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JAINISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
the appeal to appetites which the animals are not able to do. This enables man to substitute a deliberately chosen response for the automatic or reflex action. Lower animals are not able to do this; but some of the higher animals do so in a limited manner. There is a nervous Chakra (plexus) of eight petals in the heart' (in the spinal column and in a line with the heart), which is the seat of personality and will. The 'petals' of the plexus stand for so many functions of conscious life. Five of them are intended to connect the senses and the will, the sixth is for connecting the words and thought with actual perceptions, one is for motor mechanisms and one for creative imagination. Lower animals do not possess this 'Lotus of the Heart,' and live in abject slavery to the senses. The higher animals are able, to some extent, to make use of this instrument of Thought and Reflection; but man's power in this regard is very great, if he wishes to make use of it.
Whether one is able to utilize, to the full, the advantage placed in his reach by human birth, depends upon his ability to overcome the opposition of the forces of his karma. There are eight principal kinds of karmas, which all arise from the union of spirit and matter. If we study our sensory-motor organism we find that man is not able to enjoy.
(1) the innate unlimited knowledge, and (2) unlimited perception which a ▸ possess.
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pure Soul should
This gives us two of the forces of karma, namely, those that obstruct knowledge, termed Jnanavarniya, and those that obstruct perception, termed Darshanavarniya. The embodied soul is also lacking in respect of the natural energy which is simply irresistible in the case of the Perfect Soul. We thus have a third obstructing force, named Antaraya (literally, that which intervenes or interferes). The fourth great obstructive force is that which prevents the acquisition of Right Faith, and which, after its acquisition, intervenes
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