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As mentioned above, Umāsvāti, who belongs to an earlier Jaina philosophical history, 11 used the word bhavya and abhavya in his TS twice. 12 His style is, as the title of the compendium indicates, appears to be simple and to the point, but to get a truly clear meaning of his opinion we sometimes have to rely upon commentary. In this paper the interpretation of the original meaning depends upon Pūjyapāda's Sarvārtha Siddhi (abbr. as SS).
In the second chapter of TS, Umāsvāti explains the various natures of a soul, or the jiva. First he classifies the states of the soul according to the relationship of the soul with karma. Having done the same with the other four states of a soul, the author says that bhavyatva makes one part of the innate nature of a soul as abhavyatva and jivatva.13 A soul shall have jivatva which distinguishes it from other substances, such as material substances. This of course begs the question: what does bhavyatva mean?
Pūjyapāda suggests the following for the concept of bhavya: it is one who obtains the quality of the right faith, and so on, is bhavya. 14 Here "right faith, and so on" clearly refers to the three jewels of Jain philosophy -- right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. These three constitute the path to liberation as described in the very first sūtra of the TS. Thus a soul which has the nature of bhavyatva has the ability to attain the ultimate beatitude. This can be understood from the other portion of the TS where the author uses the word bhavyatva. The third sūtra of chapter ten reads that mokṣa will take place when the four states of a soul and bhavyatva in the innate state have vanished. 15 To achieve liberation an individual must eliminate the bhavyatva and other states. Without their presence it is surely impossible to destroy them. We can conclude that a soul with the nature of bhavyatva will get rid of the transmigration and reach the mokşa.
On the other hand, the abhavya soul would not achieve mokșa even if he or she exerts religious effort for uncountable
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