________________
cipation of the soul. But this, the Jains hold, does not stand to reason ; because moksha is not the. result of anything done or performed. Mokska is the tearing assunder of the snares of karma binding the jiva under the sway of subreption to the sansâr, and therefore, it is not the effect of anything preceding it as its cause. A karma cannot destroy karma. It changes only to re-appear in another form. Besides the effects of karma are traced in things which have origination (utpada) and the like. But moksha which is eternal in reality cannot be said to be the result of any work. Ordinarily karma manifests itself in the production of a thing, in joining one thing to another, in transforming one into another and the like But speaking from the nishchaya naya, moksha has no origin. The jiva, as we have seen elsewhere, is constitutionally free and potentially divine. And it is simply due to subreption (mithyatva) that it appears to us as otherwise.
Indeed what is contended is partially true, replies the opponent, but not wholly admissible ; since the nature of the work done
61!
