Fundamentals Of Jainism

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

Page 43

CHAPTER V SAMVARA संवर
It is clear from what has been said in the earlier chapters that karmic matter flows into the soul with every action, whether mental or physical and that the fusion of spirit and matters takes place only when the soul is rendered receptive, or negative, in consequence of its desires. It would follow from this that complete freedom can be attained only by checking the continuous activity of mind and body which is the cause of fresh asrava, and by the elimination of the accumulated deposit of karmic force from the soul. Hence, the first thing to do is to bring under control the organs of action which act as doorways to the ingress of the enemy. This amounts to saying that perfect control must be put on mind, body and speech, which are the three inlets for the particles of karmic matter to enter into the soul. The process of checking the inflow of fresh matter through these doorways is called samvara, which is of two kinds, namely (i) bhava samvara and (ii) dravya samvara. The former of these two kinds of samvara signifies the control of passions, emotions, likes and dislikes, and the latter, i.e. dravya samvara, the cessation of the influx of the particles of matter.
Now, since passions and emotions only arise by virtue of unsatisfied desires, he who would bring them under control must begin by renouncing his desires in the first instance. Similarly, since dravya asrava* takes place through the doorways of mind,
*Karmas are generally dealt with under two heads : (i) bhava harmus and (ii) dravya karmas. Of these, bhava karmas singify different kinds of mental states of the soul, and dravya karmas the material forces forged in consequence of those mental states. This distinction is also observed in respect of a srava, bandha, samvara, nirjard and moksha. We thus have bhava asrava signifying the condition of reccptivity or negativity which is favourable for the influx of matter into the soul, and dravya a stava, the actual inflowing material itself. Similarly, bhäva bandha, bhava samvara