Dr. Samani Mangal Pragya
The sensory world has three dimensions namely, upper vertical, lower vertical and middle horizontal. We know them through senses. The soul lies beyond all such dimensions. So the term 'neti' has been used to establish the difference of soul from material objects. The material world which has colour, smell, taste, touch and structure is corporeal. Soul does not have any of these qualities[1], so it is non-corporeal. Abstract or no corporeal substances cannot be object for senses.
'no indiyagejjha amuttabhāvā’[2]
[The formless substances cannot be perceived by senses.]
The soul is originally bodiless. It is actually not subject to re-birth. It is free from all attachments.[3] The soul in its pure state is bodiless and action less. It is devoid of any gender too. It is neither a woman, nor a man, nor a transgender.[4] Both, the gender and non-gender states of the soul have been described in Śvetāśvara Upaniṣad. There it has been said: 'The soul is neither a woman, nor a man nor a eunuch too. It is recognized by the gender of the body which it attains or the form in which it takes birth.[5]' It means that the pure soul is beyond the identity by gender and the bound soul is recognized in various genders due to its body possession.
The soul is inexplicable. There is no word for its knowledge.[6] Soul cannot be expressed through words. There is no simile that can express soul[7], or the soul cannot be assigned with any simile from any of the worldly objects. The soul has existence, but it is a formless existence.[8] So, the existence of the soul can be directly known only by an omniscient. The person possessing sensual knowledge alone cannot know it directly. The characteristic of a soul is consciousness. Any soul, whether it is liberated or worldly, does not exist devoid of consciousness. According to Jain philosophy, in a soul even in liberated condition, the knowledge and its conscious activity remain existing.
Every soul possesses infinite knowledge and infinite intuition. This nature of soul manifests completely in its pure condition.
