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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
present life." Karma of the present life will be responsible for the future life. The accretion of karmı, as kārmic particles of āyu karma enter the soul which is responsible in various ways for determining the states of existence in the succeeding life, the length of life and the status of the individual in all its different lives. 2 Bhagavāna Mahāvīra said that passion like krodha (anger), māna (egoity), māyā (deceit) and lobha (greed) are the root cause of the cycle of births, In the Bhagavadgitā we get an analogical description about rebirth and the chain of birth. As a man takes out the old clothes and wears the new one, similarly the soul casts away the worn out body and takes on a new body, after death. This is possible through the process of “āvartana" (transference).5 The Tathāgata Buddha once explained that the pricks of the thorn that he suffered were due to the violence and injuries caused to a human being in his ninetyone previous life.
The new born infant expresses various emotions like joy, fear and sorrow. These are primarily due to its memories in the past life. The new born infant, the moment it is born, starts sucking the milk from the mother's breast. This is due to its learning and habits that it had acquired in the past life. As the young boy grows into a youth si nilarly the jīva enters a new life and the body, and grows, into full stature. The new born in fact experiences pleasure and pain and expresses various emotions. All these can be traced to the dispositions (samskāras) acquired by the infant from its previous life due to the heritage of its kurinis, may call it collective uncon
1 Bhagavati 2, 5. 2 Sthānānga 9, 40. 3 Daśavaikālika 8. 39. 4 Gitā 2, 22. 5 Gītā 8, 26. 6 Ita ekanavatik alpo śiktyā me puruso hatth.
Tena karma vipākena pā le vidho smi biksavaḥ. 7 Nyāyasútra, 3, 1, 11. 8 Nyāyasūtra 3, 1, 12. 9 Višeș avasyaka bhāşya.
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