Philosophy In Jain Agams: Pṛthvīkāya (Earth Bodied Beings)

Lord Mahavira has expounded six categories of soul- earth, water, fire, air, vegetation and mobile beings.^[1]' The earth is a living being' - this was not propounded by any other philosophers. Lord Mahavira expounded this new fact that earth itself is a living being. According to Jain philosophy, except vegetation all the other living beings have their own independent individual bodies.

Single bodied (pratyeka śarīri) means individually separate body for each soul. The Pṛthvīkāyika jīvas are pratyeka śarīri beings.^[2] The souls, whose body is earth are called Pṛthvīkāyika.^[3] Pṛthvīkāya jīvas are of two kinds - gross and subtle. They are further divided into two groups as - developed (paryāpta) and un-developed (aparyāpta).^[4]

In Jain literature, the beings of earth, water etc. have been described thoroughly. The consciousness remains unexpressed in them. So, they cannot be easily cognized as living beings, as expressive conscious beings do. Lord Mahavira has expounded not only consciousness in earth etc. but also presented many subtle facts about them too.^[5]

Respiration in Pṛthvīkāya

Biology has been one of the main subjects of philosophy in the Agamic age. There are many evidences available for confirming this. In the Agamic literature, a deep study is available about soul extending from its food, respiration to the ultimate development of its consciousness, which is at par excellence. The conversation between Mahavira and his disciple Gautam on respiration of single-sensed beings is very interesting. It goes as follows:

'O Lord! asked Gautam, we know and perceive that the two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed and five sensed souls breathe in and breathe out. They inhale and exhale. We however do not know, nor do (we) see whether the earth-bodied, water bodied, fire bodied, air bodied, and vegetation souls, which are all one-sensed souls, breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale.'

'Do these souls, Oh Lord! breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale?'

Mahavira said- 'Yes, Gautam! These souls also breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale.'

That the trees and plants breathe- to say this today, is not a wonder since in today’s scientific age it can be verified. However, to state such facts two thousands and five hundred years ago, is really a wonder. Facts which are difficult to be acknowledged through technical equipments can be known through purity of consciousness. In some of the ancient scriptures, trees and plants have been considered as living beings, but whether they breathe, what do they breathe in, from how many directions do they breathe in and the similar kind of questions are not discussed anywhere, except in the Jain Agamas.^[6]

What do Pṛthvīkāya and other subtle beings breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale? It has been said that these living beings breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale the material clusters which have infinite number of space units with regard to substance, innumerable space units with regard to occupation of space, any plausible length of duration with regard to time, and with regard to qualities, have colour, smell, taste and touch.^[7]

The earth bodied beings breathe in and breathe out, and inhale and exhale from the six directions, if there is no obstruction. If there is obstruction, they do so from three, four or five directions.^[8] Mobile beings exist in trasanāḍī. These beings can inhale and exhale from all the six directions.^[9] One-sensed living beings stay at the corners at the boundary of the cosmos also, so they breathe in from three, four or five directions also.^[10]'

The main characteristic of life is breath. The one, who breathes, has life and the one, who does not breathe, does not have life. This is one of the fundamental characteristic of life. Single sensed living beings breathe-this fact is not known in general. Lord Mahavira claimed that they breathe. Life in vegetation is discussed in ancient literature also, but life in earth, water, fire and air is perhaps not mentioned anywhere else. Today, life in vegetation is proven through the scientific researches, but the science is silent about life in earth etc. So questions about their breathing do not arise anywhere in science or other literature. Vegetation has life and do breathe. Scientific world also approves of it, but the existence of life in the rest of one sensed living beings is still not accepted anywhere which explains why there are discussions on their respiration. Lord Mahavira has not only established the principle of breathing in single-sensed beings, but has also given full description of it. There is an independent category of the material cluster of breathing i.e. svācchosvāsa vargaṇā. These atomic particles are used for processing the breathing system.'

In the ancient Jain literature, the idea of ṣaḍjīvanikāya has been discussed in detail. In recent times, Acharya Shree Mahapragya has extensively discussed this topic in Ācārāṅga bhāṣya. In the present research work, there is a need to take this subject for further discussion. In the present context, the ideas expressed in Ācārāṅga bhāṣya are presented here. For convenience of the reader, the references have also been taken from bhāṣya and from elsewhere as required for clarity.

Body size ( avagāhanā) of Pṛthvīkāya (Earth Bodied Beings):

The body size of Pṛthvīkāya jīvas is very subtle. Its body size has been explained in an interesting manner through illustrations in Bhagavatī. If a sturdy young maid of a paramount sovereign, with steady fore-part of the arm and abdominal might, takes up a lump of the earth-bodied beings, puts it on a sharp piece of rock and grinds it with a sharp pestle of stone, as hard as diamond, as many as twenty-one times, even then only a few of the earth-bodied beings are ground and others are not, only a few are hurt and others are not, only a few are feared and others are not, only a few are touched and others are not. So subtle and superfine is indeed the volume of the body of earth-bodied beings.^[11]'

The Pṛthvīkāyika jīvas have very subtle bodies and therefore the bodies of one, two or more such beings are not visible but we are able to see only a big lump of innumerable such beings huddled together.^[12] The coalesced body of innumerable living beings of Pṛthvīkāya can only become the subject of our senses.

Influx of Karmas in Pṛthvīkāyika Beings

Sometimes the Pṛthvīkāyika jīva are subject to massive inflow, urge, experience and falling off of karma and sometimes they are subject to meagre inflow, urge, experience and falling off of karma.^[13] The Pṛthvīkāyika jīva have only one sense of touch. Their consciousness remains mostly obscured; even then they have variation of karmic bondage etc. due to their adhyavasaya (a subtle emotive level of consciousness, at which its interaction takes place with the karmic body).

