Answer

Yes, you are right that the body is made of pudgal and pudgal is dynamic. In Jain Dharma, pudgal has the nature of joining, separating, changing, forming, and transforming.

But the important distinction is:

• The soul does not change its own spiritual substance.
• The body, which is made of pudgal, continuously changes.
• The connection between soul and body happens because of karma.

So when a living being appears in different bodies, it is not that the soul itself becomes that body. Rather, the soul is associated with a new pudgalic body according to its karmas.

Explanation

In Jain philosophy, pudgal means matter. It has qualities like:

• colour,
• taste,
• smell,
• touch.

Pudgal atoms are always capable of combination and separation. That is why physical bodies grow, decay, change shape, become weak, become strong, and finally die.

The body changes because pudgal changes.

But the soul is not pudgal. The soul is jiva dravya, a conscious substance. Its essential nature is consciousness, knowledge, perception, bliss, and energy. These essential qualities do not become matter.

So, when the body changes:

• childhood body becomes youth body,
• youth body becomes old body,
• healthy body becomes sick body,
• one birth ends and another begins,

all these are changes in pudgal, not changes in the soul’s substance.

Spiritual Understanding

Jain Dharma explains that karma itself is also a form of subtle pudgal. Because of karmic bondage, the soul attracts and remains connected with different kinds of pudgalic bodies.

A living being may have different types of bodies, such as gross physical body, subtle karmic body, and other bodies explained in Jain doctrine. These are all pudgalic, not the soul itself.

So your understanding is correct in this way:

• The body is pudgal.
• Pudgal is dynamic.
• Pudgal changes form by combination and separation.

But we should not say:

• the soul changes into the body, or
• the soul becomes pudgal.

Instead, we say:

• the soul is associated with changing pudgalic bodies due to karma.

Takeaway

The body changes because it is pudgal, but the soul remains a separate conscious substance. Pudgal transforms; soul experiences the results of karma while remaining distinct from matter.