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usages of the word (leśyā) found in the Jaina scripture do not imply such connotation.
Three alternative theories have been proposed by commentators to explain the nature of leśyā. In the first theory, it is regarded as a product of passions (kaşaya-pisyanda), and consequently as arising on account of the rise of the kaşaya-mohaniya karman. In the second, it is considered as the transformation due to activity (yoga-pariņāma), and as such originating from the rise of karmans which produce three kinds of activity (physical, vocal and mental). In the third alternative, the leśyā is conceived as a product of the eight categories of karman (jñāpāvaraniya, etc.), and as such accounted as arising on account of the rise of the eight categories of karman. In all these theories, the leśyā is accepted as a state of the soul, accompanying the realization (audayika-bhāva) of the effect of karman.11
Of these theories, the second theory appears plausible. The leśya, in this theory, is a transformation (pariņati) of the sarira-nāmakarman (body-making karmap), 12 effected by the activity of the soul through its various gross and subtle bodies--the physical organism (kāya), speech-organ (vāk), or the mind-organ (mapas) functioning as the instrument of such activity.13 The material aggregates involved in the activity constitute the leśyā. The material particles attracted and transformed into various karmic categories (jñānāvaraniya, etc.) do not make up the leśyā. There is presence of leśyā even in the absence of the categories of ghāti-karman in the sayogi-kevalin stage of spiritual development, which proves that such categories do not constitute leśyā. Similarly, the categories of aghāti-karman also do not form the leśyā as there is absence of leśyā even in the presence of such categories in the ayogi-kevalin stage of spiritual development. 14 The leśyā-matter involved in the activity aggravates the kaşāyas if they are there. 15 It is also responsible for the anubhāga (intensity) of karmic bondage. 16
11. For the refutation of the theory propounding leśyā as karma
nisyanda, vide pp. 11-2. 12, P. 10 (line 10). 13. P. 10 (lines 13-21). 14. P. 11 (lines 3-8). 15. P. 11 (lines 8-9). 16. P. 11 (lines 15-7); also the Tīkā on Karmagrantha, iv, 1.
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