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bodies like the light of a lamp that occupies a small room as well as a big hall. It can occupy the smallest possible body of a bacterium or the largest possible body of a whale. No other school of Indian philo. sophy regards the soul as equal in extent to the body it occupios. Jainism maintains that even the emancipated souls, which have no physical forms, since they are not possessed of bodies, have the psychical forms of their last bodies. Though the liberated souls possess their own form and maintain their individuality, there is perfect equality among them. They do not obstruct one another. Jainism does not believe in personal God. Every soul, which is capable of salvation is possessed of the innate nature of Godliness. It can attain the state of Godhead through right belief, right knowledge and right conduct. This state is nothing more than final liberation. All the liberated souls are essentially equal. None of them enjoys any privilege. Every emancipated soul perfectly shines with infinite knowledge, infinite intuition, infinite bliss and infinite power.
Matter consists of two forms: atoms (anus or paramāņus) and molecules (skandhas). The indivisible material particle is called atom. It is the smallest possible form of matter.' Each and every atom possesses touch, taste, smell and colour and is potentially capable of forming earth, water, fire and air. There are no distinct and different kinds of atoms of earth etc., i.e., the atoms are ultimately not different. Airy atoms can be converted into water, watery atoms can be converted into fire and so on. Ultimately, all the atoms belong to one and the same class, viz , the class of matter. Sometimes they form earth, sometimes they form water and so on. All this depends upon certain conditions and combinations. Air can be converted into a bluish liquid by continuous cooling, just as steam can be converted into water. Thus, according to Jainism, earth, water, fire and air are not ultimately separate and independent entities but only different forms of matter. There are no ultimate qualitative differences among them. The school of NyäyaVaiseşika does not agree to this view of Jainism. It regards earth, water, fire and air as absolutely different and independent substances, and hence, their atoms are also ultimately distinct and different.
A combination of atoms is known as molecule. It possesses a gross form and undergoes the processes of union and division. The manifestations of molecules are found in the form of different kinds of body,
8 Ibid. 5.16. 9 Sarvarthasiddhi, 5.25.
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