Gandharwad

Author(s): Ratnaprabhvijay, D P Thaker
Publisher: Jain Granth Prakashak Sabha

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Jainism does not seem to have made exact distinctions between jîva and Atinan, a-java and matter. A jîva is a particular kind of existent being. The liberated java freed from matter, is called the Atman, Ainun means pure consciousness untinted by matter. It excludes all space and externality. It is the jîva purified and raised to the highest spiritual status, which is mere formless consciousness.
On the other hand, pudgala is not pure matter untouched by consciousness. It already bears the impress of spirit. Atman is the spirit of being and matter is the negative principle of non-living. The latter corresponds to the space of Bergson, or the materia prima of Leibniz. The bare materiality of pudgalu is the direct opposite of spirit. A java
is the combination of the two. It is material-spiritual. A soul • loaded with matter is involved in bondage. All jîvas in samsāra are associated with this negative element.
Jainism believes that Ātran or the pure spirit, pure matter, and java which is a conibination of the two, are existent, though the first two are imperceptible to us. The pudgala skandha which we see, has also an element of consciousness, and is as much a java as others, so far as the essence is concerned. The jîva and the a-jîva of the Jainas are not empirical abstractions of Atman, or consciousness, and matter or non-consciousness but the products of an interaction between the two. Strictly speaking, Atman and non-ātman are the primary elements. Jîva possesses more of self, -jîva more of not-self. They represent two orders of arrangement in the whole.
Jainim believes in plurality of spirits. The jîvas are many, but are alike eternal. Their characteristic ossence is never destroyed, however much it is obscured by external causes. They are regarded as possessing size which is varying in different cases. They contract and expand according to the dimensions of the body with which they are incorporated for