Jainism by Vividus

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

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the Karmic matter has been from eternal time and in spite of their intrinsic qualities of purity, knowledge, power and bliss, it is this defilment which is the cause of their being embodied subject to innumerable cycles of births and deaths until they are liberated and attain Moksha. Just as the universe is eternal, so are these two realities Jiva and Ajiva about one of which the Jiva i.e. the soul both embodied ard liberated is written above. Jiva is classified according to its sense-organs into five classes:
(1) Ekindriya---with one sense organ, only touch such as earth, water, light or fire, wind and vegetation.
(2) Dwi-indriya-with two sense organs: touch and taste; such as worms, oysters etc.
(3) Tri-indriya-with three sense organs: touch, taste and smell; such as ants, bugs, lice etc.
(4) Chou-indriya--with four sense organs; touch, taste, smell and sight, such as bees, mosquitoes, flies etc. and
(5) Panchendriya-with all the five sense organs: touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing such as birds, animals, men etc.
Those Jivas with one sense organ only viz the Ekindriya are also called 'Sthavara' (Immobile) Jivas. The rest of them with two, three, four or five sense organs are called “Trasa" (mobile) Jivas.
In this class of 'Sthavara" Jiva, together with earth-bodies, water-bodies, fire-bodies, air-bodies and vegetable bodies are included “Nigoda Kaya" Jivas belonging to the vegetable category which are invisible plants (unlike the visible normal vegetable plants of which each is the body of one soul) of which each is an aggregation of embodied souls which have such functions of life as respiration and nutrition in common. This
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