Jain Journal 2009 07

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

Page 14

JAINA CONCEPT OF JIVA AND MODERN SCIENCE Jagdish Prasad Jain
Jiva, a living organism, is a psycho-physical conscious entity. It is said to be living because of its bio-energies (prāņas), viz, the five senses, three energies of body, speech and mind, respiration, etc. but these bio-energies are, in fact, enlivened or animated by the conscious vital life force (bhava prarna), i.e. consciousness or sentiency (cetana). The subjective attributes of cognition, feeling, and volition, possessed by this conscious entity jiva or soul cannot be ascribed or said to belong to an inanimate, non-living, non-life (ajiva), inert matter (pudgala in Jaina terminology). This clearly establishes the fact that jīva and ajiva or matter are two obvious and self-evdent realities or substances which are experienced. The essential characteristic of jīva is consciousness, which is the essence of that which is life, while the nonsentient, inanimate, matter possesses the characteristic sense qualities of touch, taste, smell, sight or hearing. That "living things are very different from non-living things" is a conclusion reached in a text book on Biological Science.'
There are however some general attributes or characteristics, which are shared in common by both jiva and pudgala (matter). These are; astitva (existence), vastutva (functionality), dravyatva (that which by nature flows towards its modes, i.e. something that persists in spite of the changes in its modes), prameyatva (knowability), pradeśatva (extension in space) and agurulaghutva (the property of substances
1.
Biological Science: An Ecological Approach, 6th edn, BSCS Green Version - BSCS. The Colorado Callege, Colorado, USA (Dubeque, lowa: Kerall Hunt Publishing Company, 1998), p.17