________________
Some
diffi
the absolute
lative.
AN EPITOME OF JAINISM. pure and divine came to be chained down
to the mires of the world. Soul being but a culties--How self-existent reality from all eternity must became Re- be existing from periods prior to jiva's
karma. How then what is of subsequent growth can affect the soul which is constitutionally free, pure and formless ?
To this the Jain Teachers say that such a question as the present one cannot even be raised. Karma is a phenomenon in time; but soul stands far above time and causation, and until we can logically formulate the question, we cannot reasonably look for an answer to the same. When clearly put, it stands thus, - How, what is above time and causation came down into the meshes of relativity of the cause and effect? How what is uncaused and increat came to be caused and created as it were ? How what is truly pure and free became impure and fettered ? How what is essentially divine forsook its very nature ? Constituted as we are, we cannot answer this question: We think and we think in relations. So it is impossible for us to think of what stands above all relations or causes and conditions. Is it not absurd to enquire as to how the
282
