________________
impurities is based on the principle of karma which is the subject of another. chapter.
We need to understand the structure and functioning of the impure soul in little more detail. The beginning less soul initially is in nitya nigoda state having highest impurity. Nitya nigoda jivas exist in the bottom most part of loka. This is inactive state of the soul. At appropriate time the soul comes out of nitya nigoda and assumes the active form when its impurity changes with time due to changes in karmic load. Figure 1 represents the state of the soul at three different times to, t, and to having different amount of impurity, which is highest at t=to, the nitya nigoda state, and becomes progressively less at t=, t, and t t in its journey of progressive development.
t-to
t=t1
Figure 1: State of impure soul at different times. Intensity of shade shows degree of impurity.
The impurity, which is also part of the soul, consists of kashayas (passions), ajnana (ignorance) etc. and exists as some kind of virtual structure those changes with the level of impurity and time. The soul at any instant can be viewed as a composite of pure soul, or pure consciousness, and the impurity, or impure consciousness, which is also some form of the soul. We separate these two aspects of the soul as shown in figure 2, the shaded part represents impurity. It may be mentioned that the soul and the impurities are co-extensive and occupy the same space but for the purpose of illustration we have shown the impurity in different sizes just to show its magnitude. It may be noted that impurities are not spatially different from the soul and both are non-corporeal.
t=ti
t=t2
O
t=t2
t=t3
116
