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Chapter 12: Guru's Explanation about the Soul bearing the Consequences (Fourth Fundamental)
Jainism is very specific on one point. Every one has to bear the consequences of his Karma. That is the universal, inexorable rule. Heavenly beings also cannot escape from that. Even the soul of Lord Mahavir had to live in the lowest infernal level for bearing the consequences of the acutely unwholesome Karma that it had acquired during the life of Triprushta Väsudev. There is no exception to that rule. In order to bring home that truth, Shrimad has observed as under in the Letter of Six Fundamentals (AppendixII).
"All activities are fruitful; they are not futile. It is the evident experience that whatever is done has its consequence. The consumption of poison or sugar and the contact with fire or snow do not fail to produce their consequences. Similarly if the soul indulges in defiled or undefiled mode, that mode is bound to be fruitful and that produces its consequences. Thus being the Kartä of such activity, the soul bears the consequences as well."
In the following stanzas the Guru takes up the points raised by the pupil regarding the soul having to bear the consequences and puts his doubts at rest.
Bhäv Karma Nij Kalpanä, Mäte Chetan Roop; Jivviryani Sfuranä, Grahan Kare Jad Dhoop.
The tendency to react is a propensity of soul and is therefore conscious; the vibrations in the soul's vigor cause the lifeless particles to penetrate within. (82)
Explanation & Discussion:
The major question that normally arises in the minds of thinking people is: 'How can the lifeless particles of Karma be attached to the conscious soul?' This stanza is meant to explain that. It is implicit in the concept of soul's intangibility that it is not capable of doing anything tangible. It can merely remain aware of what happens. It is, however, capable to get inclined, because inclination and disinclination are intangible. In the perfected state the soul does not have any inclination. The worldly soul, by virtue of its ignorance, is used to get inclined or disinclined towards different objects and situations. Such inclination or propensity, though not inherent in soul, is a conscious property and is therefore known as Bhäv Karma.
If the soul does not have any sort of inclination towards the situations arising as a result of its previous Karma, it would not give rise to Bhäv Karma. But its getting inclined leads to likes or dislikes for the situations concerned and that gives rise to Bhäv Karma. The soul's vigor is thereby directed towards or against such situations. In other words, it indulges in craving or aversion and that leads the karma particles to infiltrate. That is known as material or Dravya Karma. That phenomenon can also be presented by saying that Bhäv Karma causes vibrations within a soul, and those vibrations attract the Karma particles inward and get attached to the soul. Bhäv Karma thus leads to the acquisition of Dravya Karma.
