Jaina Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 41

Essentials of Jaina Philosophy
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into the universe-space and the space-beyond-universe through the presence or otherwise of the two substances, viz. the medium of motion and the medium of rest. It is as follows: The Jaina scriptural principle is that the soul moves upward as soon as it becomes completely free from all material karmic atoms. To illustrate this point, the Jaina scriptures give an instance of a gourd. The gourd pasted with clay, sunk in water, at once comes up on the surface of water as soon as the clay is completely washed away from it. Similarly, the soul bound with material karmic atoms becomes bodyless and moves upward as soon as it completely dissociates itself from all those material karmic atoms. But what is the limit of its upward motion? Where will this upward motion end? This is an important question. The answer to it cannot be found unless the division of space into the universe-space and the space-beyond-universe through the presence or otherwise of the medium of motion and the medium of rest is accepted. The acceptance of this division of space offers a solution of the problem posed. It is because now we can say that the medium of motion, the assisting cause of motion, is present in the upward direction up to the highest point of the universe, so the upward motion of the soul freed from material karmic atoms stops as soon as it reaches the highest upward limit of the universe and there it stays; beyond that limit the medium of motion being absent it cannot move further. If these two substances were non-existent and consequently no division of space into the universespace and the space-beyond-universe were possible, then the questions as to where the upward motion of the liberated soul stops and as to where it rests could never be answered satisfactorily.
Matter (Pudgala) All physical objects from an atom to the grossest object are given the technical name 'pudgala'. This term 'pudgala' is a compound formed from the two verbal roots, viz. 'pur' and 'gala', the meaning of the former is 'to fill, to augment', that is, 'to conjoin, to integrate', and that of the latter is 'to decay, to wane', that is, 'to disjoin, to disintegrate'. The two processes of integration and disintegration we experience in our bodies and physical objects are incessantly going on. Every moment some free atoms get integrated into an aggregate and simultaneously some integrated atoms
t disintegrated from it. Again, this name 'pudgala is meaningfully applicable to even an atom as it integrates itself into and disintegrates itself from another atom or the aggregate.