Jain Journal 1994 01

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

Page 39

The Jaina Theory of Karma and the Self
Yuvacharya Dr Shiv Muni
There is an objection, how the immaterial nature of self can attract material particles of KARMA. The answer to the above objection is that just as the power of consciousness althrough immaterial is obscured by taking intoxicating drugs and drinking alcohal, so the immaterial self can be attracted or obscured by material KARMA. Moreover worldly selves are always associated with material KARMAS, since they are not perfectly immaterial.
What is the basis of the belief in the material nature of KARMA ? Karma produces pleasure, pain and sorrow etc. and that is why it is material in nature. It is possessed of material form and the effect of KARMA is material in nature, i.e. body etc. Moreover KARMA is only an instrumental cause, while the principal cause of all our actions is the self. Truly speaking, KARMA is nothing, if it is not associated with the self. Hence KARMA is material in nature.
A question may be asked how the most minute infinite number of indivisible atoms ( paramāņu ) unite with the self. KARMA is that finest matter which an individual being attracts to itself by reason of certain implement forces which are in the individual. It not only attracts, but also assimilates and changes the core of individuality. The self has the magnetic powers to attract the KARMIC particles. Just as a magnet attracts the pieces of iron fillings and the earth, so also an individual being (self) attracts the KARMIC particles. Therefore there is a kind of magnetism in the self which attracts and assimilates the KARMIC particles. The self produces various kinds of effects when the particles of KARMA have once entered into it.
Jaina thinkers hold that the association of KARMA with the self is from time immemorial. They hold that both avidya and KARMA are beginningless Though the self is pure, completely free and potentially divine, it becomes subject to limitation by the power of KARMA. So long as the self is not liberated, it is gathering new KARMA at every moment. It is said in the KARMAGRANTHA :