Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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OPERATIVE FACTORS IN IMMORALITY
and the second, the Uttara-guna, describes the effects of suggestive things like books, statues, pictures etc. upon the character of the inflow. There are, again, the four kinds of the Niksepa or manners of putting things which also determine the nature of the Asrava; the four kinds of the Niksepa are the 'Apratyaveksita' (putting a thing without seeing), the 'Duhpramrşta' (putting it petulantly), the Sahasā (putting the thing hurriedly) and the Anābhoga (putting a thing in a place where it ought not to be put). The two kinds of Samyoga or mixing up of things also modify the nature of the Asrava, and these are the 'Bhakta-pana' or mixing up of food and drink and the 'Upakarana' or mixing up of things which are necessary for the performance of an act. Lastly, the three kinds of the 'Nisarga' or movement, viz., of the Kāya or body, of the Vānga or speech and of the Mana or mind also influence the character of the Āsrava which one is to have.
It should be noticed in this connection that if the Asrava implies a peculiar state of vibration or inclination in the self, in the form of the Yoga, it also implies a modification of the character of the matter which is to flow into the soul. In order that food may be consumed, not only is it necessary that the consumer is hungry but also that the food which is to be eaten, is properly chewed and fluidified or otherwise made fit for human consumption. In a similar manner, when there is the Asrava, the subjective self is afflicted with the Yoga or an inclination towards materials foreign to it, while on the objective side, the matter which finds its way into the soul is modified in such a manner that it is automatically assimilated by it. The material energy thus made fit for its assimilation to the self, is called the Karma,--the presence of which in the self accounts for the latter's state of bondage. It is the Karma which thus limits the free state of the self for the time being. The Asrava is made possible by corresponding fitnesses both in the receiving self and in the in-coming non-self; it introduces the foreign matter into the self and culminates in the 'Bandha' or the bondage of the latter.
The Māyā of the Vedānta school is conceived as what limits the nature of the self, but the essential difference between the Vedāntic Māyā and the Karma of the Jainas lies in the fact that while the Māyā is understood as a form pertaining to the self, the Karma of the Jainas is of a purely material form, foreign to the psychical essence. In one respect, however, the Jainas and the Vedāntic thinkers agree with each other. With both the schools, that which limits the soul, -the Māyā or the Karma, -has two distinct modes of operation. The Vedānta invests the Māyā with two Śaktis-res
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