Illuminator of Jaina Tenets

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 55

Sūtras 31-32 ]
Substance, Quality, Modes 78. faciat: gaa: 1
निरंशो देशः प्रदेशः कथ्यते । सोऽपि बुद्धिकल्पित एव । परमाणुपरिमितो वस्तुभाग इत्यर्थः। अविभागी परिच्छेदोऽप्यस्य पर्यायः ।
पृथग्वस्तुत्वेन परमाणुस्ततो भिन्नः। 31. niraṁśaḥ pradeśaḥ.
niraṁso deśaḥ pradeśaḥ kathyate. so'pi buddhikalpita eva. paramāņu-parimito vastubhāga ityarthaḥ. avibhāgi paricchedo’pyasya paryāyaḥ. pşthag vastutvena paramāņus tato bhinnah.
(Aph.) A pradeša is the indivisible unit (of a substance). (XXXI)
(Gloss) The smallest deśa (fragment) which is further indivisible is called pradeśa (point). Like deśa, pradeśa is also an intelligent imagination. In other words, it is) an undetached part of a thing whose dimension is identical to that of an atom. The term avibhāgi pariccheda (indivisible fragment) is a synonym of it. An atom, however, being a separate entity, is different from it (viz. pradeśa). . (Note) An atom (paramāņu) and a point (pradeśa) should not be confounded. The former is an objective entity, whereas the latter is only an ideal construct. ३२. कृत्स्नलोकेऽवगाहो धर्माधर्मयोः ।
धर्माधर्मास्तिकायौ सम्पूर्ण लोकं व्याप्य तिष्ठतः । 32. krtsnaloke'vagāho dharmādharmayoḥ. dharmādharmāstikāyau sampūrņam lokaṁ vyāpya tișthataḥ.
(Aph.) The dharma and adharma pervade the entire cosmic space. (XXXII).
(Gloss) The continuum called dharma and adharma each exists all over the cosmic space.
(Note) As has been said before, dharma is a minimum necessary condition of motion and adharma of rest. Both motion and rest are interrelated. Had everything been in perpetual motion, the postulation of adharma would have been superfluous. So also in regard to rest As things are seen to move and also cease to move, both these substances are necessarily postulated in order to account for alternate motion and rest. As there is no point of cosmic space which is free from movement or rest of bodies, both the substances are coextensive with cosmic space. As for extra-cosmic space, it is a pure vacuum where nothing exists and so nothing moves and ceases to move therein. Dharma and adharma, in Jaina ontology, are untranslatable terms. To some extent dharma is comparable to Newtonian concept of ether.