First Steps to Jainism Part 2

Author(s): Sancheti Asso Lal, Manakmal Bhandari
Publisher: Sancheti Trust Jodhpur

Page 56

42 First Steps to Jainism
mstances or elements which collectively make up an individual existence e. g. the peculiar body with its general and special qualities, faculties etc. (7) Gotra that which determines the nationality, caste, family social standing, etc. of an individual (8) Antaraya that which obstructs the inborn energy of the soul and thereby prevents the doing of a good action when there is a desire to do it.
We shall now consider the application of the Karma theory to ethics. The highest goal is to get rid of all Karma (Nirjara) and meanwhile to acquire no new Karma-technically speaking, to stop the influx (Asrava) of the Karma, which is called Samvara, or the covering of the channels through which Karma finds entrance into the soul. All actions produce Karma and in the majority of cases entail on the doer continuance of worldly existence (Samparayika) but when a man is free from passions and acts in strict compliance with the rules of right conduct, his actions produce Karma which lasts but for a moment and is then annihilated (iryapatha). Therefore the whole apparatus of monastic conduct is required to prevent the formation of new karma; the same purpose is served by austerities (tapas) which moreover, annihilate the old Karma speedily than would happen in the common course of things.
It is evident from the preceding remarks that the ethics and asceticism of the Jains are to be regarded as the logical consequence of the theory of Karma. But from a historical point of view many of their ethical principles, monastic institutions and ascetic practices have been inherited from older religious classes of Indian society, since Brahmanical ascetics and Buddhists resemble them in many of their precepts and institutions (See SBE xxii (1884) Introd. p xxii ff)".