Jains in India and Abroad

Author(s): Prakash C Jain
Publisher: International Summer School for Jain Studies

Page 40

inexplicable phenomena of birth and death, of happiness and misery, of inequality in mental and physical attainments, and of the existence of different species of living beings."
Doctrine of Karma In Jainism Karmas are defined as a form of matter (pudgala) which are very fine and subtle and cannot be comprehended by any of the human senses. They are almost psycho-somatic in character and permeate the universe. Every phenomenon in the universe is the manifestation of Karmic energy.
All the existential conditions and enigmas of the world such as the all pervasive cycle of birth and death, suffering and happiness, wide variety of species of living beings, their differential mental and physical abilities and other characteristics can be explained by the doctrine of Karma which, as already mentioned, maintains that the soul is the doer of action and therefore has to bear the consequences of karmas. It further maintains that all the worldly souls are already in bondage of varying degrees. This bondage of karmas with soul obscures the innate qualities of the soul.
The doctrine further assumes the transmigration of the soul after death into the next life. The balance sheet of the karmas in this life and the previous ones determine the kind and quality of next life. The doctrine further asserts that the moksa or liberation can be achieved only by completely destroying all the karmas. The structure and dynamics of the karma doctrine can be summed up in terms of the following seven tattvas or elements:
(i) Jiva, i.e., living substance, (ii) Ajiva, i.e., non-living substance, (iii) Asrava, i.e., the influx of karmic matter into the soul, (iv) Bandha, i.e, bondage of soul by karmic-matter,
Samvara, i.e., the stopping of asrava, the influx, (vi) Nirjara, i.e, the gradual removal of karmic matter, and (vii) Moksha, i.e., the attainment of perfect freedom from the
karmas.
(v)
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