Doctrine of Liberation in Indian Religion

Author(s): Shivkumarmuni
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 99

CHAPTER IV
THE JAINA DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION
Jainism believes in nine fundamental categories, called tattvas, viz. jīva (self or living being), ajīva (non-living), punya (good), pāpa (evil), asraya (iniow of karmic matter), bandha (bondage), samvara (control of the inflow of karmic matter), nirjarā (eradication of karmic matter), and mokşa (ultimate release). Sometimes only seven are enumerated, punya and pāpa being included in äsrava. Several modern scholars have discussed in detail the metaphysics underlying these elements and we do not intend to dwell upon this subject here. Of these nine categories, bandha and mokșa are especially important in the present context. Therefore in this chapter we will concentrate on the study of the Jaina theories of bandha and mokşa as worked out by the masters of the Jaina faith.
Man is a "conditioned being' subject to the law of causation and the cycle of birth and death. Man's condition or his temporality is caused by his own evil desires (vāsanās) and predispositions (samskāras). Man becomes a "conditioned being' due to his attachment with worldly concerns. It is his sense of egoism and 'mineness' that causes his bondage. This bondage consists in false identification of the self with not-self. The consequence of bondage is suffering in samsāra.
In order to emancipate oneself from samsaric sufferings one has to understand the nature of bondage. As the Sūtrakstāmga states :
"One should know what causes the bondage of soul, and knowing it one should remove it”.? The self (jīva) is in bondage from time immemorial and one must know the causes of bonda ge and discover the goal of liberation.
CAUSES OF BONDAGE (BANDHA)
A study of the doctrine of karma and transmigration reveals that
1.
The classical discussion of nine tattvas of Jaina philosophy will be found in the Tattvarthasūtra and its commentaries, Sarvārthasiddhi and Tattvarthavarttika For modern discussion see H.S. Bhattacharya, Reals in Jaina Metaphysics and J.L. Jaini, Outlines of Jainism, pp. 36-53. Sūtrakrtāmga, I. 1. 1; SBE, vol. 45, p. 235.
2.