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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Jainism
229
they are related very closely and are separable only in the state of liberation. As Nahar describes it-"The difference between Jiva and aj.va is not absolute one. They are related to each other as subject and object. They are not incompatible. They are related to each other in an organic unity. Soul is subtle substance."'! Nahar and Ghosh further distinguish the two in following words "Pudgala matter has weight and fills the space; but the essence of soul is conceived in self-consciousness absolutely devoid of any materiality."2
About the innumerable number of the Jivas Nahar further writes -" This soul-substance of the Jainas is not a single all-pervading reality without a second of its kind to stand by it. There is an infinity of these souls. And though true it is that an infinite number of these has become free from the turmoils of the world; yet there remains an infinite number struggling for freedom; for if infinity is taken from infinity the reminder is.infinite itself.' 3
The soul is not an exclusive possession of human beings, according to Jainism. It allows the soul principle to extend to all the living things of the universe. As Nahar explains the range of existence of the souls — “It is these souls in plasms that lie scattered in every nook and corner of the universe and each is the doer of good or bad deeds to reap the consequences of which each takes the repetition of births and deaths according to the merits of its
Nahar and Ghosh : An Epitome of Jainism, p. 278. » Ibid. p. 273. a Ibid. p. 279.
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