Dr. N.L. Kachhara
The six classes of souls are earth body soul, water body soul, fire body soul, air body soul, plant body soul and mobile souls. This kind of classification of souls is unique to Jain philosophy. Lord Mahavira gave this classification from his "direct" observation of nature by his power of omniscience. He could see the minutest form of life. He could see that there are innumerable numbers of lives in a tiny particle of earth or a drop of water, that they all breathe, take food and have a life span. He offered a detailed description as to their birth, life after death, cognizance power, passions, etc.
1. Earth Body Soul
The earth is the body of earth body soul. The earth, salt, gold, mica and all other minerals etc. are earth body souls. The earth, minerals etc, according to Jain philosophy, have consciousness before processing. The total number of earth body souls is innumerable. Earth body souls mainly fall in two groups subtle (suksma) and gross (badara). The subtle earth body souls are not visible to naked eyes and the gross souls have bodies made up of large visible aggregates. The minimum life span of earth body soul is less than one Indian hour (muhurt) and the maximum span is 42000 years. Earth body souls are destroyed by cold, heat, salt, acid, alkali and electric charge. Both groups of earth body souls can be present in developed or under developed form.
2. Water body Soul
The flowing water is the body of water body souls. Dew, ice, fog etc. are water body souls of gross type. Water body souls are also innumerable in loka. They are destroyed in the same way as earth body souls. Before processing water has consciousness, the minimum life span of water body soul is less than one Indian hour and the maximum span is seven thousand years. All subtle water body souls are alike and found all over loka. Gross water body souls are of various kinds as mentioned earlier. Both types can be present in developed and underdeveloped form.
3. Fire Body Soul.
Fire is the body of fire body souls. Some examples of fire body souls are burning fuel, sparks, flames, meteorites, etc. These souls are also innumerable in loka. They are destroyed in the same way as earth body souls and possess consciousness before destruction. Their minimum life span is less than one Indian hour and the maximum span is three days. All subtle fire body souls are alike and the gross souls are of different forms as mentioned. Both classes can be developed and underdeveloped types.
4. Air Body Soul
The flowing air is the body of air body souls. Hurricanes, typhoons and wind storms are some examples of gross air body souls. Air body souls are also innumerable in loka and have consciousness before processing. Both subtle and gross air body souls can be developed and underdeveloped type. The minimum life span is less than an Indian hour and the maximum span is three thousand years.
5. Plant Body Soul (Vanaspatikaya)
The plant and vegetation are bodies of plant body souls. Plant body souls are of two kinds' solitary body soul (pratyeka vanaspati) and common body soul (sadharana vanaspati). The soul who is the sole owner of the body is called solitary plant body soul. When more than one soul has a common physical body, the plant is called common body soul. In such cases the breathing process, food, age and body are common to all souls living in that body. It may be noted that there may also be many souls who depend on the body of a solitary body soul but in that case they enjoy individual independent lives and have no body in common. The examples of solitary body plant soul are:
| Tree | Mango, banyan, etc. |
| Grass | Soft grass, etc. |
| Green vegetables | Spinach, etc. |
| Plants growing in water Lofurs, etc. | |
All bulbous roots, roots of various sorts and sprouts are common body plant jivas. Plant body souls grow in eight ways:
| 1. Top seed | Plant in which the top is the seed. |
| 2. Root seed | Plant in which the root is the seed e.g. carrot |
| 3. Joint seed | Plant in which the joint is the seed e.g. sugar cane |
| 4. Body seed | Plant in which the body is the seed e.g. potato |
| 5. Seed plant | Plants growing from a seed e.g. wheat |
| 6. Spontaneous plant | Plants which grow without sowing e.g. sprouts |
| 7. Fodder | Vegetation like grass, etc. |
| 8. Creepers | Plants like jasmine, watermelon, etc. |
Plants are subtle and gross type. The above are all gross plants. The subtle plants called nigod are minutest form of microorganisms, we call them nano organisms. Microbiology also regards some types of virus as plant life. This finding of science is in agreement with the Jain belief. According to Jain philosophy infinite numbers of nano organisms, called nigod, live in a micro body. For instance, the tip of a needle is supposed to accommodate infinite divisions of a body and one division has infinite parts. Each part has infinite living places and each place contains infinite micro bodies. Each micro body has infinite nano organisms. All these nano organisms are born together, die together, breathe together and eat together. Their physical body is common but the subtle bodies, tejas and karman, are individual. When an inactive nano organism comes out of nitya nigod as mentioned earlier, it is first born as a gross plant and becomes an active soul. The minimum life span of a plant body soul is less than one Indian hour and the maximum span is ten thousand years. All plant body souls have consciousness before processing.
