________________
178
Study of Jainism
II. a) We have seen in the earlier chapter that Jainism is dualistic. The universe is constituted of the two fundamenta] categories : jiva (living) and ajiva (non-living). From the pure and, ultimate point of view, jiva is pure and perfect. It is characterised by upayāga, hormic energy. It is immaterial and formless.14 It is characterised by cētana. It is pure consciousness. From the phenomenal point of view jiva is described as possessing four pranas. It is the lord (prabhu) limited to his body (dehamatra), still incorporeal, and it is ordi..arily found with Karma. 16 The Jiva comes in contact with the external world, Ajiva The Jiva is active, and the activity is expressed in threefold forms - the bodily, in speech and mental. This is called yoga Yoga brings its after-effects in the form of Karmic particles which veil the pure nature of the soul. The inherent capacity of the soul for self-realization is obstructed by the veil of Karma. 16
Karma, according to the Jainas, is material nature. It is subtle. It is a substantive force. It is constituted of finer particles of matter. It has the special property of developing the effects of merit and demerit.
'No-where has the physical nature of Karma been asserted with such stress as in Jainism'.17 A moral fact produces a psychophysical quality, a real and not merely a symbolic mark, affecting the soul in its physical nature. This point of view has been worked in detail in the form of mathematical calculations, in the Karmagrantha.
The Jaina tradition distinguishes two aspects : i) the physical aspect (dravya-karma) and ii) the psychic aspect (bhava-karma). The physical aspect comprises the particles of karma (Karmapudgala) accuring into the soul and polluting it. The psychic aspect is primarily the mental states and events arising out of the activity of mind, body and speech. They are like the mental traces of the actions, as we experience the mnemic traces long after the conscious states experienced vanish. The physical and the psychic karma are mutually related to each other as cause and effect.18 The distinction between the physical and the psychic aspects of Karma is psychologically significant, as it presents the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
