Verse 5.3 - The souls also are substances

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Tattvartha sūtra 5.3:

जीवाश्च ॥ ५.३ ॥

jīvāśca || 5.3 ||

The souls (jīva) also are substances (dravya). (3)

Hindi Anvayarth:

अन्वयार्थ: [जीवाः] जीव [च] भी द्रव्य है।

Anvayartha: [jivah] jiva [ca] bhi dravya hai |

Explanation in English from Ācārya Pūjyapāda’s Sarvārthasiddhi:

The name substance (dravya) will apply only to the four mentioned in the first sūtra. Hence this sūtra is intended to include the other two.

The word ‘jīva’–soul–has been explained already. The plural is used to indicate the different classes of souls (souls at different stages of development). The particle ‘ca’ is intended to supply the word ‘dravya’ substances–from the previous sūtra. That is, the souls also are substances. Thus these five, along with the time (kāla), which is mentioned later, constitute the six substances (dravya). Now the definition of substance is given later (see sūtra 5-38) as: ‘that which has qualities and modes is a substance’. From this definition it follows that the medium of motion (dharma) and the medium of rest (adharma), etc., are substances. Then what is the need here to enumerate these as substances (dravya)? The enumeration is for accurate determination. This excludes the earth (pṛthivī), etc., accepted as substances (dravya) in other systems. The earth (pṛthivī), the water (jala), the fire (agni), the air (vāyu) and the mind (mana) are included under the matter (pudgala) since these are characterized by colour (rūpa), taste (rasa), smell (gandha) and touch (sparśa). It may be argued that the air (vāyu) and the mind (mana) are not characterized by colour (rūpa), etc. No. The air (vāyu) is characterized by colour (rūpa), etc., as it possesses touch (sparśa), like the pitcher (ghaṭa). It may now be contended that colour, taste and smell are absent in the air (vāyu) because these are not perceived by the senses like the sight (cakṣu). But this argument would lead to the negation of the atom (paramāṇu), etc., as these also are not perceived by the senses. In the same way, the water (jala) is characterized by smell (gandha) as it possesses touch (sparśa), like the earth. The fire (agni) is characterized by taste (sparśa) and smell (gandha), as it possesses colour (rūpa) like the earth. Now the mind (mana) is of two kinds, the physical mind–dravyamana–and the psychical mind–bhāvamana. The psychical mind–bhāvamana–is knowledge, an attribute of the soul. So it comes under the soul. As the physical mind–dravyamana–is characterized by colour (rūpa), etc., it is a mode (paryāya) of the matter (pudgala). The physical mind–dravyamana–is characterized by colour (rūpa), etc., for it is the cause or instrument of knowledge, like the sense of sight (cakṣu). Now, it is contended that sound (śabda) which is non-material is also the cause of knowledge. So the reason advanced for establishing the physical mind–dravyamana–as possessing colour (rūpa), etc., is fallacious. But this is not true. Sound (śabda) is material, for it is of the nature of matter. Again, it is contended that we perceive effects resulting in establishing atoms (paramāṇu) as having colour, etc., but the same effects are not perceived in case of the air and the mind. No. Such effects, establishing these as having colour, etc., exist in case of the air and the mind too for all atoms have the capacity to produce effects that manifest in colour, taste, smell, etc. There are no separate classes of atoms of earth, water, fire or air. The activity proceeds with the intermixture or blending of classes. In the same way, direction is included in the space. The convention of the east, the west, etc.,–‘the sun rises in the east’–is based on the series or rows of points in the space.