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78 / Lord Mahavira
11. Significant Illustrations
The root cause of binding karma is desire. Desire is the source of human happiness as well as misery. Bondage of karma is really the bondage of desire. The desire for possession, acquisition and enjoyment knows no end. It can be ended only by achieving a state of complete disirelessness in which there is no trace of attachment to anything whatsoever. The moment the self thinks of enjoyment, its action body attracts minute and subtle particles according to the nature of enjoyment. No outside agencies are involved in this process, the self by its own force receives and retains karmic particles. Karma only comes as a connecting link between desire and rebirth. The assimilation of karmic matter by the self is due to its activities. The doctrine of karma is logically related with the concept of lesya and they have a moral bearing. The psychical condition of the self undergoes different processes due to its vibration and attachment with lesya and karmic particles.
