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Doctrine of Karma
ALL the Indian systems of philosophy except the Cārvāka school A accept the theory of karma. By and large the theory of karma is brought in as a causal law to explain various phenomena in human life. The precise meaning given to the term karma differs from school to school. For our purposes here we need concern ourselves only with a point of contrast between the schools of Hindu philosophy that accept the concept of karma and the Jaina system. The other systems of Indian thought understand karma to stand for action, though the term action itself is given different interpretations by the various schools constituting the group. The Jaina philosophers give a strictly materialistic interpretation to the term karma. Karma, according to the Jaina philosophers, signifies an aggregate of extremely fine matter which is imperceptible to the senses.
The argument put forward by the Jaina philosophers to maintain the material nature of karma is interesting. It is held that an effect having a material form must have had a material cause. The atoms constituting the real objects in the universe, for example, may be considered to be the 'causes of the objects, and, the atoms being considered material, the causes of objects also ought to be considered material. An initial objection against this fundamental position anticipated by the Jainas is that experiences like pleasure, pain, enjoyment and suffering are purely mental and therefore their causes also must be mental, i. e., non-material. Karma cannot hence be brought in to account for these human experiences. The Jaina's
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