Jain Journal 1969 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 55

98
The What
On the Check (Samvara)
To check the inflow of karma by way of self-absorption is called samvara, 28 In other words, samvara is a process of realizing good faith, adopting all types of vows, winning over passions and getting rid of yogas in the soul. 29 It is, in short, a process to restore the originality of the self by way of practising religion with a view to checking the source of misery.
The Why
In order to eradicate the causes of misery, samvara is the primal necessity, which is adopted voluntarily. Voluntariness implies the change in attitude and conation of the stream of consciousness. This change is caused by right knowledge of the categories (tattvas). Right knowledge rests on the sense of discrimination (bheda vijñāna). Through this sense of discrimination, the four types of adhyavasānas, i.e. delusion (mitthyātva), ignorance (ajñāna), non-restraint (avirati) and vibratory thought-activities (yogas), are eliminated. Through the elimination of adhyavasāna, the asrava of karmas is checked, and samvara takes place. 30 In this way samvara is the keynote of salvation, which is also two-edged that cuts the unhappy association from both the sides simultaneously. From one side it negates the coloured thought-paints (lesyās) of the soul, and from the other it checks the inflow of karmic matter. Hence samvara is typified as psychic (bhāva) and material (dravya).31 It is a negator of the karma-entry on its material side, and an approver of the self-absorption on its psychic side, both the aspects operating simultaneously. 32
The cause of samvara, therefore, lies in the positive reality of the self. Since the self in its perverted state is itself the cause of the influx of karmas, it tends to obliterate the cause by means of its own restraints. Thus the canons of elimination as well as of positive reasoning are applicable to the reality of samvara, and affirmation and negation are concurrent.
23 T.S., 9-1; Pky., 141.
29
D. Anu., 95.
30 Ssr., 190 to 192.
31 S.V. to 142; D.S., 35.
A. Kh. K. kavya, 125.
32
JAIN JOURNAL