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intervention in the being of other souls regardless of their feelings or nature becomes ethically evil. This is 'Himsa' an activity of the soul induced by matter and heedless of the true nature the soul and of the sameness of this nature for all the souls
It is true that the souls belong to different levels of evolution, from the purely sensitive and wholly irrational to the wholly rational levels devoid of emotional sensibility Nevertheless it is true of all the souls that their good lies in the realization of their own nature which is universal and that this can only be achieved through their remaining free from external interference Since the souls are ubiquitous, dwelling even in the elementary forms of matter, the scope of violence latent in human action may well be imagined Early Jain scriptures tend almost to identify 'Karma' with 'Danda' and 'Himsa'. The reality of action, the endurance of its spiritual agent, the self-conscious and rational nature of the spirit, the element of freedom and expressiveness in action, these together provide a necessary and sufficient basis for the notion of moral responsibility The Jain metaphysics of the soul, thus, provides us with the reality and responsibility of action, a criterion for distinguishing right and wrong action and, within the powers of the soul, a source of knowledge, adequate for discovering and understanding moral distinctions
Just as the Jaina theory of Karma has been criticized as materialistic, the Jain theory of soul has been criticized as animistic The Jaina certainly attribute location to the soul in the same sense in which illumination may be said to have location This enables them to connect atoms of 'karma' with points on the extension of the soul. Extension, however, is attributed to the soul, indirectly only in the sense that the body which the soul pervades has extenThe essence of the soul remains psychic or self-conscious The mind is not accepted as a non-material reality, although soul and body are distinct as substances and their changing states remain interdependent It is in this situation that the moral struggle of human life takes place The soul may be embodied with all the attendant limitations as well as gratification, nevertheless it can never be content in this condition In this sense
sion