Plant body souls have ten instincts.
1. Food instinct. All plants consume water etc. and so they possess food instinct. The parasitical creeper (cassyta filiformis) draws water from the trees it climbs on. Some trees are found to suck blood of mobile beings. These are signs of food instinct in plant body souls.
2. Fear instinct. Some plants like mimosa pudica contract when touched.
3. Sexual instinct. Some trees like tilak (small tree having bright red or orange flowers), campa, etc. bear flower and fruits on coming in contact with females. The tree totesia asoka feels pleasure in coming in contact with females. This shows sexual instinct in plants.
4. Attachment instinct. The roots of wood-apple tree, dhak tree (butea frondosa), etc. spread over hidden treasure. The Creepers hold the trees with their filaments.
5-8. Anger, ego, deceit and greed instincts. The red water- lily plant shouts with anger. A kind of creeper (sidati) decays due to ego. Creepers cover their fruits with leaves etc, and try to deceive the observer. The attachment instinct of wood- apple tree and dhak tree are examples of greed.
9. Access instinct. Creepers decide their way up a tree.
10. Time (light) instinct. The lotus flowers close during nights. So plants have time instinct.
The earth body, water body, fire body and air body souls have three bodies- the physical, tejas and karmana. The air body souls also have fluid body (vaikriya). They possess four powers of development (paryapti), four vital powers (prana), and three attentive consciousnesses empirical, articulate ignorance and non-visual perception. Their consciousness is so latent that we cannot detect the pleasure and pain they experience.
6. Mobile beings (Trasakaya)
All mobile beings with two to five senses are trasakaya. Mobile beings can move forward and backward, contract and expand, produce sound, move around and run in defense, get frightened, etc. All infernal beings, celestial beings, animals and humans are mobile beings. Mobile beings are found only in the trasnadi, the central region of loka.
Mobile beings having two to four senses are classed as deficient creatures.
Two- sense creatures have the senses of touch and taste. Small insects, shell, conch shell, earthworm and other worms are some examples of two sense creatures.
Three- sense creatures have the senses of touch, taste and smell. Ants, bed bugs, scorpions, pests, louse, etc. are some three-sense creatures.
Four sense creatures have the senses of touch, taste, smell and vision. Flies, mosquitoes, black beetle, bee, locust etc. are four sense creatures.
Five sense beings. These beings are born either by womb or agglutination. Both of these kinds are aquatic, terrestrial, or aerial creatures. Fish, turtle, crocodile, etc. are aquatic creatures. The terrestrial creatures are of two types - quadruped animals and reptiles. The quadruped animal are again of four types (i) Single hoof animals like a horse (ii) Two hoof animals like an ox, (iii) Padded foot animals like an elephant and (iv) animals with paw like lions. The reptiles are of two types reptiles with arms like lizard and creeping reptiles like snakes. The birds are of four types (i) birds having skin feathers like a bat (ii) birds like goose (iii) birds having wavy feathers, and (iv) birds with big feathers (vitat paksi- these are not found on Earth). Based on the type of birth the mobile beings are of eight types.
- Oviparous. They are born from eggs like birds.
- Vertebrates- born without placenta such as elephants.
- Viviparous. They are born with placenta e.g. cow, humans.
- Fermentation origin. Worms and bacteria produced in curd, juice etc. by fermentation.
- Sweat origin. Produced from sweat, e.g. louse etc.
- Birth by agglutination. They have asexual birth e.g. flies, ants etc.
- Sprouting animals. They are produced below earth surface e.g. locusts.
- Instantaneously manifested body. They are non fetus beings e.g. celestial and infernal beings.
All creatures having one to four senses, five sense beings without mind and infernal beings are necessarily hermaphrodites. Celestial beings have male and female category (and no hermaphrodites). The human beings and animals have all three categories i.e. male, female and hermaphrodite.
In a land of action (karma bhoomi) the five sense animals have birth by womb as well as agglutination but in a land of enjoyment (bhog bhoomi) the birth takes place by womb only. The beings having non-fetus or fetus birth are matured but those having agglutination birth are nonmatured (aparyapta).
