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## The Cause of Karma Reduction (Nirjara)
**Chapter 4, Light 4, Verse 91 of the Yoga Shastra**
**Tapping and Repeating:** Repetition and reflection with pronunciation is called **Paravartan**.
**Religious Discourse:** Giving religious discourses, explaining, and describing in detail according to the **Anuyog** is called **Dharmakatha**.
**4. Vinaya:** **Vinaya** is that which removes the eight types of karma. It has four divisions: **Jnana Vinaya**, **Darshan Vinaya**, **Charitra Vinaya**, and **Upchar Vinaya**.
* **Jnana Vinaya:** Receiving knowledge with utmost respect.
* **Darshan Vinaya:** Being unshakeable and full of faith, believing that the teachings of the **Tirthankara** from **Samayik** to **Lokabindu Saar** are true.
* **Charitra Vinaya:** Having good feelings towards **Charitra** and **Charitravan**, going to greet them, joining hands, etc.
* **Upchar Vinaya:** Offering mental, verbal, and physical salutations to them even indirectly, praising their qualities, remembering them, etc.
**5. Vyutsarga:** **Vyutsarga** is the abandonment of things that should be abandoned. It also has two divisions: **Bahya** and **Abhyantara**.
* **Bahya Vyutsarga:** Abandoning more than twelve types of **Upadhi** or abandoning food, water, etc., that are **Ashaishniya** or contain living beings.
* **Abhyantara Vyutsarga:** Abandoning **Kashaya** within or abandoning the body at the time of death or abandoning attachment to the body when faced with adversity.
**Question:** Why is **Vyutsarga** mentioned again here in the divisions of **Tap** when it was already mentioned in the divisions of **Prayashchitta**?
**Answer:** There, it was mentioned for the purification of repeated transgressions. Here, **Vyutsarga Tap** is mentioned for general **Nirjara**, so there is no repetition error.
**6. Shubh Dhyan:** Abandoning **Aarta** and **Roudra Dhyan** and practicing **Dharma** and **Shukla** - these two are **Shubh Dhyan**. The explanation of **Aarta-Roudra Dhyan** has been given earlier. The explanation of **Dharma Dhyan** and **Shukla Dhyan** will be given later [on page 444].
In this way, there are six types of **Abhyantara Tap**. This **Tap** is called **Abhyantara** because it burns and destroys internal karma or because it can only be known by the **Kevali Bhagwan** due to the inward focus of the soul.
**Dhyan** is placed at the highest position among the twelve **Tapas** because it is the most important in the practice of **Moksha**. It is also said:
> Although **Samvara** and **Nirjara** are the paths to **Moksha**, **Tap** is superior among them, and among **Tapas**, **Dhyan** should be considered the main part of **Moksha**. (Dhyan Shatak, Verse 96)
Now, **Tap** is explicitly stated as the cause of **Nirjara**.
**Verse 91:**
> When the fire of **Tap** burns brightly, both externally and internally, then the restrained person quickly burns to ashes the difficult-to-reduce karma like **Jnana Avaraniya** (or the forest of bad deeds).
**Explanation:**
The main reason for burning karma through **Tapasya** with restraint is that **Nirjara** occurs through **Tap**. But **Tap** is the cause of **Nirjara**, this is said by implication, but it is also the cause of **Samvara**. **Umaswati**, the main commentator, said:
> **Tap** leads to both **Samvara** and **Nirjara**. Because **Tap** is the cause of **Samvara**, it stops the influx of new karma. And it also reduces old karma and leads to the attainment of **Nirvana**.
The meaning of the **Antar Shlokas** used in this context is presented here:
> Just as the doors of a lake are closed with effort from all sides, so that new water flow is stopped from entering the lake, similarly, by stopping the **Ashravas**, the soul enveloped in **Samvara** does not get filled with new karma. Just as the water collected in a lake dries up due to the intense heat of the sun, similarly, all the accumulated karma bound to the soul is dried up by **Tap** and becomes reduced in an instant. **Abhyantara Tap** is a stronger cause of **Nirjara** than **Bahya Tap**. Among them, **Dhyan Tap** reigns supreme in the lives of **Munis**. **Dhyan Yogis** quickly reduce even very strong karma accumulated over a long time. Just as indigestion and other disorders (doshas) arising in the body dry up due to fasting, similarly, the karma accumulated in the soul dries up due to **Tap**. Just as a cloud mass is shattered or dissolved by a strong wind, similarly, **Tapasya** also...
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