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it. The way in which the karmic influx and, thereby, bonding as well) can be stopped is termed as karmic stoppage (Samvara) and the way it is separated from the soul as separation (Nirjarā). Once a complete separation of the soul from the karmic bondage is achieved, it liberates or gains its ultimate destiny called liberation (Moksa). Thus, if we look at them carefully, the basic fundamentals are only two- the living-matter (Jīva) and the nonliving matter (Ajīva). Remaining seven fundamentals come about either through their association or dissociation. The time is now ripe for their detailed description.
1. Jīva Tatva (The Living Matter) Or The Soul –
Jīva or living matter is the one that is endowed with consciousness (upayoga), which makes it feel pleasure or pain. Another practical definition says that the Jīva is signified by the possession of at the very least four types of vitality - sense(s), power, life-span and respiration. Consciousness is nothing but the ability to feel and perceive or to visualise and know. (We shall deal with the subjects of visualisation (Darśana) and knowledge (Jņāna), in detail, in the second and the third chapters respectively). However, we must recall that Jīva, by itself, is formless, unmanifest and eternal. It manifests itself through its association with formed non-living matter in the form of its body and karmic adjunct. Detailing its other attributes, Ācārya Nemicandra Siddhānta-Cakravartī says that it occupies the space afforded it by its body, it is the doer of its actions and enjoyer of the fruits thereof, it is either mundane or liberated and, in its natural state, it has a natural tendency to rise.
This brings us to the classification of the souls. As we have mentioned in the last paragraph, the souls are either mundane (Samsārī – in the worldly existence) or liberated (Siddha).
The liberated souls (Siddha) are free of all (eight types of) karmic bondage, they are incorporeal and unmanifest, subtle but
TATTVĀRTHA (THE FUNDAMENTALS) : 91
