Neuroscience and Karma

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 49

3. INTERNAL FORCES OF LIFE
0. Characteristics of Living Organism (Jain View)
It is clear from the preceding chapter that a living organism depends upon an 'organization' that regulates all its actions. What exactly, then is 'living'? In other words, what is the difference between 'animate'and 'inanimate'? According to Jain Philosophy, animation (life) is caused by the unity of a non-physical (or non-material) entity called SOUL or spirit with a material body. That is, there is a subtle spiritual self associated with the gross physical body during the life; death is the separation of the two. Until emancipated, the soul' is always enveloped by karman (as karina-sarira). Thus, on death, what is separated from the physical body is soul-cum-karma-śarira. It is the karman that is responsible for the 'organization' of the physical body. The role of the non-material soul is somewhat akin to a catalyst. An organism 'lives' for the duration of the life-span which is determined by one of the eight main categories of karman viz, ayusya karman. Body and Soul : Birth of an individual organism in a particular species at a particular time and in a particular place is neither arbitrary nor accidental but the very precise result of the individual's karman which again is the result of its actions in the past life or lives. The determination of the species, the life-span, the social status, feeling of pain and pleasure and such other fundamental factors of the individual's 'life' are the combined result of four aghātin main categories, viz., (i) nāma-karman (ii) gotra karman (iii) vedaniya-karman and (iv) āyusya karman and their relevant subcategories. The Soul
No one has yet been able to synthesize a living cell in the laboratory, although we know now, in some detail, what the various material substances involved are in the making of a cell, because life is not merely a composition of material substances. A non-material soul-substance (jivāstikāya) is also essential to create a live cell. Soul is a substance but