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CHAPTER VI
ACTIVITY AND ITS CONTROL
The meaning of activity is the meaning of life. The existence of life presupposes the existence of activity. Conation, volition, will, action, and the like connote the same fact. When an activity is directed towards an intellectual end it is called intellectual conation or attention. On the other hand, if the end is in the form of a bodily movement or a muscular activity it is called motor conation or action proper. It is also to be noted that these activities are sometimes voluntary or purposive and sometimes non-voluntary or automatic. Whatever may be the case, an activity is an activity.
NATURE OF ACTIVITY The Jaina view of activity is that the self possesses an innate capacity of activity which is known as energy (vīrya). All our activities are necessarily connected with the manifestation of this property of the self. The occurrence of knowledge, the experience of feeling and emotion, the practice of concentration and meditation, the performance of self-discipline---all these activities are possible only on the proper manifestation of the innate energy of the self. To be precise, energy is the common cause of activity.
Now, why is it that the innate quality of the self is not manifested in its entirety? What is that which hinders the complete manifestation of energy? Why is it that our natural power does not flow in all perfection? It is not very difficult to imagine what the Taina has to reply. It is due to the rise of power-obscuring (antarāya) karma that our natural energy is obscured. It is true that the karma hindering it does not completely eliminate its appearance nonetheless it is restricted to a considerable extent. The manifestation of this restricted energy stands in need of the media of the body, speech, and mind. Unless there is a fit body, the serviceable organ of speech, or the conscious mind the limited power of the self cannot be expressed. The Jaina considers these three kinds of media as the essential factors for the expression of our restricted energy.
