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Jainism in a Global Perspective
Paramātmā or Supreme soul -- It is the highest state of soul, free from all types of karma and has attained the state of perfect spirituality. It is capable of maintaining causal relation with the series of karma and absolute bodiless state. The very nature of both Antarātmāand Bahirātmā is equal yet the first one, being attached with the Karma, does not get liberated whereas supreme soul gets liberated.
This concept of Ātmā is more similar to the Vedāntic (Gaudpādiya) concept of self but specific to Jainism is that it considers every soul as a separate entity and many, while in Vedāntic tradition Ātmā is identical to the Brahmă who is one and non-dual.
The nature of Karmawhcih causes the bondage of soul falls into two main categories --
1. Ghāti or destructive Karmas 2. Aghāti or Non-destructive karmas
(i) Ghäti karmas are those which have direct negative effect upon the quality of the soul. It comprises four sub categories --
1. Jnānāvaraniya or knowledge obscuring Karma. 2. Darshanavaraniya or intuition obscuring karma. 3. Mohaniya or deluding karma., 4. Antarāya or obstructive karma. ii, Aghātī or non destructive karmas comprise four sub-categories1. Vedaniya or feeling karma. 2. Āyuşya or age determining karma. 3. Nāmkarma or body making karma. 4. Gotra or family determining karma.
The prime cause of the association of the soul with the above mentioned karmas is -Mithyāttva or wrong belief, Avirati or lack of self control, Kaşāya or passions and Yoga or activities of mind, speech and body performed by Jivă".
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