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Lord Mahāvīra and His Times Aśrava is that which causes the soul to be affected by sins, and Samvara is the principle of self-control by which the influx of sins is checked or stopped. The category of Samvara comprehends the whole sphere of right conduct.
Nirjarā or Karmakshaya consists in the wearing out of the accumulated effects of Karma on the soul by the practice of austerities, and Moksha, which logically follows from Nirjarā, signifies the final deliverance of the soul from the bondage of Karma. Siddhi or perfection is just another aspect of liberation. THEORY OF KARMA
Mahāvīra's theory of Karma is known as Dynamistic philosophy or notion of the freedom of the will. According to it, pleasure and pain, and happiness and misery of the individual depend upon his free will, exertion and manly strength. Karma is the deed of the soul. It is a material forming a subtle bond of extremely refined Karmic matter which keeps the soul confined to its place of origin or the natural abode of full knowledge and everlasting peace.
Mahāvīra's great message to mankind is that birth is nothing, caste is nothing, Karma is everything, and that on the destruction of Karma, all future happiness depends. The theory of Karma represents the most ancient and original feature of Jaina thought. According to H. JACOBI, "This Karma theory, if not in all details, certainly in the main outlines, is acknowledged in the oldest parts of the canon and presupposed by expressions and technical terms occurring in them. Some of the passages concerning the theory of Karma found in the old texts of Jainism are as follows :
"The painful condition of the self is brought about by one's own action, it is not brought about by any other cause (fate, creator, chance or the like)."
"Individually a man is born, individually he dies, individually he falls (from this state of existence), individually he rises (to another). His passions, consciousness, intcllect, perceptions, and impressions belong to the individual exclusi1. BHPIP, p. 385. 2. Sūtra I, 12. 11.
