one (equal), nevertheless, the manifestation of each one is not equal. It is conditional upon the strength of its efforts (purusartha) and other causes. It means that the capacity of soul is one, viz. consciousness, but it manifests itself in and through these stages. Soul in the absolute sense is imperishable, immortal and impenetrable; none can cause pain or destruction to it nor can cut its inner points by touching it with hand or cutting it with a sharp weapon or burning it with fire; no weapon can enter into it.
The soul is eternal from the point of view of time and non-eternal from that of the state of existence (gati), as it is studied from its substantial and modal
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