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KARMA THE MATERIAL BASIS..
Vaiseṣikas speak of merit and demerit (dharmadharma), unseen potency (adṛṣṭa) and even past impressions (samskāras ),22 the Sankhya-yogins use past actions (asaya); the Mimāmsakas call it unseen force (apūrva); the Advaita-vedantins rather recommend to cosmic-ignorance (Maya)25 or ignorance (avidya). Predisposition (vāsanā) is a common term for karma to the Buddhist and the Yogins.
II Karma: The Material Basis of Bondage and Nescience [A] Karma and Matter
The soul being infected with four-fold passions, namely, wrong belief (mithya-darśana), vowlessness (avirati), carelessness (pramāda), passions (kaṣāya) and vibrations (yoga), attracts matter 26 These karmic particles attached to the soul are called karmas.27 Matter (pudgala) is a non-soul substance (ajiva-dravya)28 which has got form and qualities.99 Matter is eternal, uncreated and has a huge magnitude.30 There is some controversy about the meaning of form (rupa) which pudgala possesses. Some hold that the pudgala has only shape or form31, still others hold that it also has qualities.32 This view is corroborated in a passage of Tattyartha-Sūtra 33
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22 Nyaya-Sutra, IV.1.3-9; I.1.17; Nyaya-bhāṣya, 1.1.2
23 Yoga Sutra with Bhasya, I. 23-29; II. 2; III. 45.
24 Śabara-bhāṣya, II.1.5.
25 Brahma-Sutra (S.B.), II. 1.9.
26 Umasvāmi, Tattvartha-Sutra, VIII. 1-2.
27 Devendra Suri, Karma-Grantha, ed., Sukha Lala Sanghvi (Agra Atmananda Jaina Pustaka Pracharaka Mandala, 1953), I. 1.
28 Nemicandra, Dravya-Sangraha, 15.
29 Ibid., cp. Tattvärtha-Sutra, V. 5.
30 Kundakunda, Pañcastikaya-Sāra, 4. 31 Umāsvāmi, Tattvartha-Sutra, V. 5. 32 Nemicandra, Dravya-Sangraha, 15. 33 Umāsvami, Tattvartha-Sutra, V. 23.
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