Religion and Philosophy of the Jainas

SR No.: 001190
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Virchand R Gandhi
Publisher: Jain International Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 266
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, Ethics, & Principle
File Size: 13 MB

Page 142

CLASSIFICATION OF KARMA
109 Class 6. Nāma karma is that karma which gives the living being the various factors of his objective individuality, viz voice, colour, features, etc. It makes him Mr. i mith or Mr. John; it determines his personality (nāma).
Class 7 determines the surroundings, the family into which he is bom, whether high or low. The birth into a certain family is not an accident, according to the Jaina philosophy. It is determined by a certain kind of karma. There is really no such thing as 'accident’, the word is only rightly used for those phenomena for which no explanation can be given; the Sanskrit word for 'accident' means I do not know from what it has taken place.' (When people do not know the causes of things, they say it is accident, or Divine providence, or the act of God, or some expression which amounts to saying that they do not know the cause of the phenomenon.) This karma is called gotra karma.
Class 8. Antarāya karma. Literally, obstacle. Its nature is to throw obstacles in our way, should we want to do certain good things. It is not an accident, there are certain reasons, and the philosophy explains why the person is unable to put forth the effort of the will. Antaraya is the kind of karma which, like the 4th, also acts as an obstacle, but to different things; in the 4th there was no desire of acting in the right way; in this 8th there is the desire to do something good, to enjoy certain good things, but still, although you have the desire, certain obstacles come in the way, you cannot do it.
Out of these 8 kinds of karma, there are four which do and four which do not cover up the real spiritual nature of the soul; those which do cover it are the antarāya, just mentioned, the knowledge obscuring (jñānāvaraniya), the darśana obscuring (darśanāvaraniya), and the intoxicating or right belief preventing (mohaniya). Those which do not cover up the spiritual nature of the soul, are the 3rd class (vedanīya karma), the 5th class (āyuh karma), the 7th class (gotra karma) and the 6th class (nāma karma)..
As these karmas are foreign substances obscuring the