________________
Parinamavada in the Agamas
Kāla as a metaphysical principle and its relation to the Pariņāmas of things.
101
The above account of the six dravyas culled from the Agama passages, presents the Jain view of metaphysics. This view in its outline is throughout maintained by the later writers, supplying of course logical framework and consistency.
We may now turn to the theory of Pariņāma which can be formulated from the Agamas.
Elements of Pariņāma as found in the Agamas
At the outset, it may be pointed out that nowhere in the Agamas, have I succeeded in finding a passage which directly defines the concept of Pariņāma as such. We shall, therefore, endeavour to understand the Agama idea of Parinama by studying the passages relevant to the subject. Such passages by the very nature of the subject-matter get classified under three heads. viz., (A) Those bearing on the Pajjavas of Jiva and Ajiva, (B) Those bearing on the Pariņāmas of Jiva and Ajiva, (C) Those cocerning the eternal and non-eternal aspects of Jiva and Poggala.
A
The Pajjavas of Jiva and Ajiva
The Pajjavas of Jiva and Ajiva are enumerated in the fifth chapter viz., the Visesa-pada of Pannavaṇā and in the Bh.Su. 25.5.746. Therein at one place Jiva-pajjavas are stated to be infinite in number because the total number of individual Jîvas (Jiva-vyakti) is infinite. Thus it considers the pajjavas of the Jiva category viewed in a general way. At another place the innumerable Neraiyas are said to have infinite pajjavas because the shades (degrees of transformation) of a certain quality like blackness are infinite (in their variation). Thus, here a different point of view is
