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Karma-Its Operation and an Appraisal
29
Colour and sense qualities are associated with Karmic matter flowing into the soul. Karma is a subtle type of matter, and soul is associated with it from beginningless time. Karma matter produces a form of subtle body known as the Karma sarira'.16 We have seen that the immediate impact of Karma throws a reflection on the soul, as a coloured flower does on a 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 leśya.
Thus, the conception of leśya is closely associated with the Karma theory.
In Buddhism too, Karma is classified according to colours: (1) Black, (2) White, (3) Black-and-White, and (4) not-black-and-not-white, 17 Similar classification was adopted in the Yoga school. We have referred to it earlier, 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. 18
It is possible to interpret the leśyā theory in terms of modern psychology, especially of parapsychology. The Bhāva leśya has a psychological significance. It is an aura created round the soul due to psychic effects and yoga. It is dependent on the activity of the mind. The six primary colours are effect of the karmic influx arising out of mental states and events. Every psychosis brings some after-effects which are both physical and psychic. It is possible to show, by proper analysis and investigation, that such psychic phenomena exist and are detectable. The effects of psychic states are transformed, through some form of radiation into the 'aura' of colour spreading round the organism, like the balo surrounding a prophet, We have heard that the gods and the prophets, like Jesus and the Buddha, had a halo round them. The Jaipas have said that the enlightened ones still living in this world get a white halo around them. Such aura, or colouration may not be visible to the eye, nor discernible by the ordinary instruments of science. But men disciplined in the yoga and those who have developed an extra-sensory capacity can see it. We may pe,haps find some methods pertinent to parapsychology by which we may discover the possibility and existence of such phenomena. It would, therefore, be a problem for the parapsychologists' research.
We may also point out that some have suggested a resemblance between lesya doctrine and the theosophical view of the transcendental colours in the individual 19. We may refer to the theosophical writings of Mrs. Besant, 20
16. Pravacanasāra I. 55-56. II, 40. 17. Digha Nikāya III. 20. 18. Dasgupta : History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I. p. 74. 19. Jaini (J. L.) Outlines of Jainism. p. 45. 20. Thought forms by Mrs. Bensant & c. W. Leadbeater 1905
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