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A Treatise on Jainism
a contact with matter, nothing can bind it again. It is liberated. The activity of soul which invites and unables matter of an exceptionally subtle form to flow into it, as also the matter which actually does flow into the soul, is technically called Karma. The thoughtactivity is called Bhava-Karma, and the actual matter flowing into the soul and binding it is called Dravya Karma. It is a substance. It is matter, in itself inert, lifeless, like a pebble, but in combination with Jiva, Life, its potency is immense, beyond calculation, beyond measure. It then keeps the Jiva itself bound and fettered, a prisoner, dancing constantly at Karma's beck and gesture. At each step, the momentum for a new movement is gained. At each embrace of matter, the delighted deluded soul throbs and vibrates for a fresh embrace. Wily matter is ever ready to attack the soal and to flow into it with its million insinuations, and to keep alive and vigorous the bondage of the living by the non-living. It is so very fine, so very subtle, that it cannot be perceived, recognised, discerned by any the most highly developed sense organ, or by the most perfected, the
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