Religious Quest of India

SR No.: 011031
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J N Farquhar, Griswold
Publisher: J N Farquhar Griswold
Total Pages: 365
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 132

106
THE NINE CATEGORIES OF
Badara ekendriya. In the first of these are lives so minute that they can never be seen, killed, or destroyed, whilst those of the Bādara ekendriya can be killed or destroyed, and can sometimes be perceived. To make up the number to fourteen the two divisions of the fifth class, Saṁjñi and Asamjñi, are included.
The Second Category: Ajiva.
The second great Tattva of the Jaina deals with Ajiva (things inanimate), and is in all respects the opposite of Jiva. Until jiva is freed from one particular division (pudgala) of ajiva, it is impossible for it to progress towards deliverance. The union of jiva with ajīva is never so absolutely complete as to make their separation impossible.
Ajiva is divided into two main classes: Arūpi (without form) and Rūpi (with form). Arūpi ajīva has four great subdivisions: Dharmāstikāya,1 Adharmāstikāya, Ākāśāstikāya and Kāļa.2
Dharma
3
Dharmastikāya helps the jiva associated with pudgala 3 stikaya. to progress just as (to use their own illustration) water helps on the movements of a fish. It is divided into three classes: Skandha, Deśa, and Pradeśa. The whole power of motion is called skandha; a large fraction of it is called deśa as long as it is linked with skandha; while pradeśa is a small fraction of deśa. The Jaina declare that they had so thoroughly studied the laws of motion that they were cognizant of the law of gravity long before Sir Isaac Newton discovered it.
The ordinary meaning of Dharma and Adharma is of course merit and demerit, or right conduct and unrighteousness, as Dr. Jacobi" and Dr. Bhandarkarb translate them; but all the Jaina that I have met in India assure me that these two words are here used in a special technical sense which we shall better understand as we discuss these divisions.
a Introduction, S. B. E., xlv, p. xxxiv.
b Dr. Bhandarkar, Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts, p. 96. Dr. Bühler falls into the same trap, Indian Sect of the Jaina, p. 9.
2 Sans. Kāla.
3 Pudgala (Sans. pudgala) is roughly translated by Jaina as 'matter'.