Ajiva (Sanskrit) is anything that has no soul or life, the polar opposite of "jīva" (soul). Becauseajiva has no life, it does not accumulatekarma and cannot die. Examples of ajiva include chairs, computers, paper, plastic, etc.

InJainism, there are five categories whichajīva can be placed into.^[1] Out of these, four categories,Dharma (medium of motion),Adharma (medium of rest),Akasha (space) andPudgala (matter) are described as theasti-kayadravya's (substances which possess constituent parts extending in space) while the fifth categoryKala is ananasti-kaya dravya (which has no extension in space).^[2]

Dharmastikaya is formed from the two words:Dharma & Astikaya. Dharma here isn't referring to religion, but instead its referring to the medium of motion. Astikay itself is formed of two words: Asti & Kaya. Asti means space, body or mode and Kaya means collection. So Astikaya means a collection of spaces or regions. Dharmastikaya denotes the medium of motion for things in the universe. In the absence of this medium, living things (i.e.jiva) would not be able to move.

Adharmastikaya is also formed from two words: Adharma & Astikaya. Adharma in this case means themedium of rest. In the absence of this medium, Living things orjiva would continuously move.

The infinity of space, calledākāśa in Sanskrit, is divided by theJain philosophy into two parts, namely, thelokākāśa (loka+ākāśa), that is the space occupied by the universe, and thealokākāśa (a not, and lokākāśa), the portion beyond the universe. Thelokākāśa is the portion in which are to be found the remaining five substances, i.e.,Jīvas, Matter, Time, Dharma and Adharma; but thealokākāśa is the region of pure space containing no other substance and lying stretched on all sides beyond bounds of the three worlds (the entire universe).^[3] At the summit of thelokākāśa is theSiddhashila (abode of the liberated souls).^[4]

The wordPudgala is made up of two terms:Pud means supplement (integration) andGala means disintegration (division). In other words, what continuously changes by supplementation and/or division (purayanti galanti cha) is called Pudgala ormatter. All matter in theuniverse is called Pudgala. Pudgala has form andshape. Pudgala can be experienced by touching, tasting, smelling, or seeing.^[5][6] LikeJiva Pudgala is also mobile. According toJainism, The karmaparticles that attach to our souls are also Pudgala. Pudgala can only be divided and subdivided to a certain extent that it is not possible to further subdivide it. This indivisible part of Pudgala, which is separated from the main pudgala, is called Paramanu. A paramanu is much more minute than even anatom. When a Paramanu is attached to the main pudgala, it is called a Pradesha. Thesesubatomic Paramanus are too minute to be detected by normal vision, but they can be combined. Thus when a paramanu is combined with one or more other paramanus, they are called a skandha which are more or less like amolecules. Part of skandha is called desha. Such skandhas may be large or small. Small skandhas may be invisible to the eye, but they can be seen when the combinations are larger.

Kala refers to time that brings forth changes. Past, present, and future are the different modes of time and are measured in terms of years, months, days, hours, minutes or seconds. For practical purposes a second happens to be the finest measurement of time.Jainism however, recognizes a very smallmeasurement of time known assamayā which is an infinitely small part of asecond.

Kala (time) is infinite, but there are cycles (kalachakras) in it. Each cycle having two eras of equal duration described as theavasarpini and theutsarpini. The former is a descending era in which virtue gradually decreases. The latter is an ascending era in which the reverse takes place. The present era is stated to be the former.^[7]

• George, Vensus A. (2008),Paths to the Divine: Ancient and Indian, vol. XII,The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy,ISBN 978-1-56518-248-6
• Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1998) [1979],The Jaina Path of Purification,Delhi:Motilal Banarsidass,ISBN 81-208-1578-5
• Sangave, Vilas Adinath (1980),Jain Community: A Social Survey (2nd ed.), Bombay:Popular Prakashan,ISBN 978-0-317-12346-3

• Jain philosophical concepts

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