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The answer of the Jaina is that it is the beginningless material subtle principle known as karina that is responsible for the cause of differences in the empirical selves. This karma has been exercising its limiting and crippling infiuence on the empirical conscious principles from the beginningless past, thereby it has been obstructing the manifestation of their inherent excellences. But it, may be noted that however encumbered with karmic matter a self may be, it cannot obstruct the manifestation of consciousness to the full, just as even the most dense cloud cannot interrupt the light of the sun to its farthest extreme. This material subtle principle known as dravya-karma, and its psychical counterpart in terms of rāga and dveșa is called bhāvakarma.
Karmas are of varied nature, but the fundamental kinds of karma are eight in number46 — i. jñānāvaraṇīya-karma: that which obscures knowledge, ii. darśanāvaraṇīya-karma: that which obscures undifferentiated cognition, iii. vedaniya karma : that which produces the feeling of pleasure and pain, iv. mohanīyakarma : that which obstructs right belief and right conduct, v. āyu-karma: that which determines the period of stay of self in a particular body, vi. nāma-karma: that which is responsible for the built of a particular kind of body, vii. gotra-karma: that which determines status in society; and viii. antarāya-karma: that which obstructs will power and enjoyable gains.
It is no doubt true that karmas bind the self to mundane existence. Now the question that arises is this : How the self is bound by karma? What are the causes that create karmic bondage in the self? The answer of the Jaina is that it is actions (mental, bodily and vocal) polluted by passions that cause empirical bondage to the self. The passion-free actions do not bring about any mundane bondage whatsoever. Actions with passion are known as jñeyāeynamana-kriyās, since they are consequent upon transmuting the inherent meanings of the objects of the world; and actions without passions are jñāpati-kriyās, since they arise in consequence of having supersensuous knowledge which knows things without any distortion and predilections.48 Bondage of
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