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4. (a). Paramāņu is subject to mutation (pariņāmī). By itself, it is agurulaghu pariṇāmī1 The mutation is in respect to its innate qualities viz., colour, smell, etc.
4. (b). Paramāņu is capable of being dynamically active (kriyāvān). When mobile, it may have vibratory as well as migratory motions. The activity of a paramāņu is not continuous but rather in the form of quantas. When dynamic, it can assume a very high velocity, since it is completely massless, there is no upper limit to its speed, and it can travel from one end of the loka to the other within one time-point (samaya)2. It cannot, however, cross the boundary of loka (since there is no dharmāstikāya beyond it).
5. Paramāņu is fusionable and not fissionable, because by itself it is indivisible. It unites with other paramāņus to form composite bodies, and therefore, it is fusionable. Fissionability strictly is an attribute of composite bodies only.
A single paramāņu cannot be attracted by jiva, and therefore, it does not interact with jīva.
D. EXPOSITION
1. Nomenclature-Its full name is paramāņu pudgala or dravya paramāņu, but is generaly called 'paramāṇu'.
Etymologically, the word paramāņu is made up of two terms parama and aņu. The extreme limiting unit of the process of division of any material object is anu. Such ultimate anu is paramāņu. Thus, paramāņu is an ultimate or primary atom.
2. Substantially-Paramānu is the substance pudgalästikāya which is one of the six ultimate substances comprising the Universal Reality. It is a substance because it possesses qualities and modes. There are infinite number of individual paramāņus, each numerically different from one another. Since each paramāņu is a substance, number of pudgala-substance is infinite.
3. Spatially-A paramāņu occupies a single space-point and can never extend to more than one, a body composed of infinite
1. For discussion on "agurulaghu", see "Six Universal Qualities" in the first section of this chapter.
2. Bhag. Sūt., 1/61: "Eka-Samayalokanta-prapinām."
