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Study of Jainism
Bandha : The principle of bandha is an important spiritual concept in Jainism. It is bondage, and it leads one to the everrecurring involvement in the wheel of life. The bondage is due to the influx of karma. Āsrava brings bandha.
Bandha may be considered as of two types : 1) Dravya bandha. It is the bondage that is due to the influx of karmic particles into the soul, 2) Bhavabandha refers to the psychic states that lead us to the involvement in this wheel of life. These two forms of bondage due to karma are complementary to each other. And the one is intimately connected with the other. Just as the dust particles settle securely on a piece of cloth which is soaked in oil, so also the karmic particle gets settled in the soul due to kaşaya and yoga.
The bandha has been distinguished into four types : i) Prakști bandha – it refers to the nature of karma that has entered into the soul. ii) Sthiti bandha - it has reference to the state and the limitation of karmic particles in the soul. iii) Anubhaga bandha -- it refers to the intensity of experience of karma which leads to the intensity of the bondage. iv) Pradeśa bandha - it is concerned with the extensiveness and the aggregates of the karmic particles associated with the soul. Just as a pudding (modaka) with its medicinal values may be used for curing several types of diseases, similarly some form of karma is responsible for some types of difficulties like the obscuration of knowledge. Others inhibit energy of the soul, similarly just as some puddings have efficacy for a day and some others for longer time, similarly the karmic particles have their intensities in their experiences in varying degrees. Thus the praksti, sthiti, anubhaga and pradeśa bandha are intimately associated with the karmic particles and they are effects in the soul.63
· So far we have seen that the soul gets involved in the wheel of life and is bound (bandha) due to the influx of karma. This bondage, as we said earlier, is beginningless but it has an end. The soul in its inherent capacity is pure and perfect and the ultimate end of life is to remove this bondage and to be free from the shackles of karma. This is possible by means of a process
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