Historical Facts About Jainism

Author(s): Lala Lajpatrai
Publisher: Jain Associations of India Mumbai

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the Buddhists should have chosen just that word to denote sin, corruption, depravity. liven if taken in a metaphorical sense, it was not easy to see how from the Buddhist point of view it could come to express the idea of depravity and sin, for it inight be asked what is to flow in', and 'where is it to flow in'? But with the Jains asrava retained its etymological meaning, and it adequately expressed the idea clenotech by the term asrava, for according to Jain philosopliy asrava meant the influx of matter into the soul. Karina was material, paudgalam ; such subtle matter as was able to form karma, poured into the soul, jiva, and being amalgamated in and with the soul defiled it and made it liable to inundane existence as long as the Karma-inatter was not purged off (nirjara) and the further influx of new Karma-natter was not stopped (sagnvara.) Hence the term asruvu had its literal meaning : for there really was something flowing in, and 1.he result of it was the defilement, depravity. It was therefore easily imaginable that in common parlance asrava should have got the meaning defilement, depravity, irrespective of the etymology ; and this was just what happened to the word asruva before it was received into Buddhist terminology. But the word could never have been used in its derived meaning (.6. sin) if it had not before been used in its literal meaning. And since the sains used the word in its original, 8.c. literal or etymological, meaning, those who