Jain Journal 1998 04

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

Page 29

SOGANI : THE CONCEPTION OF DRAVYAS IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY 119 One sensed empirical selves :
The empirical self is recognised by the Prānas it owns. The minimum number of Pranas possessed by the empirical self is four (one-sense, one bala, life-limit and breathing), and the maximum number is ten (five senses, three balas, life-limit, and breathing). However, encumbered by the cruel matter self may be, it cannot obstruct the manifestation of consciousness to the full, just as even the most dense cloud cannot interrupt the light of the sun to its farthest extreme. The lowest in the grade of existence are the one-sensed jīvas. They possess four Prānas. To make it clear, of the five senses namely the sense of touch, taste, smell, colour and sound, the one-sensed jīvas possess only the sence of touch; and of the three balas namely: balas of mind, body and speech, they have only bala of body, and besides they hold life-limit and breathing. These one-sensed jīvas admit of five fold classification,28 namely earth-bodied, water-bodied, fire-bodied, air bodied and lastly, vegetable-bodied souls. The recognition of these one-sensed souls is fraught with great difficulty since the four Prānas are not explicitly manifested, just as the Prānas of a man in the state of numbness, or just as the Prānas of a growing soul in the egg of a bird or in the embryonic state cannot be recognised owing to the lack of their explicit manifestation.29
Two-sensed to five sensed impirical souls :
Having pointed out the various forms of existence of one-sensed jīvas and the number of Pranas upheld by them, we now proceed to the higher grades of existence. The two-sensed Jivas possess six Prānans, i.e. in addition to the four Prānas of one-sensed souls, they have two Prānas more, namely, sense of taste, and bala of speech; the three-sensed souls have the sense of smell additionally, the four-sensed souls have the sense of colour besides the above; and lastly the five sensed souls which are mindless are endowed with the sense of hearing in addition, and those with mind possess all the the ten Prānas. 30 Thus the number of Prānas, possessed by one-sensed to five-sensed souls are four, six, seven, eight, nine and ten respectively. The illustrations of the two-sensed souls are, sea-snail, cowrie-shell-fish, conch-shell-fish, earth-worm etc., of the three-sensed souls are louce,
27. Panca 30, Prava II, 54, 55 and comm. Amrta. 28. Panca 110, Sarvartha II-13. 29. Panca. 113. 30. Sarvartha II-14. 31. Panca. 114.