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Mechanics of Change
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They have pointed out that every soul, in its journey to freedom has to reckon with seven elements, namely, Pápa-vicious deeds known as sins, Punya - virtuous deeds, Asrava -influx of karmic particles caused by vicious or virtuous deeds, Bandha - bondage due to the said influx, Sa ivara - prevention of influx of karmas, Nirjara - annihilation of accumulated karmas and Mokşa - final liberation. Jiva, the self, tied with Ajiva from time immemorial, struggles to liberate itself from the union with Ajiva, and in that process, it has to encounter with the above seven elements. These seven elements, along with the two elements of Jiva and Aliva constitute nine elements in all, the understanding of which gives us the total picture of the whole process of change. All these nine elements are called ( Nava-tattva ), and the understanding of these Nine-tattvas, covers the whole field of Jaina metaphysics and the ethics.
It is pertinent to note that, unlike most of the Western thinkers, the Indian philosophers have never tried to dissociate metaphysics from ethics. as according to them real knowledge is personal experience which does not come without living your philosophy in actual life. It is for this reason that the Jaina philosophers have joined the metaphysical concepts of Jiva and Ajiva with the rest of the seven concepts which are ethical in their contents.
Essential Tendency of Jiva
We have already noticed that Jiva and Ajiva constitute the whole universe; we have also taken note of five categories of Ajīva, namely, Pudgala, Dharma, Adharma, Akáśa and Kala. It is the union of Jiva with karmic forces of Pudgala which causes the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. It is the cardinal belief of Jainism that the essential tendency of every Jiva is to go up and progress. It is like a hollowed gourd which when put under deep water has a tendency to go up and float over the water surface if it is not smeared by weighty earth. When the self is heavily smeared by various karmic
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