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GOMMATASARA.
he dropped or left on death is the other partner in the firm of soul and matter; it is Ajiva. And still though the fact of this duality, this universal union of Jíva and Ajiva is obvious, yet its full grasp and thorough comprehension are far from easy. A beautiful little book by the author of Gommatasára himself gives us as clear a notion of Jiva, as any can be obtained in the peculiar and natural circumstances of things. The reader is referred to Dravya samgraha*, where in Gatha 2, the 9 chief characteristics of the soul are enumerated, and each of them elaborated in the succeeding Gathas. But here the point to be realised clearly is this, that matter -one of the 5 chief forms of Ajiva-is in union with soul, the only living and conscious substance. Lifeless matter is found united with living soul. The whole Drama of life is played or danced together by the living soul being in close grasp of lifeless matter. Lifeless space is the stage ; Lifeless Time is the duration; and lifeless Dharma and Adharma, the indespensable assistants for the dancers to move or to rest. The exercise of dancing is their eternal movement in the cycle of mundane existences. At each step, the momentum for a new movement is gained. At each embrace of matter, the delighted deluded soul throbs and vibrates for a fresh embrace. Wily matter is ever ready to attack the soul and to flow into it with its million insinuations and to keep alive and vigorous the bondage of the living by the non-liying. The inflow of the non-living matter into the living soul is called Ásrava; the bondage is Bandha. The stoppage of Ásrava is Samvara ; the release of bondage is Nirjará; the total Liberation of the living from the bondage of the non-living is Moksha. The 7 Tattvas or Principles of Jainism are treated in Umásvámi's Tattvártha Sutrat, to which the reader is referred for further information about them. The activity of the soul which invites and enables matter to flow into it, as also the matter which actually does flow into the soul, is technically called Karma, The thought activity is Bháva-Karma ; the actual matter flowing into the soul and binding it is Dravya-Karma. This book--the Karma-Kánda of Gommatasára deals with Karmas, their incidence, kinds, etc,
Notice also that in the world, all souls are always found united with matter. Pure souls abide only in Siddhakshetra, the Abode of the Liberated. In universal space, souls are from eternity subject to the bondage of matter. The Panchastikaya of Shri Kunda Kundáchárya, talking of such souls, tells us in Gatha 27 : See Dravya Samgraha (1917) by S. C. Ghoshal, M. A., Sacred Books of the
Jainas, Vol. I. See Tattvarthadhigma Sutra, S. B. J., Vol. II by Jaini.
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