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Jaina Logic
(3) Past Karma (Purva-karma)
Happiness, misery and various conditions related to them depend on the diverse karmas. Sometime we notice that good deeds yield bitter fruits and evil deeds yield sweet ones. Behind this apparent anomaly, it is the force of karmas that is at work. Accidental or sudden gain and calamity are the crucial instances displaying the power of karmas. As all the transmigratory souls are souls bound with the diverse karmas, they are accordingly placed under diverse circumstances and have to pass through various states. All know and recognise power of karma.
kṣmābhṛd-rankayor maniṣi-jaḍayoḥ sadrupa-nīrupayoḥ śrimad-durgatayor balabalavator niroga-rogārtayoḥ / saubhagyasubhagatvasangamajusos tulye 'pi nṛtve'ntaram
399
yat yat karmanibandhanam tad api no jīvam vina yuktimat //
(Quoted in the auto-commentary of Devendrasuri's Karmagrantha, Part I) Meaning: The king and the meek servant, the wise and the fool, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, the healthy and the diseased, the fortunate and the unfortunate-all of them differ widely from one another in this manner, though they are all human beings; this diversity among human beings is due to their karmas. And how can there be karmas in the absence of soul? So the existence of soul gets automatically established as soon as the existence of karmas is established.
The entire chapter four of this book is devoted to the exposition of karma. Therein we have dealt with the auspicious and inauspicious karmas called punya and papa respectively.
Man is naturally imperfect. However skillful and clever he may be, he is more or less hampered by unmindfulness and bodily restlessness-both natural to the class of human beings. Hence it is that sometimes he falls victim to imperfection and defects; sometimes he accidently and unknowingly hurts his eye with his own finger, crushes his tongue with his own teeth, and as a result suffers pains. Sometimes, he falls victim to such an accident for which none can put a blame on his carelessness. Very often it so happens that he goes to a certain place and is suddenly caught in a tragic accident, or performs wrong and harmful acts inspite of his being very wise and clever.
There occur inexplicable or strange events in the life of an individual
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