Ajaḍa

By Swami Harshananda

Ajaḍa literally means ‘that which is not inert’.

Literally the word ajaḍa stands for any active and sentient principle as opposed to jaḍa, the inactive and the insentient. However it is used as a technical term in the Viśiṣṭādvaita school of philosophy, the chief exponent of which was Rāmānuja (1017-1137 AD).

Any dravya or substance can be divided into two groups :

1. Jaḍa
2. Ajaḍa

Prakṛti or nature and kāla or time are grouped under jaḍa.

Ajaḍa is further classified in four groups:

1. Īśvara - God
2. Jīva - individual soul
3. Nityavibhuti - immaterial infinite domain of īśvara
4. Dharmabhutajñāna - attributive consciousness of the jīvas

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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