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Theory of Pudgala
time. The mutability of the gold to be transformed into different shapes and sizes makes it possible to become a bangle and sometimes a ring. This transformation of shapes is mutability and the shape for the time being is a mode. The bangle mode can be destroyed to create the ring mode, but the gold is permanent or identical in both. In the same way, the three qualities i.e. origination, cessation and persistence are found in Pudgala at a time. Thus, it is real and also a substance.
Pudgala as Indestructible
According to the Bh.S, nothing gets lost which exists.36 Nontransmutability is a universal quality of all the substances. This is why temporally Pudgala is eternal and permanent. Its existence is beginningless and endless. The quality is referred to in the text as follows:37
"Thus, in the past, there was never any time when Pudgala did not exist; in the present, there is no time when it does not exist; in the future, there will not be such time when it will not exist. It did exist at all times in the past, it does exist in the present and it will exist at all times in the future."
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The Bh.S uses various synonyms, such as, dhue, niyae, akkhae, avvae, avatthie, etc. to indicate the indestructible nature of Pudgala.38
Pudgala is dhue i.e. perpetual or persistent. The synonym emphasizes endless continuity of Pudgala without any pause.
The synonym Niyae indicates that Pudgala is quantitatively immutable or fixed. It means that the law of conservation is strictly applicable to it. According to Siddhasena's commentary, the total quantity of matter in the universe is always constant.39 Whatever was the quantity of it in the infinite past will always remain the same in the infinite future. Neither a single particle has been destroyed in the past nor will it be destroyed in future. Not a single particle was newly created in the past nor will it be generated in the future.40
The Principle of Conservation of Matter and The Principle of Conservation of Energy in modern science support whatever is said through the synonym Niyae.41 In Physics, energy is always associated with some kind of activity but the total energy involved in the process is always conserved. Conservation of energy is one of the most fundamental laws of Physics. Like energy, no mass can ever get lost. According to Einstein, mass is nothing but a form of energy. The amount of energy contained in a particle is equal to the particle's mass. On the other hand, an object at rest has energy stored in its mass and the relation between the two is shown by the famous equation as follows
E- MC2, C being the speed of light.
Pudgala is shashvata, i.e. timeless. It emphasizes that this substance does
