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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
have developed the science of karma. There is enormous literature in the study of Jaina theory of karma. Etymologically, considered, karma means activity, it refers to any activity in this tife. The grammarian Pāņini has defined karma as that which is palatable to the doer is karma.1 To the Mimāṁsakas, karma is considered to be the performance of the yajña. It is kriyākāṇḍa. According to the Vaiseşikas, karma or activity is an inherent category of the substance. It is that which is not a quality nor conjunction or disjunction of objects. The Sankhya school describes karma as the expression of disposition (samskara) The Bhagavadgītā mentions karma as "karm aśīlatā", i. e, engrossment in action. The Nyāyaśāstra refers to the activities like expansion and contraction, movement in general, movement upwards and movement downwards as forms of karma. In the smärta tradition, the duties of the four stages of life (āśrama) and the four Varnas are referred to as karma. The Buddhists have traced the variety and the inequalities of the jivas to the karma. The Jainas have mentioned two forms of karma (bhāva karma and dravya karma). Bhāvakarma is psychic in nature, it refers to the psychic states responsible for the activities and dravya karma refers to the material particles of karma accruing to the soul and vitiating the pure nature of the soul. Acarya Amṛtacandra says that the influx of karma is due to the activities (yoga) that the soul has in contact with the pudgala.5 Karma is material in nature according to the Jainas and it obscures the pure nature of the soul.
KARMA IN DIFFERENT TRADITIONS
The Jainas have given the specific content for the conception of karma. The other systems of Indian philosophy have used different concepts like māyā, avidyā, prakṛti, apūrva, vāsanā āsaya, dharmādharma, ad ṛṣṭa, saṁskāra, daiva, bhagya etc., for
1 Aşṭādhyāyi 1, 4, 79
2 Vaiseşikadarśanabhāṣya 1, 17 p. 35
3 Sankhyatattvakaumudi 67
4 Gitā 2, 50
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Pravacanasāra tīkā 2, 25
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