Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

Page 58

JAINISM : ITS PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS
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and after. There can be no simultaneous moments in the time series. The vyavaharika or conventional time is the time which we use in our social life, the durations being measured by the movements of the sun and moon. This is of different durations, according to different measures, and ranges from the shortest nimișa to the longest yuga.
KĀRMIC BODY We have noticed already that throughout its sāṁsāric life the Jiva is associated with a kármic body, which forms the nucleus around which the grosser bodies are built up. According to this conception, the building up of the kārmic body forms the foundation for life in samsāra and the disintegration of the kārmic body constitutes the final liberation of the Jiva. The process of building up of the kārmic body and the plan of breaking it up are important aspects of metaphysical truth. Jiva and ajiva, the primary entities, are brought together to build up the body appropriate to each Jiva in the following process: Asrava, which means 'flowing in', of karmic molecules that are attracted by a Jiva, according to its characteristic psychic experience, is the main basis of the building up of the kārmic body, which, like the cocoon of a silkworm, surrounds the Jiva and acts as an impediment against the free manifestation of its intrinsic qualities. Asrava leads to the next stage bandha, when the karmic matter gets settled, or fixed up, in the karmic body. This karma-bondage is of various intensity and duration. So long as the Jiva is not alive to its own intrinsic properties, and so long as it identifies itself with objects alien to itself, the building up of the kārmic cocoon goes on interminably. But when the Jiva realizes its nature as distinct from the material world, it endeavours to extricate itself from the trammels of samsāra, the root cause of which is the kārmic body.
The first step in extricating oneself fronı the shackles is called samvara, putting a stop to the inflow of kārmic matter. This is done by developing an appropriate mental attitude characterized by freedom from the attractions of sense objects and concentration upon one's own nature. In other words, yogic meditation or tapas is the necessary