________________
Philosophy of Six Padas
101
of maya define material activities: the modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance. Above these modes is kala and through these modes and under the purview of kala and the Supreme Being all material activities take place. This process is timeless and jivas have been enjoying or suffering the fruits of their actions (karmas) through false ego or ahankara since time immemorial. Otherwise jivas are neither creators and nor enjoyers of kurmas; it is maya which provides such delusional effects throughout the universe. As soon as soul recognizes this fact and gets situated in own divine nature, bodily conceptions are gone and all karmas cease to have fruits.7 Qualitatively, jivas are a part and parcel of the Supreme Being and have His power and propensities (consciousness, knowledge, bliss, etc.) in a minute way. The Supreme Being is above any material contamination, but jivas gets materially contaminated through faise ego or ahankara until finally liberated. The Supreme Being is free to act in any way and no karmas bind him. This is not true of jivas, who get entangled in their own web of karmas and enjoy or suffer the fruits of actions birth after brith. These and other related topics of soul conception have been discussed in Bhagavad Gita in great detail.18
Buddhism
Even before Buddhism was born, Hindu philosophy and practices were being challenged and new schools were being born. One of these new schools was lokayata, 19 of which Charvaka branch was most famous. This school did not accept the authority of Supreme Being20 and emphasized materialistic sense pleasures as the sole purpose of living. The school stressed that only matter was originator of reality and when body came into existence through various combinations of matter, soul also came into existence. When body died, soul returned into nothingness. A famous saying of this school was: "Live well as long as you live. Live well even by borrowing, for once cremated there is no return."21 At the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
