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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
relevant (for example "gracious flight through the air” is irrelevant for earthworms, but not for birds, pterodactyls, insects, bats and many celestials). Of course the physical and the fluidic bodies have their own unique features. The fluidic body consists of molecules of the corresponding degree of matter and belongs only to hellish and celestial beings. We don't have it during our existence on earth - it is not what Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Hindus call the etheric or the astral body or linga śarīra etc., because that is the invisible model for the physical body, and each living being on earth has that. In the Jain system the model is included in the karmic and the electric bodies. The soul only takes these two with it when we "die,” i.e. leave - as a soul - either our physical or fluidic body.
The second groun determines in which kingdom of nature the soul will embody itself, and also on which biological level of classification. The visible kingdoms include what we call the atomic, the mineral, the unicellular, the vegetable, the various groups of the animal, and the human kingdom. The highest level of classification appertains to the number of senses which came to expression and the power of consciousness to gain experience by means of touch, taste, smell, vision and hearing. From the standpoint of the evolution of the soul, these senses are developed in this sequence only. So an organism with three senses always has the first three, but no vision and hearing. Organisms with only one sense, such as nigodas and plants, always possess touch or feeling, but none of the other senses. Those on earth with only one sense are the minerals, water, fire, air, microorganisms (nigodas) and plants, and those with 2-5 are the lowest up to the highest animals. Humans also have five senses, and mental power, and this we have in common with the highest animals - and also with the celestial and hellish beings which were humans in their last incarnation.
The world of one-sensed organisms transcends our scientific imagination. One droplet of water contains numberless microbes, and such droplets rain all over the earth
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