Studies in Jainism

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

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
condition for preventing the flowing in of fresh kärmic matter. When this is achieved, the yogin turns his attention to the kārmic deposits already present in his kārmic body. By concentrated attention and endeavour to realize one's own true nature through aj as, the bondage of already deposited kārmic matter is icosene 1 und finally shaken off. This process by which the kārmic body gradually gets disintegrated by the attack on its intensity and duration is technically called nirjarā. When the ásrava of new kārmic matter is shut out by samvara, and the old kārmic matter, already present, crumbles and disintegrates through nir. jarā, the kārmic body gradually gets attenuated and finally disappears. Side by side, the intrinsic qualities of the Atman get expressed more and more, till it shines in full luminosity, in infinite greatness and infinite glory, which state represents final liberation or moksa. Then the samsaric Jiva, by the process of destroying all the karmas, becomes Paramātman, the pure soul with infinite knowledge, power, and bliss. These stages represent critical periods in the life-history of the soul.
DIFFERENT CLASSIFICATIONS OF CATEGORIES
Technically, asrava, bandha, samvara, nirjarā, and mokşa, together with the primary entities, jiva and ajiva, constitute the seven tattvas (principles). If we add the two mental attainments, punya and pāpa (virtue and vice), to these, we get the nine padarthas (categories). Thus we have in Jaina metaphysics the five astikāyas, the six dravyas, the seven tattvas, and the nine padārthas, classified from different standpoints.
II. JAINA LOGIC AND THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE We have already seen that, in Jaina metaphysics, jñāna is an intrinsic property of the Jiva, and that it gets clouded in the state of sannsāra by the kārmic body. As such the process of knowing must be interpreted to be the process of the manifestation of the intrinsic nature of the Jiva. Jñana or knowledge is of five different kinds according to the stages of the spiritual development of the soul, viz. mati, śruta, avadhi, manah-paryāya, and kevala. Mati jñana re