Practical Path

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Page 76

SAMVARA.
The causes of the specific energies of the four kinds of ayuḥ karma are those which determine the duration of the association of the taijasa and the karmâna shariras with the body of gross matter. This depends on the quality of the material of the outer body and on the nature of its association with the other two, and is ultimately traceable to the good or bad karmas of the jiva himself.
Of the four kinds of ayuḥ karma, the first, namely, deva ayuḥ, depends on the vaikriyaka sarira of devas which results from pure thoughts and actions, such as observance of vows, non-injuring, truthfulness, chastity, non-stealing and non-attachment. According to the Scripture no one who has already engendered the ayuḥ karma of life in hells (naraka ayuḥ) can have sufficient strength of will left to observe the five vows of a Jaina house-holder. The second, i.e., manushya ayuḥ, is the fruit of actions of a middling type, such as partial control of senses, desires, passions, and the like.
The third, or the animal form of life, is forced on the soul in consequence of a slavery to senses, regardless of the means employed for their gratification. Sensual lust, deceit, the preaching of falsehood for procuring livelihood, excessive grief, intense aversion to any particular being or thing, giving free reins to imagination to dwell upon the details of past or expected future experiences of sexual and other kinds of bodily pleasures, and praying for future prosperity to indulge in the delights of senses to the full, are some of the causes that lead to re-birth in the animal kingdom, and determine the longevity of the different types of animal life.
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