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An Epitome of Jainism and contemplation, we can arrive at a conception of a Pure Soul, the Highest Self, the Ideal, God, or whatever other name you like,
Living substance rises higher and higher towards the condition of matter. less living, and ultimately, when perfectly rid of matter, it attains an eternal condition of Pure Light in Self-Absorption and by nature ascends upwards to the top of universe.
There is no turning back, and no further bondage with matter, and no transmigrations. Its modifications there consist of its own perpetual selfmodification. It has perfect conation and perfect knowledge. It is itself. It is liberated. It is Pure Soul.
But excepting this condition of absolute purity, the soul's own pure qualities are effected by those of matter. So we find that attention, conation and knowledge, which are pure consciousness or its modifications, are observed in a mundane or embodied soul, to exist along with vitalities, and the size of the body, and are responsible for sowing and reaping the fruit of action, which are the characteristics of the living being united with the non-living matter and with touch, taste, smell and colour, the pure characteristics of non-living matter.
The whole picturesque and endless variety of life,-physical, mental and emotional life in the universe, is the effect and summation of infinite ways in which the Living unites with the Non-living.
Let us try to consider this glorious wealth of variegated life of souls in the universe; The whole universe is packed full of living creatures. Indeed in such out-of-the-way and unexpected places, does our knowing intelligence light upon life, hat some Great Intellects have gone to the length of saying that all is Life and there is no lifeless matter at all. This of course is easily refuted by common everyday universal observation. In comprehending the almost incomprehensible vastnesses of space and time and their contents, let us keep a cool and dispassionate head lest in our admiration of one or other of the several constituents of the universe, we should deny one or more and thus cripple our further and full knowledge of the whole truth of things. ndeed the checking of our premises and first conclusions again and again is absolutely essential if we, imperfect human beings, want to knowledge. The search after Truth is not a child's play: the path to it is more narrow to traverse than the passage of the camel through the eye of the needle in the Bible.
The universe, then, teems with infinite living forins. How to observe, analyse, and classify them, so that we can advance on the path of our tremendous, trackless inquiry ?
I propose to take this matter up in three different ways.
1. Soul-classes (Jîva Samása). There are obvious differences of body, sense and mind in different classés of souls. The body is primarily the basis of this classification. This in Jainism is technically called soul-classes, (Jîva Samása).
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