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Teachings of Mahāvīra
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to their own souls, and will again and again be born as one of them. Every being born high or low in the scale of the living creation, among movable and immovable beings, will meet with its death. Whatever sins the evil-doer commits in every birth, for them he must die."1
Things without life are either formed or formless. The formed are compound things and atoms constituting the world of matter. The world of the formless is represented by four Astikāyas, viz., Dharma, Adharma, Ākāśa (space) and time. Dharma and Adharma explain motion and absence of motion respectively; Akāśa (space) provides habitation for all living and non-living beings, and time explains their duration of existence. Dharma, Adharma, and space are each one substance only ; but time, matter and souls are in infinite number of substances. Thus the category of Ajiva helps us complete the study of the world of life and existence.?
The third term or category is Bandha or bondage of the soul. Bandha is the subjection of the soul to the laws of the birth and death, of youth and age, of pleasure and pain, and other vicissitudes of life brought about by the effect of Karma.
The soul, which is one of the Astikājas, represents the principle of intelligence. The characteristic of thc soul is knowledge, faith, conduct, austerities, energy, and realization of its developments.3 Buddhaghosha in his commcntary on the Brahmajāla Sutta, Digha Nikāja I, 2, 381, mentions the Niganthas as holding the opinion that the soul has no colour, and it continues to exist after death and is free from ailments. This description is consonant with the opinions of the Jainas about the nature of thc soul."
The catcgories of Merit (Punja) and Demerit (Pala) comprehend all acts or deeds, pious and sinful, which keep the soul bound to the circle of the births and dentis.
1. Sitra, I, 7, 2-3. 2. Ullari, XXXVI. 3. Ibid, XXVIII, 11. 4. SBE, XLV, p. xix.
