Book Title: Introduction to Jainism and its Culture
Author(s): Balbhadra Jain
Publisher: Kundkund Gyanpith Indore

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Page 178
________________ The intensity of his remorse forced him to fall at the feet of the ascetic. With tears in his eyes he sought forgiveness of the ascetic for his misdeed again and again. The ascetic gave his sermon. The attitude of the king became so sublime that he at once attained right perception and gained the bondage of Tirthankara-karma. The nature and duration of āyu karma were transformed from life span of thirty-three sāgaropama (a superlative unit of conceptual time) in seventh hell into that of eighty-four thousand years in the first hell. This way the bonded karmas can be transformed, enhanced or depleted. In Gita Vyasadeva says - you have control over your actions bot not over consequences or fruits. Fruits are control by God. All the theists uniformly believe this. On the other hand the theists also say that it is through God's will that a being indulges in activity. To this they add that God bestows fruits according to the deeds of a being. This means that the right of a being is limited to working and the right of God is limited to bestowing fruits according to deeds. As a being is not free to enjoy fruits at his own will so is God in directing actions of a being. A being is free to act but God is not free to bestow fruits. According to this theory of theists a being can never get liberated. The reason is that when a being indulges in pious deeds including worship, public welfare, charity, and amnesty, God will consider his deeds and accordingly bestow pious fruits. These fruits include a good realm and means of mundane joy and comfort. In pious deeds there are traces of feeling of attachment, therefore, these cannot lead to liberation. And God him-self cannot bestow liberation because it is not something that can be given or taken. In the same way when a being indulges in bad or evil deeds including violence, telling lies, stealing, corruption, and covetousness, God will send him to bad realm where he suffers all sorts of torments. No one accepts that evil deeds may lead to salvation because suffering triggers aversion. Liberation is not attained through attachment and aversion but through detachment. Devotion for God is essentially due to attachment for God; thus detachment does not come through devotion for God. In fact, devotiun is nothing but a feeling of attachment for God. This doctrine of Gītā that you have control over your action and not its fruits, in fact, means that while indulging in action you must not 161 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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