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510
511
canonical stage.
VII.6.284 reads that H.A.M.G bind karka's a vedaniya karma by committing 18 kriyas, but Malone bind akarkasa vedaniya karma by refraining from them. Abhayadeva explains karkasa in terms of raudra-duḥkha and akarkasa in terms of sukha as in the cases of Skandaka Acarya and Bharata, etc. are no doubt the variations of sata-asata vedaniyas, however karkasa-akarka'sa vedaniyas seem to have been used in a specific context. We would at present place this text in the fifth canonical stage.
These
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(5) Ayus karma
Ayuş karma exhibits various peculiar features in contrast to the other karma prakrtis. It has fourfold divisions, i.e., H.A.M.G. It is bound during the last six months or 1/3, 1/9 or 1/27 part of the total ayus (see also the Prajnapana VI.324) when the cause of death arises. Its fruition occurs as soon as a being enters his new life, until then it remains intact in a dormant state. It is bound loosely or intensely depending on the mental perturbation of the agent at the time of its bondage, and if the bondage is loose his life span in the next birth is apavartaniya or his temporal duration can be reduced, but if the bondage is tight his life span in the next birth is anapavartaniya or his temporal duration equals the destined life quantum. Ayu karma thus expresses a gross quantity of life, but not the exact length of years of survival.
512 These are some of the peculiar features of ayuş karma, and they seem to have emerged from carefully observing the occurrence of death. Death often comes all suddenly, for instance, through accident or disaster, and the moral conduct of the agent is not responsible. It is thus difficult to let ayuş karma express itself in terms of the length of years, and there is enough room to give rise to the concept of karana such as upakrama (cf. Prajnapana VI.324-25). other karma prakṛtis are bound, all the samsaris are destined to bind their next life quantum. Ayur bandha operates inevitably and automatically due to the bondage of other karma prakṛtis. The next ayuş karma has to be bound sometime in the present life, however, such being the case, it is difficult to determine when it is to be bound. The karma specialists came up with a solution to this problem by establishing a rule that it ought to be bound when the causes of death arise close to the time of death. The peculiar rules regarding the time of ayur bandha seem to have been made primarily on the basis of logic.
513 Beings' gati is determined by gati nama karma, but not by ayuş karma. The divisions of ayus karma based on gati can only express the life quantum of beings in the relevant gati. However, since the divisions of ayur bandha are made on the basis of gati, the causes of ayus karma came to be theorized in
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