Doctrines of Jainism

Author(s): Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi Godiji Jain Derasar Mumbai

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The Doctrines of the Jainas
We have already stated that Karmic effect is the main cause of the soul's wanderings in this world. This effect is sometimes thick and sometimes thin. When it is thick the soul is led astray. When it is thin the soul takes a turn towards the real path, but without making a definite start. We can compare these occasional inclinations with the wanderings of a traveller who has lost his way in a jungle. He is sometimes far from the real path and sometimes very near it. But in no case does he find it. His coming near the path is merely an accident. It is useful only if he proceeds further in the same direction and happens to perceive the path. If, on the contrary, in his bewilderment he turns his face again in the wrong direction, his coming near the path has been futile.
The state when accidentally the burden of Karmans is somewhat lightened and the soul feels an urge for inner realization is known as Yathapravrttikarana. It is not reached through deliberate and systematic pursuit but comes as an accident. The Jain scriptures compare it with a stone rolling in a mountain stream. The stone rolling unconsciously in the stream gets a round shape. It had not desired or striven to obtain that shape but the turn of events gave it that form. Similarly, the soul with a perverted attitude is unable to discriminate between right and wrong, nor does it make any deliberate attempt to realize the truth. Still, accidentally it reaches a stage when the major part of the accumulated Karmans is removed through experience of its fruit and the new accumulation is not so heavy that the entire stock will last beyond a certain limit.
As a result of this the soul feels an urge for inner purification but this urge is not so strong as to force the