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Istopadeśa - The Golden Discourse
जीवोऽन्यः पुद्गलश्चान्य इत्यसौ तत्त्वसंग्रहः । यदन्यदुच्यते किञ्चित् सोऽस्तु तस्यैव विस्तरः ॥
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The soul is distinct from the matter and the matter is distinct from the soul; this is the quintessence of reality. All the rest of articulation is but an elaboration of the same.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
From the transcendental point of view (niscaya naya) the soul is free from bondage, untouched by others, distinct, steady, inseparable from its attributes of knowledge and faith, and free from union with any other substance. It is devoid of colour, taste, smell, and touch, and, therefore, incorporeal. It is beyond perception through the senses, without sound, cannot be apprehended through a symbol, and its form or shape cannot be portrayed. It is characterized by consciousness - knowledge and perception. When it is sullied with karmic dirt, only then, from the empirical point of view (vyavahāra naya), the soul is said to be having corporeal form. Due to its intimate bond with the karmic matter, which includes the body, we say, from a particular point of view, that the soul is the producer of karmic matter, and from another point of view that it gets involved in psychic dispositions like attachment and aversion.
Ācārya Nemichandra asserts in Dravyasamgraha: पोंग्गलकम्मादीणं कत्ता ववहारदो दु णिच्छयदो। चेदणकम्माणादा सुद्धणया सुद्धभावाणं ॥
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