Doctrine of Karman in Jain Philosophy

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia
Publisher: Vijibai Jivanlal Panalal Charity Fund Mumbai

Page 32

THE DOCTRINE OF KARMAN
IN JAIN PHILOSOPHY
INTRODUCTION
According to the doctrine of the Jains, the world is everlasting and imperishable, created by no God and governed by no Higher Being. It is subject only to its own laws (lokasthiti) and, in spite of the change undergone by its component parts, remains in its essential character unchanged. It is of indeterminable, although limited, dimensions. In shape it is comparable to a symmetrically built man, in whose lower extremities are to be found the hells, whose central portion of the body encloses the animal and the human world, and whose breast, neck and head are composed of the heavens of the gods. Above the world of the gods, to be likened unto a lens, concave below and convex above, is the dwelling-seat of the blessed. The entire world is surrounded by dense layers of air and water. Beyond this is the nonworld, the absolutely empty space.
The world consists of five everlasting, imperishable substances (dravya) which, through their modifications and the relation in which they stand towards one another, produce the multifarious worldprocesses. These substances are the following :1
1. Akāśa, Space. It is the receptacle of all things, but in itself is contained in nothing. Before all dravyas it is distinguishable as being also present—as alokākāśa-in the non-world, whereas the others exist only in the loka. It is composed of an infinite number of spacepoints (pradeśa), which consequently represent the smallest spaceunits.
2. Dharma, Motion. It is a kind of ether, which serves as the medium for movement. In itself it produces no local change, but it is the indispensable preliminary condition for it, as water is for the swimming of a fish.
3. Adharma is the medium for rest, the concomitant cause of
1 Some also add kāla, Time, to the substances, although only in a special sense. See Tattv. V. 38.