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Microcosmology: Atom
3. It is sūkṣma i.e. infinitesimally subtle.
4. It is nitya, i.e. indestructible. It does not lose its individuality even when participating in a union.
5. It possesses one rasa, one gandha and one varṇa.
6. It is dvisparśī ie. it possesses two sparsa-either dryness or glueiness and hot or cold i.e. it is either dry-cold or dry-hot, or gluey-cold or gluey-hot.
7. It is kāryalinga i.e. it can be cognised by inference only through the effects of collective actions. Its qualities can also be cognised through the qualities of the composite bodies. In short, by itself it is not an object of sensuous cognition. Only transcendental and extra-sensory perception can cognise its qualities.
C. PROPERTIES
Let us now see which of the properties of pudgala which were discussed in detail in the previous section are applicable to paramāņu:
1. (a) Paramāņu is a real and a substance. By itself it is not kāya (extensive body), because being a single point, it is singularity. However, when united with other paramāņu in a composite body, it is a constituent of kaya.
(b) It is eternal (nitya) and non-transmutable (avasthita). This is so because paramāņu never loses its identity even though it participates in the union to produce composite bodies. Thus not a single paramāņu is destroyed nor a new one created. The total number of paramāņus is eternally the same.
2. Paramāņu belongs to the physical order of existence and not psychical, because it is devoid of consciousness.
3. It possesses four primary sensuous qualities - colour. taste, smell, and touch, but is devoid of samsthāna because it has no shape and it has no length, breadth or thickness.
