The six Substances(Dravyas) in jain philosophy

By:- Dr. Amit Prakash Jain. (Acknowledgement:- Shee Shreepalan V.C. ji)

Let me discuss about the 6 substances in jain philosophy which are commonly called as 6 dravyas.
A Dravya is a constitution of qualities (goons).
Means if you consider sugar as a dravya then the sweetness, the whiteness , the crystalline shape etc are its quqlities.
Now , in jain philosophy there are 6 dravyas or substances which includes all the things which one can imagine.Really it is complete, nothing is out of this classification.
These 6 substances are:-Jeev , Pudgal, Dharma, Adharma, Akash and Kaal.

1. Jeev:- it means the Aatma or the Soul.
The nature of this substance (quaality or goonn) is 'to know & to see' that is "gyaan & darshan".We all are are 'jeevs'.

2. Pudgal:- this is a peculiar teminology which is exclusively present only in the jain philosophy.
Pudgal is the matter & the energy.They both are interconvertible- science has also proved this.
Pudgal- means that it is every second destoyed & formed but maintains its existence ( & so do all other dravyas).Our bodies & all what we can see by our eyes are pudgal.
No opther dravya can be seen by our naked eye-means pudgal is 'roopi' that is it has a form/physique.
Rest all other dravyas are seen by the eyes of knowledge only.

3. Dharma:- It is amoortik (no form, can't be seen).It is a force which helps in the movement of any Dravya.
It is the medium,without it a dravya can't move but then also it is not the initiator nor it is the driver.For eg: if a train has to mone then it needs rail-track to move.It doesn't mean that the track is moving the train.

4. Adharma dravya:- It is not the sins or 'paap' as the name looks like.
It is the force which helps the dravyas to rest, but is not the cause of rest.The same eg of rail-track can be taken here also. Here it helps the train to rest( a train can't rest without the track).

5. Akash:- It is the space in which all the dravyas are present.It is divided into 2- Lokakash (where the jeevs are there) & Alokakash-where jeevs are not there.

Note:- The dharma & adharma dravyas are present only in lokakash & that is why the jeevs & pudgals are also there in the Lokakash only.

6. Kaal:- It means the time.

Note:- - Jeev dravya & Pudgal dravya are countless (asankhyaat) in number.
-Kaal dravya is also counless in quantity.
-Akash is one in quantity.
-unvierse & the Substances exists from beginning less time - anaadhi and not ‘beginning –adhi’ and they all will be existing for all the times to come.

Now, none of these dravyas can be created nor destroyed.
No one has created them & nobody can destroy them.
They have their existence from the beginning (Aadi) & will be there till the anant(infinite).
There is no one who is making these dravyas-what to do & when to do etc.
The forms (paryayas) of these dravyas changes continuosly.

Scientists have proved this philosophy of jina dharma in the context of the pudgal- it says "matter can niether be created nor destroyed, it only changes from one form to the other".

Science looks in the context of only the matter & not the soul & so till date it has gained only this much, but jina dharma (veetraag dharma) deals primarily with self-soul & so we have got all this.

From the writter:-
I am very happy to say that I am fortunate to get significant advices of Shree Shreepalanji in presenting this article in this form.
I hope It will be helpful for the beginners to learn about the jain-philosophy.