________________
brings the negative influence of that space. It is not easy to know where it has come from! It is not something that can be known by science either. But if there is someone who can know about this, it is the mother! She is the one who experiences the influences brought by the entrant soul. Once it comes into her womb, she can identify where it has come from by watching her thoughts and dreams.
You may wonder – what is the point of knowing about the soul's past life? After all, Jainism lays emphasis on human endeavour rather than in destiny. An individual is a powerful medium of transformation and not merely a puppet of past influence. But when the child is in a dependent state in the womb, it is the mother who becomes the fountain of strength. If she can recognize the nature and attributes of the conceived being, she can bring about a powerful transformation, reformation and refinement in its life.
made up of seven tissues or vital elements, as well as muscles, bones and nerves. It appears in the form of healthy or unhealthy, fair or dark, and so on and so forth. Apart from this physical body, there are two subtle bodies - the karman or the karmic body, and the tejas or the fire body. Our entire life is governed by these three bodies.
Let us examine the karman body. What are karmas? Entangled in the web of attraction and aversion, the individual performs activities of mind, body and speech. These create a karmic energy in life and are therefore known as karmas. Jainism believes that karmic particles are atomic or sub-atomic; they are so small that in one space-point (the smallest point possible in space), there are an infinite number of karmic particles. They disperse in all regions and pervade the entire universe. Whenever the individual performs any action, these karmic particles attach themselves to the soul. Thus we become bound by the karmas and our karmic body starts getting formed.
Take the example of two persons who are afflicted by the same disease. Both are given the same medicine, but only one of them responds well to the medicine. The other continues being unwell. Another example
is that of people attending a discourse.
What We Carry With Us
According to Jaina tradition, when a soul becomes embodied, it has three kinds of bodies. The body is not just that which we see from outside. That is the physical or gross body, also known as audaarik. It is
105
