Jainism

Author(s): M R Gelra
Publisher: Createspace

Page 46

But, if an unbiased analysis is performed, its full-blown development is seen only in the Jain philosophy.
To explain the diversity of nature, some religions rely upon destiny, some on God, some on probability and so on, but Jains follow the adage of Bhagwan Mahavira as mentioned in the Bhagwati-Sutra that the life's diversity is the direct result of karma.
(ii) Definition of Karma
Different philosophies have their own definition of what karma is? However two broad definitions emerge - Mimansak sect, Gita, Yoga & Vedant, all associate various daily conduct and activities to the Karma. For them it is an abstract term.
In Jain Siddhant Dipika, the definition is,
Aatma pravrtiya krstastat prayogya pudgalah karma..
This means that the karmas are micro physical bodies which are formed by the righteous and/or unrighteous activities of the soul. Author has coined a new word Karmasomes' to distinguish between the physical and abstract forms. In Greek, soma means body, therefore the newly christened word, 'Karmasomes' is meant to represent the karmic body.
(iii) Mass-less
Karmasomes' are formed by chatu-sparshi pudgals which are mass-less and they exhibit affinity towards the soul. This affinity binds the 'Karmasomes' with the soul. Soul and karma thus form a single entity for all practical purposes and they stay together during all cycles of births and re-births. These souls are termed as Empirical souls. The aim of a spiritually bent person is to unshackle the pure soul out of the attachment of karma. According to the ancient literature the karma pudgals are so fine that they cannot be detected by any direct means. But indirect evidences obtained by the science for the electrons and photons, quarks and gluons make us hopeful that one day a direct causeand-effect relationship could be established between the actions of soul and the formation of karmic micro bodies. Thus in Jain philosophy, Karma is not only an abstract; but a real, physical entity. The main physical characteristics of Karma are : 1. Mass-less, i.e. virtual zero mass because of only 4-type touches (snigdha-rukhsa,
cold-hot). 2. Karmas move with tremendous velocity, greater than the velocity of light. 3. They are sense-imperceptible due to subtleness.
Karmas have only four touches, sticky and dry (snigdha, ruksha), hot and cold (ushna, sheit), but the property, which leads to weight i.e. lightness and heaviness, is absent. Hence, the properties of karma are comparable to the nature of fundamental particles related to modern science. Until now, there was no concept of mass-less matter in the