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Tattva, Reality
process of mohaniya-karman.94 Once matured, the karman will simply be shed and disappear.95 It must be understood that karman may mature and fall away in accordance with its own natural cycle, but equally it may disengage itself long before the conclusion of its cycle. Here the importance of asceticism enters in: through the renunciation involved in asceticism - partial renunciation of activity, complete renunciation of the passions - the aim is, precisely, to hasten the process of elimination of every sort of karman.96
To complete this account of the various notions attached to bandha we must add two more: that of the six lesyās and that of the fourteen guṇasthānas.
309
a) Lesyas: Colorations of the jiva
Leśya is used to denote a coloration of the jiva which varies in accordance with the nature of the karman that affects it. Hence again we must make a distinction between bhäva-lesya which corresponds to the psychological modifications produced by the asrava in the jiva and dravya-lesya which is the coloration of the jiva by karmic matter. These lesyās are of six types, each designated by its own colour. Thus there are black, blue, grey, red, yellow and white leśyas. The three first correspond with bad karmas produced by passions whose intensity diminishes with the vividness of the hue: a black lesya is the sign of a passionate state that is far more violent than that evidenced by a grey lesya. The following three lesya correspond with progressively better karmas, while the white lesya is the leśya of perfection. The lesyās are dependent upon the karmic matter in
23.
94 Cf. ibid., 22.
95 pakke phalammi padide jaha na phalam bajjhade puno vimțe
jivassa kammabhāve paḍide na punodayamuvei. SamSa 168; cf. TS VIII,
Jain Education International
96 Cf. P 367 ff. On the subject of bandha, cf. also ADh II, 38-39; PSa I, 84; II, 25-26; 57; 61; 82; 85; SamSa 70; 105; US XXXIII and KarmG I, 1-2; 9; 27; 31; 35; 52; 61; Karmaprakṛti 3-189.
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