ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 249

technically known as yath prav tta Kara a. It is not always affective and so does not always invariably lead to spiritual advancement. But sometimes it so strong and irresistible that it goads the soul to come to grip with the centripetal force and to weaken it to an appreciable extent in the struggle that ensues. Here the soul is face to face with what is known as gra thi or the Gordian knot of intense attachment and repulsion. If the impulse is strong enough to cut the knot, the soul is successful in the struggle and ought to be emancipated sooner or later within a limited time. The struggle consists in the twofold process known as ap rvakara a and aniv ttakara a.
By the yath prav ttakara a the soul is confronted with the concentrated force of the passions, and the other two kara as enable the soul to overpower and transcend the force. The force of the passions was there from all eternity. But it is only on some occasions that the soul is feelingly conscious of this force. Such consciousness means coming face to face with the knot (gra thi). This consciousness is the work of the process called yath prav ttakara a. During this process the soul undergoes progressive purification every instant and binds the karmic matter of appreciably less duration. Further more, there is increase in the intensity of the bondage of auspicious karmas accompanied with the decrease in the intensity of the bondage of inauspicious karmas. And as a result the soul gets an indistinct vision of goal of its tiresome journey. This may be thought as the implication of the conception of granthi- and the soul's coming face to face with it.
Originally the soul lies in a state of spiritual slumber. Gradually it awakens and becomes selfconscious. Moral and spiritual consciousness dawn only when it is sufficiently conscious of and confronted with the force that has eternally been keeping it ensnared and entrapped. But this consciousness alone is not sufficient to enable the soul to overcome the force. A more powerful manifestation of energy is necessary for the purpose. And the soul that lack in this requisite energy fails to fulfil the mission and withdraw before the force. It is only the soul having the requisite energy by way of the two process of ap rvakara a and aniv ttikara a at the end of which the soul develops such spiritual strength as is destined to gradually develop and lead it to the final emancipation. In the process of ap rvakara a, which like the yath niv ttakara a lasts only for less than forty-eight minutes, antaramuhurta, the soul passes through such states as it never experienced before (ap rva). The soul had considerably reduced the duration and intensity of the karmas in the process of yath niv ttakara a, and reduced them still further in the ap rvakara a. The kara as are spiritual impulses that push the soul to fulfil its mission and realize the goal. And this is possible only if the soul can reduce the duration and intensity and also the mass of the karmic matter associated with it. What the soul did automatically without any moral or spiritual efforts until now, it now does consciously with spiritual exertion. During the process of ap rvakara a the soul undergoes such purification, as has colossal effect on the duration and intensity of the bondage of new karmas as well as the accumulated ones. This is made possible by the following four sub processes, which begin simultaneously from the very first, instant of the main process:
1. sthitigh ta: destruction of duration
2. rasagh ta: destruction of intensity
3. gu a reni: the construction of a complex series of the groups of karmic atoms,
arranged in geometrical progression with an incalculable common ratio, transplanted from the mass of karmic matter that would have come to rise after an antarmuhurta for the sake of their premature exhaustion by fruit and
4. Ap rvasthitibandha: an unprecedented type of bondage of small duration, whose length much smaller than that the duration hitherto bound.
The soul undergoes yet another sub process known as
5. Gu asamkrama: transference of karmic matter.
This process transfers a portion of the karmic matter of the inauspicious type of karma to some other types of karma. The mass of karmic matter thus transferred increases every moment until the end of the ap rvakara a process.
There are thus five characteristics sub-processes in the process of ap rvakara a. At the end of this process the knot (granthi) is cut, never to appear again.
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0