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THE ESSENCE OF JAINA SCRIPTURES
good mental state (shubha bhava) and not in the circumstances when a person's mind is in the grip of intense emotional agitation caused by intensity of passions or sinful evil thoughts (ashubha).
7. That good psychic-attention is the cause of karmic bondage. This assertion is not correct since good psychic-attention, as stated earlier, has a dual role: it is the cause of both bondage and inhibition of karmas and purification (vishuddhi) (PS 180 AC) and leads to liberation (PS 254 and 259 AC).
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8. That good (shubha) psychic-attention is not dharma or that it cannot be considered to be dharma. The real dharma is pure psychicattention or pure state-of-evolution of the self alone, which is the cause of freedom from karmic bondage." In this context, Pravachanasara states that the innate nature of the soul is to evolve through dharma. This evolution can be pure (shuddha) psychic-attention or good (shubha) psychic-attention (PS 11 and PS 11 AC). When the self is not partaking at all of the evolution of dharma, it gives itself up to the evolution of evil (ashubha) psychic-attention, which lacks even a grain of (lawful or righteous) conduct (PS 12 AC). As a result, it experiences the bondage of a thousand pains and misery, and wanders about as rogue, animal or inhabitant of hell and must be completely abandoned (PS 12 AC).
Moreover, good or virtuous mental states and acivities, which are characterised by subsidence of passions and oriented towards selfrestraints, sanity and purification (vishuddhi), also act as the cause of pure psychic-attention as also of pure self. The commendable attachment (prashasta raga) in good psychic-attention gradually (kramatah) brings about the highest happiness of nirvana (liberation) (PS 254 and PS 254 AC). Thus, it not only leads to liberation of oneself (PS 259 and PS 259 AC) but also helps others to attain liberation (PS 260 and PS 260 AC) as has already been stated.
Moreover, Acharya Virasena, in his Jai Dhavala (Book 1, p. 5) commentary on Kashaya-Prabhrata (Kashaya-Pahuda), one of the most authentic Jain texts of Digambaras, has acknowledged the possibility of both samvara (inhibitation of influx of karma) and nirjara (eradicating of karmas). He states: "If eradication of karmas is not considered possible by shubha and shuddha (pure) psychic disposition (parinama), then eradication of karmas will not be possible at all."
9. Kanji's contention that the psychic disposition of punya is not the
