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For Jains body and soul are different things: the body is just an inanimate container - the conscious being is the jiva.</p> <p>After each bodily death, the jiva is reborn into a different body to live another life, until it achieves liberation. When a jiva is <em>embodied</em> (i.e. in a body), it exists throughout that body and isn't found in any particular bit of it.</p> <p>Jains believe:</p> <ul><li>the soul exists forever</li> <li>each soul is always independent</li> <li>the soul is responsible for what it does</li> <li>the soul experiences the consequences of its actions</li> <li>the soul can become liberated from the cycle of birth and death <ul><li>not all souls can be liberated - some souls are inherently incapable of achieving this</li></ul></li> <li>the soul can evolve towards that liberation by following principles of behaviour</li> </ul><h3>Individuality</h3> <p>Each jiva is an individual quite independent of other jivas. This is different from one of the <a href="/religion/religions/hinduism/">Hindu</a> Vedanta schools of belief where each soul is part of a single ultimate reality.</p> <p>Jains believe that there are an infinite number of souls in the universe - every living thing, no matter how primitive, is a jiva - and at any given time many of these jivas are not embodied.</p> <h3>Souls have not fallen from perfection</h3> <p>For Jains, each jiva has been associated with matter, and involved in the <a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/reincarnation.shtml">cycle of birth and death</a> since the beginning of time. They did not in some way fall from perfection to become involved in this cycle.</p> <p>Some jivas, through their own efforts, have become liberated and escaped from the cycle.</p> <h3>Liberated souls</h3> <p>Some jivas have achieved liberation from the cycle of samsara or reincarnation and are not reborn. They are called <em>siddhas</em>.</p> <p>Liberated jivas don't have physical bodies; they possess infinite knowledge, infinite vision, infinite power, and infinite bliss - in effect they have become perfect beings.</p> <p>This makes liberated jivas the beings most like <a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/god.shtml">gods</a> in Jain belief, but they are very different from the conventional idea of gods:</p> <ul><li>they do not create or destroy</li> <li>it's not possible to have any sort of relationship with them</li> <li>they do not intervene in the <a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/universe_1.shtml">universe</a></li> <li>they did not set down the laws of the universe</li> <li>they do not make any demands on human beings</li> <li>they don't reward human beings in any way, or forgive their sins, or give them grace</li> <li>human beings don't owe their existence to them</li> <li>humans can only use them as an inspiration</li> </ul><p>So when Jains worship 'gods' they do so to set before themselves the example of perfection that they want to follow in their own lives.</p> <h3>Non-liberated souls</h3> <p>Every jiva has the possibility of achieving liberation, and thus of becoming a god, and each soul is involved in a process of evolving towards that state.</p> <h3>Categories of non-liberated soul</h3> <h3>Ekendriya - beings with one sense</h3> <p>Jains include many things as jivas that non-Jains regard as either inanimate or plants. They classify these as immobile beings, with only one sense - the sense of touch:</p> <ul><li>Earth-bodied: clay, sand, metal etc</li> <li>Water-bodied: fog, rain, ice etc</li> <li>Fire-bodied: fire, lightning etc</li> <li>Air-bodied: wind, gas etc</li> <li>Plant-bodied: trees, flowers, vegetables etc</li> </ul><h3>Beindriya - beings with two senses</h3> <p>These are very simple organisms that are thought to have two senses - touch and taste. This category includes things like worms and termites.</p> <h3>Treindriya - beings with three senses</h3> <p>These have the senses of touch, taste and smell. This category includes insects like ants, beetles and moths.</p> <h3>Chaurindriya - beings with four senses</h3> <p>These have the senses of touch, taste, smell and sight. This category includes wasps, locusts and scorpions.</p> <h3>Panchendriya - beings with five senses</h3> <p>These have the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. There are four classes of these beings:</p> <ul><li>Infernal beings: souls living in hell. This form of jiva experiences the greatest suffering.</li> <li>Higher animals: This includes all non-human animals above insects.</li> <li>Human beings: This is the only form of jiva which is able to obtain liberation directly.</li> <li>Heavenly beings: This form of jiva is the happiest.</li> </ul><div class="article_end"><a href="#top" title="go to the top"><span class="top_anchor">Top</span></a></div> </div> <div class="promo"> <h2 id="findoutmore">Find out more</h2> <ul><li><a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/reincarnation.shtml" title="Read more on Jainism - reincarnation">Jainism - reincarnation</a></li> <li><a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/karma.shtml" title="Read more on Jainism - Karma">Jainism - Karma</a></li> <li><a href="/religion/religions/jainism/beliefs/god.shtml" title="Read more on Jainism - God">Jainism - God</a></li> </ul><div class="article_end"><a href="#top" title="go to the top"><span class="top_anchor">Top</span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="content_bottom"> </div> </div> </div> </div>  <div id="prg-wrapper-extra"> <div class="product_button">           <h2> <span class="arrow content">«</span> <a href="/religion/religions/jainism/" title="More Jainism">More <span>Jainism</span></a> </h2>             </div>  <div class="p-grp"> <div class="p-mod">  <div class="promo"> <div class="rhn_header"><h2>See also</h2></div> <div class="rhn_body"> <ul><li><a href="/religion/" title="Go to the Religion and Ethics homepage">Religion and Ethics home</a></li> <li><a href="/religion/tools/calendar/" title="Go to the Interfaith calendar">Interfaith calendar</a></li> <li><a href="/ethics/guide/" title="Go to Ethics Guides">Ethics guides</a></li> </ul></div> <div class="module_footer"></div> </div> <div class="promo"> <div class="rhn_header"><h2>Elsewhere on the web</h2></div> <div class="rhn_body"> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation">Wikipedia - 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