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202 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
making) karma are connected with the organisation of the different parts of the body and its capacities. It should not be taken to mean that the physique-making-karma is wholly responsible for the production of the material body, and the matter of which the body is made has no importance. Just as different molecules of matter effect each other after the manner of auxiliary causation, in the same way the aforesaid karma has to make its own contribution towards the formation of the organism. This allows full scope for the functions of the karma-pudgala and the pudgala of the organism.
The Environmental Class of Karmas
The environmental class of karmas contributes towards the determination of the environment in which a particular soul happens to be placed, The gotra or the statusdetermining karma is concerned with the determination of the environment which helps or hinders the process of spiritual development. As this type of karma has no direct bearing on the psychical and the organic capacities of a living being, it is said to belong to the environmental class. The power-obstructive karma jŭst effects a distortion and limitation of the power of the self. It is also held to determine the conjunction of the external objects required for the fulfilment of psychic functions like desire, etc. The latter aspect of this type of karma makes its enumeration among the environmental karmas possible. But the problem is how the environmental type of karmas which cling to the soul, are able to effect the behaviour of the things external to the soul and its organism. The answer may be sought in the concept of 'field' in psychology. Field psychology extends the scope of the psyche beyond the organism. Jacob Robert Kontor holds that "the real whole however, is not the organism but the organism in its efective environment."1 Koffka says "that we should regard behaviour not composed
1. R.S. Woodworth: Contemporary Schools of Psychology, p. 239
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