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THE NOTION OF GROWTH
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- Matter (pudgala) - is well known to us. It is the mate
rial substance of all kinds of bodies, constantly moving because of its inherent qualities of attraction and repulsion and composed of energetic particles of extremely small dimensions.
Yet over and above that the Jains describe more subtle forms of matter that are unknown to presentday science.
- Space (akasha) - The Jains use the unit pradesha (generally translated as 'spacepoint') to describe the dimensions of space. pradesha denotes the 'smallest possible expansion of the element space'11. Yet other elements (e.g. matter) have forms that can be far subtler than the element space and therefore much smaller than a spacepoint.
According to the Jains space can neither expand nor contract. Its primary purpose is to enable the existence and the expansion and contraction of the other elements.
- Time (kala). The Jains see time from two different perspectives:
From the perspective of the practical, day to day usage (vyavahara-naya) time is partitioned into present, past and future. Time is the medium that allows the other elements to exist in continuity and to undergo changes during the manifestation of their characteristics. Time supports the movement of the ele
11 pradesha is defined as the space that is taken up by an indivisible
elementary particle (paramanu). According to its definition this elementary particle is far smaller than an atom.
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