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A SOURCB-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
kāra. Sarhskāra has also been referred to as āsaya, vāsanā, karma : and apūrva. In this form of description, klesa and sarskāra are the root causes of the wheel of life and they are beginningless.
The Mimāṁsakas say that the various activities of men like the performance of yajña gives rise to apūrva and apūrva gives rise and gives the fruits of all the activities like the performance of yajña. Apūrva is the potency born of the performance of duties mentioned in the injunction of the Vedas. The other forms of activities are not considered to be apūrva.?
The Vedāntins have used the concept of avidyā and māyā for explaining the variety in the universe. Tøvara is māyājanya (the product of māyā). He dispenses the fruits of karma. In this sense, the experience of the fruits of karma is due to the agency of Iswara.
The Buddhists maintain that the dispositions born out of mental crisis are vāsanā and the dispositions arising out of the speech and bodily activities are avijñapti. The lobha (greed) dveșa (hatred) and moha (infatuation) produce karma. Jiva gets engaged in activities in bodily, mental and speech due to these emotional disturbances, so also these disturbances and activities produce the lobha, dveşa and moha in turn. This is the wheel of life, which is beginningless.
THE NATURE OF KARMA ACCORDING TO JAINISM
The Jainas have considered karma as material in nature. The kārmic particles envelope the soul but do not destroy the real nature of the soul. They have an obscuring function. Therefore, they affect the different paryāyas of the soul. Man is in bondage due to handicuffs, he gets intoxicated by liquor and becomes unconscious by chloroform. These are material objects. Similarly, the soul gets obscured and its pure nature is obscured and not destroyed due to the influx of karma.
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Yogadarsanabhāşya 1, 5 etc (a) sabarbhāşya 2, 1; 5 (b) Tantravārtika 2, 1, 5 Sankarabhāşya 2, 1, 14 Sankarabhāśya 3, 2; 38—41
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