Old age and Mourning

The Pṛthvīkāyika jīvas have the feeling of physical pain, and therefore, they have ageing. They have no mental pain and so they have no bewailing.^[14]

Frenzy in Pṛthvīkāyika

In Pṛthvīkāyika, the frenzy is of two kinds, e.g., due to being possessed by a goblin or due to the rise of deluding karma. When the goblin and the like sprinkle them with inauspicious particles, it is a case of frenzy due to being possessed by a goblin. When such frenzy occurs due to the maturation of deluding karmas, it is called frenzy due to the rise of deluding karmas.^[15]

Even today such frenzy is visible in people wearing diamonds inhabited by the evil spirits.^[16] There are also some houses haunted by goblins.^[17]

Knowledge in Pṛthvīkāya

Both the varieties of knowledge sensual and articulate are tacitly (in almost latent state) present in Pṛthvīkāya.^[18] Pṛthvīkāya beings in this state, are designated as possessed of perverted beliefs. So, their knowledge is also considered as nascent on account of their perverted faith. They have the power of grasping the vibrations caused by the speech and mind of the human beings, although it is not possible for the one-sensed beings to listen to the instructions given by others; even then they have a kind of tacit linguistic potential on account of a peculiar type of subsidence-cum-destruction of relevant karmas due to which articulate knowledge associated with linguistic symbol arises. In this way articulate nascence is being accepted in one sensed beings. The earth-bodied beings have the desire for food, which is a kind of wish such as ‘if I get the food, it would be beneficial to me.' Such wish is certainly informed with linguistic symbol however inarticulate.^[19] So, it is reasonable to admit that the earth-bodied beings have the tacit language potential. The knowledge of the one-sensed beings is the least manifest, like in case of a person who is mad, fainted or poisoned.

Desire for food in Pṛthvīkāya

Pṛthvīkāya hanker after food all the time continuously. They consume food though the entire surface of their body, transforming all old properties viz, colour, taste etc., into new ones.^[20] As, in a plant there is subtle viscosity due to which its body is nourished by means of food that it intakes, although the process is invisible on account of its subtleness, so there is very subtle viscosity in the earth-bodied organisms, which is not perceptible to our sense-organs.^[21]

Passions in Pṛthvīkāya

Passions of anger, pride, etc., are also there in the earth-bodied beings, but they are too subtle to be perceived by people endowed with the power of sensory perception alone. The humans curse, blame and frown on the rise of anger. But the earth-bodied beings are not capable of exhibiting such signs when they are angry.^[22]

Leśyā (Psychic coloration) in Pṛthvīkāya

In Bhagavatī four leśyā- psychic colourings are mentioned in the earth-bodied beings - black, blue, grey and fiery.^[23] This shows that even though they have no mind, they are subject to peculiar psychic transformations which manifests as aura.

According to their feelings and emotions, the change in Leśyā takes place. When psychic conditions (adhyavasāya) become very malign it results in, black leśyā. When the malignity of feelings is lessened, then leśyā starts purifying gradually. Pṛthvīkāya beings can get some level of purification only when the Tejo leśyā (Red) starts occurring in them. They cannot have purification up to the level that they can attain more purified leśyas like padma leśyā (yellow) or shukla leśyā (white).

Suffering in Pṛthvīkāya

Lord Mahavira said - Pṛthvīkāya beings experience sufferings and sorrows. In this context there arises a question that when pṛthvīkāya jīvas do not listen, see, smell and move then how can we have a confirmed belief that they have sufferings? Ācārāṅga sūtra clarifies this with many examples.

Proof of Sufferings by Three Examples

Just as the dumb cannot articulate his pain, however intense, when cut or tortured, likewise the one-sensed being like the earth-bodied organism etc. feels pain, however, it is incapable of articulating it on account of its being bereft of any other sense-organ to express it.^[24]

As in the case of a man, endowed with all sense organs and with fully manifest consciousness, there arises inexpressible extreme pain, when simultaneously they are pierced or cut- foot, ankle, leg, knee, thigh, waist, belly, stomach, flank, back, bosom, heart, breast, shoulder, arm, hand, finger, nail, neck, chin, lip, tooth, tongue, palate, throat, temple, ear, nose, eye, brow, forehead and head- all these thirty two parts of body, exactly so, there arises similar extreme pain in the pṛthvīkāyika too.^[25]

Just as when a person is led into a state of unconsciousness and put to death, he feels a kind of indistinct pain in the state of unconsciousness, and while dying also; exactly so, the earth-bodied beings experience pain on account of their consciousness being dim, due to the rise of extremely drowsy slumber (styānardhi nidrā).^[26]

In the Bhagavatī Sūtra also, pain to earth-bodied beings has been described to exist through examples: Lord replied to the question of Gautam- ' When a strong and hefty youth with his fist strikes on the head of an aged and decrepit person, the aged and decrepit feels excruciating pain. Exactly so, when earth-bodied beings are struck, they feel pain that is much more excruciating.^[27]’

An ascetic initiated into the discipline of Lord Mahavira abstains from violence of the earth-bodied beings, since, he has clearly comprehended life in earth-bodied beings and knows about their feelings of pain.

With this understanding, a Jain ascetic neither commits violence oneself, nor gets it done by others nor approves of such acts. He desists from violence of earth-bodied beings in all the three ways. The ascetic strictly abandons these acts of violence to the earth-bodied beings.^[28] He understands the equality among all the souls that exists in all the subtle and gross beings of the world and equals with his own existence.^[29] This view prevents him from indulging in violence.