Jīva
The souls: infinite in number, each with innumerable space-points, formless, and the only substance that is conscious. Everything else exists; only this knows that it does.
A soul has no colour, taste, smell or touch, so no instrument finds it; what marks it is upayoga, awareness, which nothing else has. Its space-points are asaṃkhyāta, the same for every soul, and it fills whatever body it is in as a lamp's light fills the room it is set in - the extent follows the vessel, the light does not change. There are infinitely many, and the number never changes: none is made, none is destroyed, and liberation moves a soul to Siddhaśilā without removing it from the count.
The sūtra's word for what souls do for one another is parasparopagraha, mutual help - master and pupil, mother and child, the one who harms and the one harmed. It is the only function in the list that names a relation between two of the same substance. The Nigoda chapter draws where most of them are; the Multitudes draws how many, class by class.
Measurements and counts
| How many | ananta |
|---|---|
| Space-points each | asaṃkhyāta |
| Form | none |
| Extension | yes - an astikāya |
| Active | yes |
| Does | mutual help - 5.21 |