Jain Journal 2014 07

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

Page 21

JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XLIX, NO. 1-IV JULY 2014-JUNE 2015
These vital powers are essential for life; the gross or protean body of dead beings loses these vital powers. Living beings can have up to five vital powers of senses of touch, taste, smell, vision, and hearing and up to three vital powers of physical actions of body, speech, and mind!5. All living beings have the vital powers of respiration and age. The least developed beings, such as nigodas and plants, have only four vital powers, namely, one vital power of sense of touch, one vital power of physical action of body, the one vital power of each of respiration and age. There is no living being with five vital powers, because the vital powers of sense of taste and physical action of speech develop simultaneously, There are living beings with number of vital power that range from six to ten. All ten vital powers; which include the five vital powers of senses, the three vital powers of physical actions, and the one vital power of each of respiration and age, are present in the mose developed beings, such as human beings.
All living beings, including one-sensed living beings, have the vital powers of sense of touch, physical action of body, respiration and age, Only living beings with two or more senses have the vital powers of sense of taste and of physical action of speech. All one sensed to four-sensed and some five-sensed subhuman beings do not have the vital power of physical action of mind. Infernal, celestial, and human beings and most five-sensed subhuman beings have the vital power of physical action of mind. 16
It should be pointed out that vital powers of senses have a hierarchy, starting from touch, taste, smell, vision, and finally hearing. Any living being with the sense of hearing has to have the senses of vision, smell, taste, and touch; with the sense of vision has to have the senses of smell, taste, and touch; with the sense of smell has to have the senses of taste and touch; and with the sense of taste has to have the sense of touch. Similary, the vital powers of physical actions also have a hierarchy, starting from the body, then speech and finally mind. Any living being with speech has to have body; and with mind has to have speech and body.