Soul Science Part 01

Author(s): Parasmal Agrawal
Publisher: Kundakunda Gyanpith

Page 92

56
Soul (Jiva) and non-soul (Ajiva)
Arasamarūvamagandham avvattam cedaņāgunamasaddam. Jāņa alingaggahanam jīvamanidditthasamthanam. ||49|| अरसमरूपमगंधमव्यक्तं चेतनागुणमशब्दम्। जानीहि अलिंगग्रहणं जीवमनिर्दिष्टसंस्थानम् ।।49।।
Know that Jīva (soul) is without taste, invisible, without odor, without sound, imperceptible [to sensory organs or instruments), without definite shape, realizable not by any mark or symbol, and characterized by the consciousness attribute (Cetanā). [49]
Annotation
After clarifying in Gathā 47 the difference between the actual king and the king with his army, in Gāthā 48 Ācārya Kundakunda indicated the difference between the actual Jīva and Jīva as a combination of Jiva, Karma, emotions, mind, physical body, etc. Now he states that though taste, color, smell, touch, sound, etc., are associated with the physical body of a living being yet these cannot be considered as attributes of Jīva. A Jiva is different from the associated physical body. Here Ācārya highlights that the essential attribute of Jiva (soul) is its consciousness (Cetanā). The word 'Guņa' used in the stanza signifies that it is an attribute which is always present.
It may be noted that this stanza is so significant that it has also been included by Ācārya Kundakunda in his Pravacansāra (as stanza-172), Niyamasāra (as stanza-46), Pancāstikāya (as stanza127), and Astapāhuda (as stanza-64).
According to the Jain metaphysics, taste, color, smell, and touch, are specific attributes of matter (Pudgala). They are not found in any Jīva. Similarly, the sound consists of matter (Pudgala). It is not an attribute of a Jīva.
As a Jīva is a Dravya (substance), it is expected to cover some volume, i.e., it must have some shape and size. A Jīva may be of a size of an ant in this birth and in other birth it can have the shape and size of an elephant. (According to the Jain metaphysics, the size and shape of the soul of a living being is close to the size and shape of the associated physical body). This