Outlines of Jainism

Author(s): J L Jaini, F W Thomas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 73

METAPHYSICS : VII. KINDS OF KARMA
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perfect perception of, and faith in, the reality of things; perfect knowledge; perfect power; and perfect happiness. Karmie matter keeps the soul from the realization of this fourfold greatness, obseuring its perception and knowledge, obstructing its progress and success, and disturbing the equanimity of its existence. It is therefore called the four ghātiya or destructive kurmus. Their names are
jñānā varaṇīya, or knowledge-obscuring karmu ; darśanīvaranīya, or faith-obseuring or perception
obscuring kurma ; anturayu, that which hinders or obstructs the
progress or success of the soul ; mohanīya, that which infatuates or deludes the
soul (or makes it lose equilibrium of thought and
feeling). These destructive karmas retain the soul in mundane existence, the character of which is conditioned by another quartet of karmas, the latter not destructive, but determining merely the body and the environments in which the mundane soul must exist. They are called aghātiya, or non-destructive, karmas. Their nanies are ayus, the karma which determines the duration
of our lives or other conditions ; nāma, that which determines the character of our
individuality, i.e. our body, height, size,
colour, etc. ; gotra, that which determines our family, nation
ality, etc.; vedanīya, that which gives pleasure or pain in
mundane life.