Tattvartha Sutra

Author(s): Umaswati, Umaswami, Manu Doshi
Publisher: Shrutratnakar Ahmedabad

Page 99

AJEEVAKÄY INSENTIENT MATTER
जीवस्य च ॥५-८॥
आकाशस्यानन्ताः ॥५-९ ॥
संख्येयासंख्येयाश्च पुद्गलानाम् ॥५-१०॥
नाणोः ॥५-११॥
5.7: Asankhyeyäh Pradeshä Dharmädharmayoh
5.8: Jeevasya cha
5.9: Äkäshasyänantäh
5.10: Sankhyeyäsankhyeyäshcha Pudgalänäm
5.11: Nänoh
(Dharma and Adharma occupy innumerable Pradeshas; the same applies to Jeev. Äkäsh occupies endless Pradeshas. Pudgal can occupy numerable as well as innumerable Pradeshas, but that does not apply to Anu.)
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These sutras deal with the size of different substances. Their sizes are defined in terms of Pradesh, which has an exclusively Jain connotation. The objects that we see or know otherwise are generally divisible. They can be divided and subdivided till we reach a stage beyond which it is not possible to divide. Till the earlier part of the last century, the scientists believed that atom bore such a state and was considered indivisible. But the atom was split during the middle of that century and then it was noticed that it comprises proton, neutron and electron. Those sub-atomic particles are now considered indivisible.
Jainism conceives of a state of Paramänu, which is the finest part of Pudgal and is considered much more finer than a sub-atomic particle. That is indivisible and the area that one