Outlines of Jainism

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

Page 88

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OUTLINES OF JAINISM
aversion; there is no yoga or usrava vibration, and the inflow of karmas is stopped.
The psychical condition which makes this possible is bhāva-sumvara. This is reached by following the rules of conduct under vows, by religious observances, by the threefold restraint of body, mind, and speech, by performance of duties, by compassion towards all living beings, by contemplating the true character of the world and our relation to its objects and persons, by concentrating the mind on our chief purpose in life, and by enduring all kinds of troubles and tortures for the achievement thereof (46).
Nirjara (47-50)
Nirjara means the falling away of karmic matter from the soul (47-8). The fetters may by themselves gradually wear out and leave the soul free: but it is a long process. Therefore a shorter method is adopted; deliberate activity may hasten the ripening of a karma and the shedding of its matter. To illustrate: we wish evil to our neighbour A; the thought-activity invites the karmic matter into the soul (asrava), the matter comes and binds the soul (bandha). This karma may take two months to bear its full fruits; in the meantime it is an evil load for the soul. To gain lightness and to get rid of the karma, the soul may deliberately feel an opposite kind of feeling towards other neighbours B, C, and D. A still surer way is to practise austerity. By removing the mind from the demands and impulses of the body, and by mortifying the physical man through not listening to its greed and