Fundamentals Of Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Veer Nirvan Bharti

Page 32

CHAPTER IV
BANDHA (ar)
It must be obvious to all thinking minds that every slight contact of matter with spirit does not necessarily imply their fusion, so that all the particles of matter which come in contact with the soul do not necessarily combine with it to cause its bondage. Hence, the Jaina Siddhanta divides bondage into two classes, sâmpråyika and iry'âpatha. Of these, the former signifies the fusion of spirit and matter, and the latter only a momentary contact between them.
The absorption of matter by the soul result in the formation of a compound-personality in which the natural attributes of spirit become suppressed to a greater or less extent, according to the nature and quantity of the particles absorbed. Just as hydrogen and oxygen are deprived of their natural freedom during the period of their fusion in the form of water, so is a soul debarred from the full exercise of its natural attributes while in union with matter; and just as the separation of hydrogen and oxygen from one another results in restoring to them their natural properties in the fullest degree of manifestation, so does the removal of matter from the constitution of the soul establish it in its natural perfection as a pure spirit. It follows from this that the union of spirit and matter does not imply a complete annihilation of their natural properties, but only a suspension of their functions, in varying degree, according to the quality and quantity of the material absorbed. Thus, the effect of the fusion of spirit and matter is manifested in the form of a compound-personality which partakes of the nature of both, without actually destroying either. Hence, the jīva involved in the cycle of births and deaths manifests something of the nature of both, pure spirit and matter, the quality of omniscience appearing in the form of knowledge dependent on the activity of senses and mind, that of right belief in the form of wrong and absurd notions, of infinite power in the guise of bodily