Religion and Philosophy of the Jainas

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Jain International Ahmedabad

Page 82

INTRODUCTORY
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gods. All these living beings have four, five or six of the following capacities: capacity of taking food, capacity of constructing body, capacity of constructing organs, capacity of respiration, capacity of speaking and the capacity of thinking. Beings having one organ of sence i.e. of touch, have the first four capacities. Beings having two, three and four organs of sense, have the first five capacities, while those having five organs have all the six capacities.
The Jaina canonical books treat very elaborately of the minute divisions of the living beings, and their prophets have long before the discovery of the microscope been able to tell how many organs of sense the minutest animalcule has. I would refer those who are desirous of studying Jaina biology, zoology, botany, anatomy, and physiology to the many books published by our society.
Four States of Existence
I shall now refer to the four states of existence. They are nāraka, tiryañca, manusya, and deva. Nāraka is the lowest state of existence, that of being a denizen of hell; tiryañca is next, that of having an earthbody, a waterbody, a firebody, a windbody, of being a vegetable and lastly animals, and birds, which are again divided into four classes of having two, three, four or five senses. The third is manusya, the state of being a man and the fourth is deva, that of being a denizen of the celestial world. The highest state of existence is the mokṣa, apotheosis in the sense that the mortal being by the destruction of all karman attains the highest severed spiritualism, and the soul being severed from all connection with matter gains its purest state and becomes divine. Transmigration and karma
The doctrine of the transmigration of soul or the reincarnation, is another grand idea of the Jaina philosophy. The companion doctrine of transmigration is the doctrine of Karman. The Sanskrit word 'karman' means action. 'With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again,' and 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall be also reaped,' are but
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