________________
Introduction to Chapters 5 & 6
Conditions for the influx of Karma-AŚRAVA
and its opposite-SAMVARA
Rebirth and Karma are the two most important presuppositions of Jain philosophy. Development of these conceptions was accompanied by that of corresponding metaphysics also. The soulJĪVA-is the conscious substance. In its purest state it possesses a number of qualities/attributes which are obstructed, obscured and distorted by its infection by another substance, matter-Pudgala. The subtlemost class of matter, appropriately called karmic matter, is capable of mixing with the soul much in the same way as water mixes with milk. This union of soul and matter is called Bondage (Bandha). In the pure and perfect state, the soul has infinite knowledge, intuition, bliss and spiritual energy as well as freedom . from embodied existence, delimited longevity (life-span), and difference of status. Its characteristic quality is consciousness (upayoga-a complex of two cognitive faculties-knowledge and intuition. Thus, the soul (jīva) and consciousness (upayoga) are eternally coextensive and inalienable.
The bondage of soul with karmic matter obscures and obstructs the pure qualities of the soul and keeps it in the embodied-worldlystate. However, belief in the intrinsic purity of the soul and its capability to regain its essentially pure nature-which is the same thing as the discovery of its infinite glory-is basic to the doctrine of karma.
The question why the pure soul should come to be infested with the impurity of matter is one of fact as ultimate as its own real existence and it is unnecessary to question the possibility of a fact. It is there. The important thing is that the impurity and imperfection can be transcended by self-realization or emancipation.
The embodied (worldly) state is sustained and nourished from eternity, basically by the delusion and perversity of the soul due to
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
