Book Title: Introduction to Jainism
Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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Page 137
________________ COSMOS 135 The water, air, fire and stones we feel and see with our senses are merely the physical bodies of the souls which are currently using these forms. A drop of water, for example, is the cohesive body of a large number of individual water souls of which the individual bodies are too small to be perceived by the (naked) eye. This refers to the water itself - not to microorganisms living in that water, as some might think. The same is true for a flame, a gust of wind, etc. Beings with two senses (always feeling and taste). Examples are worms, mollusks, leeches and so on. I Beings with three senses (always feeling, taste, and smell). For example ants, termites, millipedes.. Beings with four senses (always feeling, taste, smell and vision). Examples: flies, mosquitoes, bees, butterflies. Beings with five senses (the former, and hearing added), with or without a mind Animals higher in evolution than those already mentioned, and these are further classified into animals that live in or on earth, water, or in the air. Humans, classified into two types: - Aryans (= noble-minded people), who value religion-philosophy or higher values, and Mlecchas, the low minded, who are not seriously interested in religion, true philosophy or spiritual matters, but only in worldly and evanescent affairs. The Aryans are further subdivided in relation to the spiritual powers which may have manifested in them, which include "enlightenment” (buddhi), the power to shift from one body to another according to Jain Education International For Personal & Private Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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