Portrait of Jain Religion

Author(s): Narendra Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 73

Jiva (consciousness), Ajiv (non-living substances), Asrava (influx of karma), Bandh (bondage of karma), Punya (virtue), Pap (sin), Samvar (stoppage of the influx of karmas), Nirjara (partial exhaustion of accumulated karmas, Moksha (total liberation from karmas. Of these, Jiv and Ajiv are 'Jneya' (to be known), Asrava and Bandha are 'Heya' (to be avoided), Samvar, Nirjara and Moksha are 'Upadeya) (to be adopted), Pap is 'Heya', and Punya is upadeya.
The Jain theory of Karma
The souls go through several incarnations in varying life forms since they get entrapped in the unending cycle of birth and death. Depending on the merit or otherwise of their respective karmas, rebirth could be in any one of four forms or destinies (gatis) viz., celestial being (deva), human being (manushya), plant, animal or insect (tiryanch) and hell being (naaraki). In these various life forms also, according to Jain religion, the soul passes through as many as 8.4 million yonis (incarnations).
Every living being is a single 'jiva' entrapped in a material body. Jivas interact with Ajivas, and become impure and polluted. Karmic bondage to material attractions keeps them in an illusory mirage of happiness, which is transient. Pudgal or matter has form and consists of individual atoms (parmanu) and conglomerates of atoms (skandha), which can be seen, heard, smelt, tasted and/or touched. The energy or the phenomenon of sound, darkness, light, shade and heat etc. are produced by the conglomerates of atoms.
Worldly soul does not realize that its physical embodiment and all its surroundings have resulted from its past karmas. It tends to identify itself with all those situations and pudgals ignoring the fact that they are all transient. This has been the root cause of continuous bondage of karmas to the soul and the resulting transmigration.
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A Portrait of Jain Religion