Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 7

Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 54

Jaina Theory of Skandhas or Molecules
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fires by different authors. It may be guessed that those mentioned once are not only fire skandhas, but there may be many others as the authors use the terni etc. They have done so in case of water and earths also.
The above taijasa skandhas have three aspects : heat and/or light and electric lightening which is produced by difference in charge. Thus, it may be inferred that the term taijasa has included energies (of today) known during the cannonical periods. The important point to be noted here is that the electric lightning or its forms in the sky have been taken as fire skandhas. These are natural forms of electricity. All these are described in physics rather than chemistry of today.
Shastri11 has raised a point on the nature of taijasa body-fourth out of five bodies-living beings possess. It is the cause of heat, activity and digestion in the body. It is said to be fire, invisible, devoid of impediments, caused by supernatural powers and luminating others while luminous by itself. It consists of an aggregate of infinite real atoms which are infinite times the number of atoms in the earlier bodies. Due to dense packing, it becomes finer. This luminous body is made up of energy skandhas or taijasa varganas4? whose size is between aharaka (heat ?) and bhasa varganas. This point has been commented upon earlier. Jain and Jabveri48 have called it elec.rical or electromagnetic in nature. This is found in every living beings from birth to death. Per chance heat or ahara is converted into this energy for the body to be active and living. It may itself be inactive but it makes the other active. Thus, the taijasa body is thermal or electrical form of the fire skandhas.
Akalanka 44 has described this body in thirteen ways. Accordingly, its luminosity is as white as cronch. It produces anger and happiness in the living and creates burning and combustion in others. Its size is innunerable part of an angula, i, e. less than 10-15 cm. It is infinite and universal. It has a max. age of 66 sagaropam--a unit difficult to define at current state of our knowledge. These points are based on the skandha nature of taijasa body and require deeper studies for comparative evaluation,
Thaker45 has raised one more point regarding the livingness of light and elctricity. Current science points out their non-living nature though the cannons tell us these could be bothways. For example, air is necessary for life and lamps cannot burn without it. In contrast, electric lamps burn only in an airless atmosphere.
The Vaisheshikas 16 presume taijasa atoms with hot touch and white glistening colour. They consist of four forms; fuel fire, sky fire, biochemical fire and mineral fire. Out of these, the Jainas have only the first