Book Title: Scientific Foundations Of Jainism
Author(s): K V Mardia
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd

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Page 58
________________ 36 2. 1. THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF JAINISM NOTES 2. (e) Pleasure producing (2) Pain producing (f) Body producing= Nāma (g) Longevity determining Ayu (h) Environmental determining = Gotra 3. Space point = Pradeśa Ultimate Particle Paramāņu Sub-atomic = Aņu. (Particle-Groupings Vargaṇā) - 3. Six Existents (= Dravya) (1) Soul Jiva (2) Matter = Pudgala = (3) Space Akāśa; occupied space unoccupied space Aloka-Ākāśa. (4) Dynamic medium = Adharma (5) Stationary medium (6) Time Kāla Dharma = Sātā-vedaniya Asātā-vedaniya Type of bodies (= Śarīra) Karmic body = Karmic Sarira Karmic capsule = Taijas Šarīra = = = Loka Akāśa; P.S. Jaini p. 125. Nama-karmas pertaining to śarira are also said to generate two subtle bodies underlying the manifest physical one. These are the taijasa-sarira, heat body, which maintains the vital temperature of the organism, and the kārmana-śarira, the karmic body, constituting the sum total of karmic material present in the soul at a given time. The conception that such bodies exist is important to the Jain theory of rebirth, since they constitute the "vehicle" whereby a soul moves (albeit under its own power) from one incarnation to the next. P.S. Jaini pp. 126-7. At the moment of death, the aghātiyā karmas have preprogrammed, as it were, the particular conditions of the coming embodiment. This information is carried in the kärmana-śarīra, which together with the taijasa-śarīra, houses the soul as it leaves its physical body. A soul is said to be inherently possessed of great motive force; set free of the state of gross embodiment, it flies at incredible speed and in a straight line to the destination which its accompanying karma deemed appropriate. This movement is called vigraha-gati, and it is said to require, as noted above, only a single moment in time, regardless of the distance to be traversed. P.S. Jaini p. 98. The distinguishing quality of space is its ability to provide a locus for such existents; this is true whether it actually does so (as in the case of lokaākāśa) or not (as in the case of aloka-ākāśa). Hence, there is only one "space"; its extent is infinite. Akāśa is further described as divisible into infinitesimally small "space-points" (pradeśa); these units have some dimension and yet cannot be subdivided.

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