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CHAPTER VII.
NIRJARÂ. The ceaseless activity of the samsari soul, while responsible for its ever-renewing bondage, is also the cause of its constantly changing circumstances. As new particles of matter flow into the kârmâna śarira, they ceaselessly modify its constitution, ejecting and displacing those already there.
In this respect the kârmâna sarira resembles the surface of a pond fed by a channel in which the processes of inflow and evaporation of water are constantly going on. This mechanical process of evaporation of karmas is called savipaka nirjarâ, which means the removal of matter from the kårmâna śarira in the ordinary course of things. The other kind, called avipaka, is the process of the removal of matter, and the consequent destruction of karmic energies, hy individual exertion ; and it is this second kind of nirjara which is the direct cause of moksha.
The avipaka nir jarâ, consists in the performance of tapa which literally means heating. As pure gold can be easily separated from alloy by putting the impure compound on fire, so can a jivır free himself from the various kinds of karmas by tapa (asceticism). It should be borne in mind that dependence on any outside agency for the removal of one's karmic bonds not only
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