Gaina sutras

Author(s): Hermann Jacobi
Publisher: Clarendon Perss

Page 54

ÂKÂRÂNGA SÚTRA.
cardinal points). (2) Similarly, some do not know whether their soul is born again and again or not ; nor what they were formerly, nor what they will become after having died and left this world. (3) Now this is what one should know, either by one's own knowledge or through the instruction of the highest (i. e. a Tirthakara), or having heard it from others : that he descended in an eastern direction, or in any other direction (particularised above). Similarly, some know that their soul is born again and again, that it arrives in this or that direction, whatever direction that may be. (4) He believes in soul , believes in the world 2, believes in rewards, believes in action (acknowledged to be our own doing in such judgments as these) : 'I did it;' 'I shall cause another to do it;' 'I shall allow another to do it4.' In the world, these are all the causes of sin ©, which must be comprehended and renounced. (5) A man that does not comprehend and renounce the causes of sin, descends in a cardinal or intermediate direction, wanders to all cardinal or intermediate directions, is born again and again in manifold births, experiences all painful feelings. (6) About this the Revered One has taught
1 I. e. in a permanent soul, different from the body. This is said against the Kârvâkas.
2 I. e. the plurality of souls, not in one all-soul, as the Vedântins.
3 Kamma (karma) is that which darkens our intellect, &c. Its result is the suffering condition of men, its cause is action (kiriyâ, kriyâ).
4 The different tenses employed in these sentences imply, according to the commentators, the acknowledgment of the reality of time, as past, present, future.
• Kamma-samârambha. Kamma has been explained above. Samârambha, a special action (kriya), is the engaging in something blamable (sâvadyânushthâna).