14 Marganas : 2. Indriya Margana

Another way in which the Jivas are characterized is by the number of senses they have. Each of these senses functions like an “ Indra” i.e. lord of his own independent of other senses , hence the senses are known as “ Indriya”.

Indriya are of two types – 1. Bhavendriya  2. Dravyaendriya

1.       Bhavendriya :  It is of two types known as Labdhi ( Attainment) and Upayoga ( attention, conscious activity). The capability of knowing objects of the senses due to subsidence of Gyanavarana ( knowledge obscuring ) karmas is known as Labdhi. The act of utilizing the capability is Upayoga wherein the Jiva pays attention to the subject of the senses and gathers the knowledge. In this manner labdhi and upayoga together form the basis of the knowledge. Hence they are called Bhavendriya. In another way the conscious activity of the soul by means of the senses is called Bhavandriya.

2.       Dravyendriya :  These are also of two types Nirvritti( Formation) and Upakaran ( Tools) which are both of two types each again known as Internal and external.

On account of subsidence of Indriyavaran karma ( sense obscuring karmas) the formation of spaces of the soul is Internal Nirvritti , and the formation of body spaces there is External Nirvritti.

The physical collection of matter particles resulting in making of Upakaran ( tools) as Nimitta for gathering knowledge of senses is Internal Upakaran, and the corresponding physical shape of senses is known as External Upakaran. In this manner Dravyendriya constitutes the formation of physical senses responsible for sensing.

                                                                               

                                   

                                         

Now Jivas in conjunction with senses are of five types :

Ekendriya : One sensed Jivas who have only touch sense as the knowledge. These include all Sthavar jivas of the type of earth, water, air, fire and vegetable as body forms. This includes the Nigod Jivas which are infinitely infinite in numbers. Rest of the ekendriyas are innumerably innumerable.

Dwindriya : Two sensed Jivas with touch and taste sense knowledge. These are typically shells.

Trindriya : Three sensed Jivas with touch, taste and smell as knowledge. These are insect varieties.

Chaturindriya: Four sensed Jivas with touch, taste, smell and vision knowledge. Some of these are wasps, flies etc.

Panchendriya : Five sensed Jivas with touch, taste, smell, vision and hearing knowledge. These include humans, devas, narakis and variety of animals.

Thus five senses exist. The entire body constitutes the touch sense. Tongue provides the taste , nose for smell, eyes for vision and ears provides the hearing sense. Except for the ekendriyas which include the nigod jivas the jivas of each variety are innumerably innumerable.

It may be noted that mind is not called sense since it is not treated as independent Indriya, although five sensed Jivas are of two types namely with or without mind who are called Samgyi and Asamgyi respectively. Further Siddha Bhagwan do not have any senses since his knowledge is beyond senses ( not acquired through senses) hence he is called Atindriya. However in the context of 14 marganas he is not included since he is not worldly.

Similarly Arihant bhagwan in the 13^th gunasthana is omniscient wherein the knowledge is called Kevalgyana which is direct knowledge of the soul and not acquired through senses. Due to presence of yoga he is called Sayog Kevali while in 14^th Gunasthana he is known as Ayogkevali since the yoga also is destroyed. In both these gunasthanas the knowledge due to Bhavendriyas i.e the sensory knowledge is absent and only Dravyaendriyas (  physical senses) are present. However due to presence of fruition of Panchedriya naamkarma both are called Panchendriya Jivas as far as Marganas are concerned. Similarly other jivas with lower number of senses have fruition of their corresponding naam karma which decides the number of senses they would have.

It is interesting to know that a blind person or deaf person would not be called four sensed person just because one of the senses is not functional. He is born with five senses.  However the subsidence of the obscuration of the particular sense of eye or ear is not there, hence the knowledge pertaining to the sense of eye or ear is totally obscured, therefore even  though he is five sensed, his knowledge is from remaining four senses. From marganas point of view he is five sensed person.

Range of the senses: The following table provided the range of different senses. The units used are Dhanush and yojan. Typically 4 hands =  1 dhanush  and 8000 dhanush = 1 yojan . For details please see the article of Jain mathematics. It is interesting to note that even one sensed Jivas have a touch sense range of the order of 400 dhanush. This property is very well seen in the case of trees whose roots tend to grow towards the direction of  water source. Similarly it is seen in the case of a plant known as Lajwanti whose leaves close themselves sensing the presence of human hand.

Jiva –type Senses	One sensed Dhanush	Two sensed Dhanush	Three Sensed Dhanush	Four sensed Dhanush	Four sensed Yojan	Asamgyi Five sensed Dhanush	Asamgyi Five sensed Yojan	Samgyi Five sensed Yojan
Touch	400	800	1600	3200	0	6400	0	9
Taste	0	64	128	256	0	512	0	9
Smell	0	0	100	200	0	400	0	9
Vision	0	0	0	0	2954	0	5908	47263.35
Hearing	0	0	0	0	0	8000	0	12

Out of these Jivas 1 to 4 sensed Jivas are always Mithyadrishti belonging to 1^st Gunasthana. The panchendriya Jiva includes humans, devas, narakis and Tiryanch also. Therefore they can belong from 1^st to 14^th Gunasthana. The Devas and narakis can have maximum of 4^th gunasthana and tiryanchs can have upto 5^th gunasthana.

In each of the Jivas from 1 to 5 sensed the Jivas are of two types. One who has completed the body formation  and would live the entire ayu is called Paryapta( complete) while the one who does not complete body formation and dies prior to it is called Aparyapta ( incomplete). The life of aparyapta  jiva is always less than antarmuhurta ( 48 minutes) and such manifestation is on account of binding aparyapta naam karma in previous birth. Nevertheless they are also counted as 1 to 5 sensed Jivas as the case may be on account of binding naam karma corresponding to number of senses.

Now a Jiva can remain in ekendriya form from a minimum of antarmuhurta to a maximum of innumerable pudgala parivartan ( see panch paravartan) period which is infinitely infinite period. On the other hand he can be in 2, 3 or 4 sensed form from a minimum of antarmuhurta to maximum of few thousand years. Lastly he can be in 5 sensed form from a minimum of antarmuhurta to maximum of little more than 1000 Sagar period. This five sensed form includes all humans, devas , narakis , tiryanchs etc. After this invariably he would go to lower sensed form. Therefore we can visualize  how short the period available for the humans is to utilize for the spiritual advancement. One can never tell if the current birth is not the last of human birth and he may be proceeding to one sensed form in the next birth.

Thus study of 14 Marganas gives us a closer insight into the transmigrations of the Jivas.