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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
them. For example, jaggery and ginger which have the nature to cause phlegm and bile respectively, when compounded, lose their respective harmful natures.
404
Even karmas-past karmas-can be changed by effort. One can increase or decrease their duration and flavour. One can make one's karmas rise. earlier than their due time. One can subject one's karmas to the process of subsidence (upasama), increased realisation (udvartana), decreased realisation (aparvartanä) and transformation or conversion (sankramaṇa)'.
1. We have dealt with the main states of the 'karma' on page 295 ff. We mentioned there a state called upašamanā (subsidence). This state has two types, viz. deša-upaśamanā (a state of partial subsidence) and sarva-upasamană (a state of complete subsidence). In the state of desa-upasamana, the subsided karmas can undergo the processes of increased realisation, decreased realisation, and transformation (conversion). But in this state, the karmas cannot undergo the process called 'nidhatti' and 'nikācana' which tighten the bondage of karmas with soul. On the other hand, when the karmas are in the state of sarva-upasamana, they cannot undergo any of the above-mentioned processes. Of course, this state of sarva-upasamand does not last long. And within a very short period of time, the subsided karmas rise again and consequently the upasanta soul that had spiritually risen starts falling down.
Ultimately, the destruction (kşaya) of karmas alone is the means to the highest Good (liberation). (Destruction of karmas means dissociation of material karmic particles from the soul.) The destruction (kṣaya, nirjara) of karma that takes place as a result of the experience of its fruit cannot lead a living being on to liberation, because this type of destruction is necessarily accompanied with the binding of ever new karmas with the soul. If a living being, having made the karmas rise before their due time by force of pure conduct and austerity, dissociates them from the soul without experiencing their fruits, the dissociation or destruction"(kṣaya, nirjara) of karmas is good and acts as an effective means for liberation. The more elevated the power of spiritual practice, the greater is the dissociation or destruction of karmas. Thus, dissociation (nirjara) of the bound karmic matter is of two types, viz., involuntary and voluntary. The involuntary dissociation takes place automatically on account of the effective rise (vipäkodaya). In other words, the bound karmic matter gets automatically dissociated as soon as it rises and gives its fruits. On the other hand, the voluntary dissociation is effected by the soul through spiritual effort. When the voluntary dissociation takes place, there is the rise of flavourless simple karmic particles. This is called pradeiodaya which ultimately means nominal rise.
The process called sankramana is already explained. By the process of udirană a living being drags forward the unrisen karmic particles through special spiritual effort and mixes them with already risen ones and thereby experiences their fruits along with those of the latter, that is, before their due time. In this way, the soul advancing towards the final goal of liberation experiences through the process of udiraṇā, the
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