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The Doctrine of Karma in Jaina Philosophy
3. There has been a controversy regarding the antiquity and the nature of Lelyä. Leumann found a resemblance between the six Lesyas and Gosala's division of mankind into six classes.67 Jacobi was perplexed by the resemblance and thought it difficult to bring the Lesya doctrine into harmony 'with the rest of their creed'.68
However, as Dr. Upadhye points out, these early scholars on Jainism were misled by their supposition that the Lesyas represent the colours of the soul. Tradition never says that the soul itself has colour.69 Colour and sense qualities are associated with Karmic matter flowing into the soul. Karma is a subtle type of matter and the soul has a subtle body known as the karmasarira.70 We have seen that the immediate impact of Karma throws a reflection on the soul, as a coloured flower does on crystal. The colour does not form part of the crystal; so Lesya is not part of the soul. It may also be noted that the liberated soul is free from Karmic matter and also from any form of Leśyas. Thus, the conception of Lesya is closely associated with the Karma theory.
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In Buddhism too, Karma is classified according to colours : 1) black, 2) white, 3) black and white, and 4) not black and not white." The same classification was adopted in the Yoga school. But these systems do not accept the material nature of Karma. Therefore, Dasgupta suggests that the idea of the black and white Karma in the Yoga philosophy was probably suggested by the Jaina view,"
4. The problem of interpreting the Lesya theory in terms of modern psychology, especially of para-psychology, has been
67. S. B. E. Vol. XLV. Introduction. pp. XXX.
68. Ibid.
69. Upadhye, (A. N.). Proceedings and Transactions-7th All India Conference (1933), pp. 393-397.
70. Pravacanasāra (i) 55-56, (ii) 40.
71. Digha Nikaya (iii) 20.
72. Dasgupta - History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I p. 74.
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