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Johannes Bronkhorst, Kundakunda versus Samkhya on the Soul
intemperance." Upayoga is in this way of three kinds, and itself a bhāva that is pure and unsullied; whatever further bhāva it creates, it is its agent."
221
So far the discussion deals with activities that take place within the self and which for this reason have themselves no karmic consequences. However, material substance modifies itself in accordance with what happens in the self:
At this point confusion is likely to enter:
"The soul consisting of ignorance makes something else into itself, and itself into something else. It becomes in this way the agent of the karmas."
"Whatever bhava the self produces, it is its agent; [however,] material substance modifies itself in relationship to that, and turns itself into karma."*7
The soul thinks it becomes the agent of the karmas, but this is due to ignorance. In reality it is not. The soul possessed of correct knowledge knows better:
17
The picture which develops out of these and other verses is the following. There are two fundamentally different realms: that of karma, which is a material substance, and that of the soul. The soul, though not without activity, is not the agent of anything that takes place in the karma which belongs to the material realm. However, it can have a causal effect on karma, through its activity within its own realm. One can therefore say that the soul produces karma, but only metaphorically:
"The soul consisting of correct knowledge does not make something else into itself, and itself into something else. It is not the agent of the karmas."19 "He who knows that the self does not make the modifications of material substance
[such as] the obstructions of knowledge, he possesses correct knowledge."20
15 Samayasara 96/3.21: uvaogassa aṇāt pariņāmā tiņņi mohajuttassa/micchattam anṇānam aviradibhāvo ya ṇādavvo // (Sanskrit: upayogasyänädayaḥ pariṇāmās trayo mohayuktasya / mithyātvam ajñānam aviratibhāvas ceti jñātavyaḥ //).
16 Samayasara 97/3.22: edesu ya uvaogo tiviho suddho niramjano bhāvo / jam so karedi bhavam uvaogo tassa so katta // (Sanskrit: eteṣu copayogas trividhaḥ śuddho niramjano bhavaḥ / yam sa karoti bhāvam upayogas tasya sa kartā //).
19
Samayasara 98/3.23: jam kuṇadi bhāvam ādā kattā so hodi tassa bhāvassa / kammattam pariņamade tamhi sayam poggalam davvam // (Sanskrit: yam karoti bhāvam ātmā kartā sa bhavati tasya bhavasya / karmatvam parinamate tasmin svayam pudgaladravyam //).
18 Samayasāra 99/3.24: param appāṇam kuvvadi appāṇam pi ya param karamto so / anṇāṇamao jīvo kammāṇam kārago hodi // (Sanskrit: param ātmānam karoti ātmānam api ca param kurvan saḥ / ajñānamayo jivaḥ karmaṇām kārako bhavati //).
Samayasara 100/3.25: param appāṇam akuvvī appāņam pi ya param akuvvamto/ so naṇamayo jīvo kammāṇam akārago hodi // (Sanskrit: param ātmānam akurvann ātmānam api ca param akurvan / sa jñānamayo jivaḥ karmaṇām akārako bhavati //).
20 Samayasara 108/3.33: je puggaladavvāṇam pariṇāmā homti ṇāņa āvaraṇā/na karedi tāņi ādā jo jāṇādi so havadi ṇāņi // (Sanskrit: ye pudgaladravyāṇām pariņāmā bhavanti jñānāvaraṇāni / na karoti tāny ātmā yo jānāti sa bhavati jñānī //).
