________________
THE NYAYA PHILOSOPHY
But these different objects may be divided into several classes, each class differing from the other. All the objects included in one class have a lower generality and so on.
67
(v)
The fifth category विशेष (individuality) is of infinite nature. Each atom is separate from the other. And therefore there are infinite individualities.6
The sixth category
(vi) or intimate relation is that which exists between a substance and its qualities, between atoms and what is formed out of them, between the whole and its parts, between substance and its modifications."
(vii) The seventh category is non-existence which is very easy to understand.
7.
We will examine these categories a little closer. (a) Of the nine substances, earth, water, light and air are considered eternal and non-eternal. The atoms of these substances are eternal but their different manifestations are not eternal. With regard to the
6. This characterization of fa is obscure. As a matter of fact, not only each atom but each substance supposed to be eternal-i. e. each soul, each mind, space. time, ether has got its own विशेष. And it is a good definition of fa that it is what distinguished an eternal substance from every other substance. To take fa to mean species as contrasted to genus-which is what I then stands for-is a loose way of speaking. But the usage actually occurs in the early Vaisheshika authors and Gandhi was not being un-authentic in having followed their practice (towards the beginning of his exposition of the
Vaisheshika system).
Jain Education International
7. This account of 4 is neither exact nor complete. For the case of certain atoms forming a composite body is in fact a case of parts forming a whole. And the 914 relation obtains also between a A and its locus and a विशेष and its locus.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
