Jainism by Vividus

Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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derived through an intervening medium and the last three viz "Avadhi," "Manah-paryaya and the "Kevala" being termed as "Pratyaksha" i.e. directly derived through the soul's own perception without any intervening medium. These five ways are also called the five kinds of knowledge and they reveal the nature of the external world as consisting of real objects which cannot be rejected as illusory. As stated earlier, the function of knowledge is to reveal on the one hand the existing reality, and on the other hand, itself. Thus the soul is both the subject and object of knowledge in one and the knowledge by these instruments reveal the soul only in two states, either Samsari i.e. embodied or Mukta i.e. liberated.
VIII REALITIES
The Reality of 'Jiva' is of two kinds: Samsari i.e. mundane and Mukta i.e. liberated. The former are embodied Souls of living beings in the Universe subject to the cycles of births and deaths, and the latter are liberated souls who will be embodied no more, as they are in the state of perfection, living at the top of the Universe, no more to deal with worldly affairs. In metaphysics, Jainism explains this as one filled entirely with subtle matter of Karma as a bag filled with sand having weight being always pulled downwards, and the other absolutely pure and free from all Karmic matter and having no weight, always being drawn upwards.
These souls are invisible substances and though eternal, are not of a definite size since they contract or expand according to the dimensions of the physical bodies they occupy for the time being. Their chief characteristic is consciousness, which is accompanied by sense-activity, respiration and a certain period of existence in a particular body. These souls are infinite and they retain their individuality throughout, even after attaining liberation i.e. Moksha, when they do not destroy this individuality, nor merge the same in the individuality of any other soul. Their defilement by the influx and the retention of