Outlines of Jainism

SR No.: 007012
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S Gopalan
Publisher: Wiley Eastern Private Limited New Delhi
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 216
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 186

THE ETHICAL CATEGORIES
By hypothesis, the soul in this stage is possessed of discriminative knowledge and so even though the experiences (resulting from the fruition of karma) may be the same as in the pre-discriminative knowledge stage, in the attitude towards the experiences themselves we find a marked change. The change of attitude facilitates the shedding of karmas. In the case of the one who is not possessed of the discriminative knowledge the various types of karmas he has indulged in previously set about various types of reactions in him (of course this is in addition to subjecting him to various types of experiences.) The reactions are because of the positive type of attachment he has towards enjoyable experiences and the negative attitude he has towards painful experiences. Not knowing that his various experiences are all due to his own previous actions with attachments and aversions, he identifies himself with them and is prone to be swept off his feet once again, thus entangling himself more and more in the vicious cycle of birth and death. On the other hand the person with the discriminative knowledge knows that his various experiences are not really intrinsic to his soul and so he has an attitude of detachment towards them. So whether he enjoys or suffers he remains unaffected. By adopting this attitude towards everything external to himself he allows the karmas to fructify, i. e., he exhausts the karmas he has already accumulated. Thus, by having experiences corresponding to his good and bad karmas but without getting affected in any way, the accumulated karmas are exhausted. We also find the view that through penances before the actual fructification of the karmas the karmas themselves are destroyed and made ineffective.
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We may point out here that this aspect of the Jaina theory of karma presents an exact parallel to the Hindu theory according to which the sañcita karma even can be made ineffective by acquiring jñāna. The Hindu tradition also recommends to the spiritual aspirant the development of the attitude of non-attachment towards the prärabdha-karma so that getting involved further in the karmic cycle can be avoided.
Mokṣa: Since we have already explained the karma theory and also the eight ethical categories, little remains to be added by way of elucidating the concept of mokṣa. Mokṣa is liberationfreeing of the jiva from the ajiva. The specific details regarding the