Jainism Eternal and Universal Path for Enlightenment

Author(s): Narendra Bhandari
Publisher: Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures Ahmedabad

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Jainism : The Eternal and Universal path for Enlightenment
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and time. These five elements, which are passive (can not act on their own), independent, all pervading, coexisting, indestructible, not capable of influencing each other, according to Jainism constitute the physical universe.
Interaction of soul and matter is the most vital aspect of Jainism. This interaction, both association and dissociation occurs through karminus, the subtle particles of matter. When soul acquires karma, a body begins to form. Five layers of bodies manifest for every jiva: karmana , taijas and audrika exist normally and ah iraka and Vaikriya exist under specific situations. These are translated, respectively, as karman body, energy body, physical body, translocation body and transformation body. As the soul acquires karm?nus, karman body is formed and when the soul sheds all the karminus, it acquires the pure state. The karman sharira is receptacle for karman matter and changes every moment as the karminus are assimilated or shed. At the time of death, this karman body accompanies the soul and forms the basis of a new body which may be acquired on rebirth (see Chapter 11). The taijas body consists of energy (energy pudgals) and helps in metabolism. Ah raka body is the conscious body which can come into existence from time to time and while attaining clarity of the basic philosophy of life, acquires in 'n. It is kind of consciousness (chetan?). Vaikriya body enables the body to change its form and dimension and thus can bring about transmigration of soul to different bodies. Audrika body is the physical body of animals and humans as we possess. To summarise, every living being possesses five bodies, which in order of subtle to gross forms are: karman (causal), tejas (energy), h raka (conscious), vaikriya (multi-shape) and audrika (physical).
We have seen in this chapter the basic elements of Jainism and some aspects of interaction between Jiva and Ajiva. Now we will discuss the basic nature of the universe as described by Anekintav dand the basic law of Karmavid, which governs interactions of soul and matter in the following chapters.