Jain Journal 1972 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

APRIL, 1972
consciousness. Ajiva is of five kinds : (1) Dharmāstikāya, (2) Adharmastikāya, (3) Ākāśāstikāya, (4) Pudgalāstikāya and (5) Kāla. All these five substances are eternal.
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Dharmastikāya is a substance which contributes to the movements of the jivas and pudgalas (matter). But for it, neither the jivas nor the material objects could have been mobile. That is why it is known as the indispensable aid to motion or mobility. It is formless, unconscious and pervasive of the entire loka or universe.
Adharmastikāya is a substance which helps the jivas and matter to stop their motion, if they are so inclined. That is why it is known as an aid to stability or stoppage of motion. It is also formless, unconscious and pervasive of the whole loka.
Akāśāstikāya furnishes subsisting space to jivas, pudgalas (matter) and all things. It pervades all loka and aloka, and is formless and unconscious.
All objects, big and small, made of atoms are called pudgalāstikāya. The smallest, indivisible particle of matter is called an atom. The whole material world is made up of atoms and objects composed of atoms. The material objects are infinite in number. Form, taste, smell, touch and sound are the characteristics of the material substance. Though the atoms are not apprehended by our senses, yet they too have form, taste, smell and touch.
The word astikāya used in connection with jivāstikāya, dharmästikāya, adharmastikāya, ākāśāstikāya and pudgalastikāya has a special sigficance. The word asti means that which always exists and kaya means a substance having many pradeśas, i.e., spatial points. A pradesa is the minutest, indivisible section of a thing. A combination or aggregate of such indivisible sections forms kāya. Astikāya means a substance which always exists and have many indivisible pradeśas or sections. Because the jivas, dharma, adharma, ākāśa and pudgala are made of the combinations of the smallest indivisible pradeśas and are permanent substances, so each of them is called an astikāya.
Kāla or time is an imaginary thing-it has no real existence. It is deduced from the movements of the sun, moon, stars, etc. The smallest indivisible fraction of the present time is called samaya. In Jaina metaphysics the word samaya has this special connotation. The past is dead and gone, the future does not yet exist, that is why it is the present