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JAINA PSYCHOLOGY
of human effort to some extent. A man can influence his future destiny by his own actions. He is free to a certain extent to regulate his conduct and to conquer his passions. His faculty of free decision is not completely arrested by karma. He possesses some freedom to choose his path. On certain occasions, it is true, he has no choice of his own, but it is not always so. Man is neither completely free nor totally bound. He is partly free and partly notfree.
Some regard Time as the ultimate cause of the universe. Some others believe in Nature as the determining factor of the world. There are others who believe in Accidents. There are still others who regard Matter as the ultimate cause of the whole universe. The advocates of the doctrine of karma reject all these theories. The reason is that none of them can explain the variegated nature of the universe. It is only karma through which the diversity of all beings can be explained. KARMA AND SOUL
The Jaina philosopher holds that every soul possesses the faculty of infinite apprehension, infinite comprehension, infinite bliss, and infinite energy. These qualities are not in their perfection in the worldly souls, since they are always associated with karma. Karma, according to Jainism, is nothing but an aggregate of some very fine particles of matter. Though the soul is pure and perfect by nature, it is subject to limitation and impurity. As the light of the sun and moon is obscured by a veil of dust and so on, so also the soul is subject to obscuration by the veil of karmic particles. The obscuration of the soul is from time immemorial; and as the dross of gold is found to be removed, so also the removal of karmic matter is possible. As the power of consciousness, although immaterial and amorphous, is found to be obscured by intoxicating drugs and the like, so also the immaterial soul is being obscured by material karma.
The Jaina thinkers distinguish between physical karma and psychical karma. Physical karma is nothing but the particles of karmic matter. The psychical effects and states produced by the association of physical karma are called psychical karma. The self can be liberated from karma by two means: the influx of new
