Book Title: Studies in Jaina Philosophy
Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 280
________________ IV. III] CLASSIFICATION OF KARMAN 243 viz. the feeling-producing, the body-making, the status-determining and the longevity-forming. These types do not obscure any fundamental quality of the soul. They only appear like the obscuring (ghātin) types when enjoyed along with them. The types of karman are also classified as 'virtuous types' and 'sinful types', also known as 'auspicious types' and 'inauspicious types'. We have already noticed this. As we have stated above, those types whose fruition leads to enjoyment of-pleasure are virtuous or auspicious, and those whose fruition leads to suffering are sinful or inauspicious. Now, as the nature of the fruition of the bondage is determined by the nature of the activities of the soul, which may be virtuous as well as sinful, the nature of the karmic types also depends upon the nature of the activities that lead to their bondage. The infinitefold activities of the soul lead to the infinitefold bondage which, for the sake of systematic treatment, is classified in various ways. The classification into 'virtuous' and 'sinful' is only one such way. The Jainas, like others, regard the five moral virtues of non-injury (ahirsā), truth (satya) etc. as the norm for the ascertainment of the nature of the activities. The perfect state, however, is realized on the cessation of all activities. The virtuous and moral activities are as much to be avoided as the sinful ones. Of course, the virtuous and moral activities lead to the bondage of the auspicious types of karman while the sinful ones lead to the bondage of the inauspicious types. But nevertheless they are on the same footing with reference to the summum bonum which is cessation of all activities. The activities are threefold inasmuch as they can belong to the body or the organ of speech or the mind. They are technically known as yoga which is also called äsrava (inflow), being the cause of the inflow of karmic matter into the soul.3 In order to complete the enquiry of this section, it is necessary to record some similar speculations on the scheme of classification and other relevant topics as found in the other schools of Indian thought. The Jaina thought was not an isolated movement and as such could not but influence and be influenced by the speculations of the other schools. Of course, it is not possible to accurately apportion the mutual influence. But nevertheless our foregoing study has clearly shown how the different schools influenced each other and helped the 1 Cf. etāḥ prakrtayo 'ghātinyaḥ, na kañcana jñānādi-guņam ghätayanti 'ti křtvā, kevala sarvadesa-ghātinībhiḥ saha vedyamānās tatsadřsyo 'nubhūyante -Kg2, p. 14. 2 Vide supra, p. 235. 3 TSú, VI. 1-2. See also the sūtras that follow for the detailed statements about the conditions of the inflow of sinful and virtuous types of karman. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366