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Shedding of Karma (Nirjarā)
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not depend on the nature of the soul just as the scene on the movie screen does not depend on the nature of the white light. In this regard, it may also be noted that the nature of the soul does not change with time. But the
feelings and emotions change with time. (2) I am the soul, the knower. “To know is the nature of the
soul. Liking or disliking associated with the knowing is not the nature of the soul. Liking or disliking appearing at any moment depends on the quality of the Karma undergoing fruition at that moment. "The soul is simply a knower' - this fact is so much valuable that Ācārya Kundakunda has stated it in these stanzas as well as in
various other stanzas in this treatise. (3) The fruition of the rising Karma in the form of pain,
pleasure, desire, hatred, etc. do not reveal the nature of the soul. Due to this fact these may be considered as non
souls. The focus of Ācārya Kundakunda in these stanzas is to highlight this point that the knowing nature of the soul is different from the nature of pain, pleasure, desire, hatred, anger, etc. Question: If acts or thoughts of liking and disliking are different
from the nature of the soul then why do these happen to living
beings only? Why not to dead bodies? Answer: Let us take an example of a beautiful lake appearing blue
(see Diagram 3). It is easy to check that the lake appears blue but its water is not blue. It can be verified by looking at the water taken out from the lake in a glass cup (see the inset in Diagram 3). On the basis of this observation, one can say that the color of the lake (blue) does not reveal the color of the water contained in the lake. One should accept the fact that water is not blue. Scientists know that the blue color of the lake is not possible without the water but they also know that
