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101
Atom in Jain Philosophy MODIFICATION
We have seen that Non-absolutist Jains do not believe in absolute permanence or total cessation. According to them, both transitory and permanent attributes co-exist in a substance. This is the primal nature of the entire real existence. Thus, a substance can be considered eternal and, therefore, immutable, if one examines it from the view-point of dravya i.e. its underlying unity and ignoring (but not denying) the other aspect. On the other hand, it must be considered as incessantly changing, if looked at from the view-point of prayāyal i.e. its transitional attribute which establishes its mutability. And since all substances possess both attributes simultaneously, they are both permanent as well as changing. In short, they are subject to the doctrine of permanence through-modification.
TYPES OF MODIFICATION
Modification is, thus, a primal property of pudgala which, therefore, has a propensity of being active (pariņāmi). And since the modification is infinite, activity is also infinite.
All modifications can, however, be grouped under two types:
(1) Artha-paryāya (Implicit Mode)
(ii) Vyanjana-paryāya (Explicit Mode)
(1) ARTHA-PARYĀYA : It is the intrinsic change in Pudgala. It is instantaneous, continuous (without pause), and incessant (timeless). This continuous flow of pudgala is parallel to the continuous flow of time. It is total self-interaction,2 and not caused by anything external. The implicit mode is neither perceivable nor expressible..
(ii) VYAÑJANA-PARYAYA: Vyanjana-paryāya, on the other hand, may be, intrinsic as well as extrinsic, and it has a duration. It is, in fact, an event in a particular part of space at a particular time. Besides the molecular integration and disintegration, that
1. Tat. Raj 5/7/25. 2. Cf. the discussion on self-interaction of sub-atomic particles in the first
chapter.
