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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
passions, but in the case of the bondage of auspicious karmic matter, the intensity of flavour varies inversely in proportion to the strength of passions. The bondage of the most intense flavour taking place in respect of the auspicious karmic matter is always auspicious.
It has been repeatedly stated that the groups of material particles capable of being received by the souls are not called 'karma', so long as they are not actually received by or bound with the soul. But as soon as they are received by the soul, some wonderful force is generated in them and assisted by mental states afflicted with passions they generate in themselves infinitefold flavour which causes obstruction, etc., of the spiritual qualities. It is this flavour alone that performs the function of giving various fruits to the soul or of making it experience various consequences and results. This flavour is the greatest calamity befallen on the soul. The auspicious flavour causes happiness and the inauspicious flavour causes misery
Dry grass is arid without any juice. But when it is eaten by a buffalo, a cow or a she-goat, it undergoes some process of transformation in their stomachs and turns into milk, and in this fluid milk we do find unctuousness in more or less degree. In other words, the buffalo, etc., eat dry grass and give milk. The milk of the buffalo is very dense and very unctuous, that of the cow is comparatively less dense and less unctuous, and that of the she-goat is still less dense and less unctuous. Thus, though the dry grass of the same type is eaten by them, it is transformed into milk of different kinds on being consumed in their stomachs. Similarly, the material particles capable of being received by souls acquire different flavours on coming in contact with different souls and consequently being assisted by their passions of different degrees. This is called rasa-bandha, anubhāva
1. Knowing that it is very difficult to remain unattached while experiencing pleasures,
the attachment-free Bhartshari wrote in his Vairāgyasataka as follows: vipäkah punyānām janayati bhayam me vimyśataḥ / Meaning: When I reflect on it, the fruition of the auspicious karmas frightens me. After this second metrical line, in the latter half of the verse, he makes a very significant observation in the following statement: mahadbhiḥ punyaughais ciraparigyhitaś ca visaya mahänto jāyante vyasanam iva dātum vişayiņām // Meaning: Worldly objects that have been possessed and enjoyed since long on account of the great aggregates of the accumulated auspicious karmas go on greatly increasing as if to cause agonies to those attached to sensual pleasures.
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