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JAINISM: A THEISTIC PHILOSOPHY "GOD IN JAINISM"
samsara altogether, another postulation of Jaina philosophy; remains forever at the very apex of the universe.
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Jaina thinkers have carefully made classification of soul categories in four divisions, as mentioned above, according to the scale of "consciousness" (upayoga) on the part of the soul. Hence the top level is of liberated soul. They are omniscient (sarvajña), then gods who have wider range of knowledge than the men have and so on infernal beings and tiryañcas.
Tiryañcas are categorized similarly as explained in the case of souls. At the top of this group are those animals that have five senses - faculties (indriya) and a certain capacity for reflection (samjñī), such as lion.37Next are those having five senses but lacking reflective capacity (asaṁjñī). And then next are creatures having four, three and two senses respectively. And finally, the creatures having only one sense (ekendriya) and whose whole awareness is limited to the tactile mode. Ekendriya creatures are too numerous to count and may be found in every part of the universe, whereas higher tiryañcas are limited in number and dwell in "madhyaloka." Ekendriyas are of five distinct types:
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Pṛthvīkāyika (earth-bodied),
Apkayika (water-bodied),
Tejokayika (fire-bodied),
Vayukayika (air-bodied) and
Vanaspatikāyika (vegetable bodied)
As the names suggest, the first four of these are little more than single "molecule" of the various fundamental elements, each one a rudimentary body for some soul.
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Tattvärtha-sutra, X.5
37 Gunabhadra's Uttarapurāṇa, 74, 167-220
38 Tattvärtha-sutra, II.13, Sarvärthasiddhi,2.13
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