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Lord Mahavira
subdivided into having earth-body, water-body, plant-body, animal-body, fire-body, and wind-body.
Organic beings are again sub-divided into having one organ (touch), two organs (touch and smell), three organs (touch, smell and taste), four organs (touch, smell, taste, and hearing), and five organs (touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight). There are also gradations among perfected beings as existing within and beyond lesser and larger cosmic cycles. Hence Mahâvîra insists in having greatest respect for life in all forms, maintaining ahimsa paramo dharma (non-injury to the living beings is the supreme law).
The reason for the jiva to be embodied in samsara and to be subjected to bondage to existential forms is that it is intricately enmeshed with karmic matter arising out of cumulative consequences of actions and no-actions. This karmic matter accompanies jiva as some kind of transcendental luggage. As in the law of nature, every action has consequence (or there is no action which has no consequence), so is in the realm of spirit. The pollution of consequences accumulated by jiva can only be cleared by actions in life. Just as there is no way of becoming healthy by proxy, there is no way of cleaning the spiritual linen by societal or institutional action or short-cuts. The way of liberating the jiva from its entanglement is by the three jewels (tri-ratna) : Right Knowledge, Right Faith, and Right Conduct. Knowledge of the eternal principles without doubt or error is called Right Knowledge : belief in the eternal categories is Right Faith : and the practice of the pancha-vrata (five vows or virtues) constitutes the Right Conduct. The five virtues are :
(a) ahimsa (non-injury to the jiva) (b) satya (truth-spealing) (c) asteya (non-stealing) (d) brahmacarya (celibacy) (e) aparigraha (non-possession)
Since the Jain society is composed of only two classes, the householders and ascetics (monks and nuns), the ascetics are required to observe the vows strictly. However, the last two vows are made less rigorous for the householders by rendering celibacy
