Pictorial Philosophical Balpothi

Author(s): Bhuvanbhanusuri
Publisher: Divya Darshan Trust

Page 41

ASRAV
What brings the sins and merits, good and bad karma in to life? Asrav brings them. As dust particles get stuck to the stain of oil on a cloth, dust of karma get stuck to the soul due to asrav. In the picture, asrav is shown like windows and a being is shown like a house. Dust particle like karma enter into the soul like house through windows of asrav. Or asravas are like the hole through which the dust of karma enters into a being. This is shown in picture.
Or as shown in the picture on page 38, asrav is like a channel through which dust of karma is brought into a being. It is like a channel bringing silt into a lake or a drainage line accumulating dirty water in gutter.
There are mainly five kinds of asravas. (1) Sense, (2) Kashayas (3) Anti vows (4) yogas and (5) Activities.
(1) As soon as our senses like eyes, tongue, ears etc. run after inanimate things with like or dislike, the mass
of karmas get stuck to a being. Thus, likes or dislikes of senses result in karmabandh.
(2) We get angry, feel proud, practise deceit, possess greed, desire and love. The karma get stuck to a being due to these. All these are called kashayas. Likewise laughter (natural or jokingly), grievance, Pleasure, grief, fear, hate towards dirt,-bad odour etc. or towards persons wearing such clothes, jealousy, enmity, worse thoughts, sexual urge etc. also come in the class of kashayas.
(3) When we may not be doing violence, telling lie, practicing theft or immorality, not doing excessive worldly pleasures, having sexual relation with woman or not accumulating excessive money, if we don't take vow never to practice any of them, it becomes avrata asrav. It accumulates sins even if we are not excercising them. It is like not using the house, and still paying tax, just because we possess it. It is meant that we may not be practicing such sins, but we intend to follow them. Hence we bind the bad karmas.
(4) we think with our mind, speak through words and behave through the body. This is called yoga asrav. To think, to walk, to speak, to move hands or legs, to run etc. come under it.
(5) Kriya asrav contains activities due to mithyatva etc. There are 25 such activities, which can be known in the pious company of guru.
These are the common asravas responsible for accumulating karma. Moreover, each type of karma has different asravs. e.g., not respecting a well-versed, knowledge or a book etc. accumulates gnanavaran karma. Having mercy towards beings accumulates shatavedniya punya etc...
Affection towards God, Guru and religion, dislike towards sins, following a religion are auspicious
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asravas.