________________
THEORY OF SOUL AND KARMIC
MATTER (AXIOM 1)
Axiom 1: “The soul exists in contamination with karmic matter
and it longs to be purified
2.1 AXIOM
ABSTRACTLY, the concept of soul here implies that in the inhabited universe, it is composed of two distinct parts:
(a) non-living material,
(b) remainder, i.e. “living part. The living part can be described as the pure soul' whereas the nonliving material (non-pure part) is the karmic matter. (As an analogy, consider gold ore: the dross is 'karmic matter and the left over 24carat gold is the 'pure soul'). Here karmic matter is actual physical material which makes the soul impure; it has nothing to do with the usual word 'karma', i.e. action. In the simplest terms, the pure soul contains all the important positive aspects of the living being and contamination by karmic matter produces the negative effects. However, this contamination by karmic matter is not natural for the soul which has an in-built longing to become separated from the matter.
In practice, this abstract idea implies that the aim is to acquire 'purity of the soul or the 'victory over the karmic matter. Ka matter is regarded as the cause of a! misery etc. (Note that we are using the word 'soul ambiguously as either 'pure soul or 'contaminated soul', but the meaning should be obvious from the context.) To understand these concepts and the interaction of soul and karmic matter, we have to first understand Jain Theoretical Science. Jain Applied Science will be dealt with in Axiom 4.
2.2 THE BASIC CONCEPTS
2.2.1 Soul
It is believed that in nature there exists a non-material substance which has the following four main properties:
