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THE JAINA GAZETTE
reacting upon the various Karma-imposed experiences which it has to undergo, the individual binds new Karmas, which, in their turn, manifest themselves, indirectly call forth the binding of new Karmas, etc. in an eternal circle.
Still, man is not quite so helpless in the face of Karma, as it might appear. For, though even the passions arising with. in him, are predestined by Karma, still he can make himself the master of Karma, by his own free will and initiative. He can hinder new Karmas from entering his soul by a process called Samvara, i.e. Repression, and he can also reduce the predestined duration as well as intensity of latent GhatiKarmas bound before, he can suppress, and keep suppressed, the most obnoxious of them, and he can also definitely annihilate all of them, by efforts of highest energy and selfconcentration, and, thereby, bring about a complete consumption of the neutral Aghati-Karmas too: a process called Sakana Nirjara, i.e. Intended Consumption.
Both the processes, however, Samvara, as well as Sakama Nirjara, cannot be accomplished by overy living being whatsoever. They presuppose a high degree of religious insight, and number of exquisite qualities of body and mind. The very last step to Perfection, moreover, can be done only by a soul outfitted with a buman body bearing special marks of outer perfection and strength. Thus, not even the Lord of the highest class of Gods, who enjoys a long existence of infinite bliss, and who commands hosts of celestial beings, can reach the last aim, in spite of all his divine power, unless he be reborn as a human being possessing all the bodily and mental requirements. Now, Jainism teaches that it is given into everybody's hand to acquire those qualities, by performing certain good actions and, thus, securing the good Karma or Purya necessary. Thus the heaping up of Punya is another, though auxiliary, expedient for the attainment of Perfection, as long as the respective soul has not acquired the bodily and mental qualities necessary.
After all, the problem of Jain Ethics can be defined like this: How can a living being, in order to secure its final Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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