Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 93

KARMA
91
influx of pudgala has taken place there is bandha, bondage of karma to the soul. Its nature, duration, intensity and mass are all reflected in the type of karma that is brought about.
The distinction between bhava karma and dravya karma is of key importance in understanding the Jain teaching on karma. The first refers to the thought activity of the soul, the second to the karmic matter which is attracted due to the action of the soul. The first part can purify itself by study, right thinking, and control of the emotions. The second, once it is there, can only be removed by receiving its result, or can be purged. That is why Jains attach so much value to austerities and ascetic practice. Through the effects of the attachment of dravya karmas, the soul is continuously lured into mental action, which is bhava karma. This again attracts new dravya karma. This may go on endlessly, until one decides to enter the path to liberation. Austerities are meant to purge karmic matter. Virtues in the ordinary sense attract punya or meritorious karma. Virtue in the higher sense means no attraction of any dravya karma. But this can only be accomplished by the most progressed ascetics.
The systematics of karma
No other thought system has elaborated the karma concept as such detail as the Jains. They have done so very systematically, dividing and subdividing and sub-subdividing karma into hundreds of types. Each subdivision can be used as a focus for meditation and for reflection against the background of the real world.
There are specific vibrations of the soul related to its mental and emotional activity, and these vibrations are the channels for the inflow of karmic matter particles for every karma we can experience, as we shall see.