After the effect of a particular karma matter (karma-vargaṇā) is once produced, it is discharged and purged from off the soul. This process of purging off the karmas is called nirjară. If no new karma matter should accumulate then, the gradual purging off of the karmas might make the soul free of karma matter, but as it is, while some karma matter is being purged off, other karma matter is continually pouring in, and thus the purging and binding processes continuing simultaneously force the soul to continue its mundane cycle of existence, transmigration, and rebirth. After the death of each individual his soul, together with its karmic body (kārmaṇaśarīra), goes in a few moments to the place of its new birth and there assumes a new body, expanding or contracting in accordance with the dimensions of the latter.

In the ordinary course karma takes effect and produces its proper results, and at such a stage the soul is said to be in the audayika state. By proper efforts karma may however be prevented from taking effect, though it still continues to exist, and this is said to be the aupaśamika state of the soul. When karma is not only prevented from operating but is annihilated, the soul is said to be in the kṣāyika state, and it is from this state that Mokṣa is attained. There is, however, a fourth state of ordinary good men with whom some karma is annihilated, some neutralized, and some active (kṣayopaśamika)1.

Karma, Asrava and Nirjarā.

It is on account of karma that the souls have to suffer all the experiences of this world process, including births and rebirths in diverse spheres of life as gods, men or animals, or insects. The karmas are certain sorts of infra-atomic particles of matter (karma-vargaṇā). The influx of these karma particles into the soul is called asrava in Jainism. These karmas are produced by body, mind, and speech. The asravas represent the channels or modes through which the karmas enter the soul, just like the channels through which water enters into a pond. But the Jains distinguish between the channels and the karmas which actually

1 The stages through which a developing soul passes are technically called guṇasthānas which are fourteen in number. The first three stages represent the growth of faith in Jainism, the next five stages are those in which all the passions are controlled, in the next four stages the ascetic practises yoga and destroys all his karmas, at the thirteenth stage he is divested of all karmas but he still practises yoga and at the fourteenth stage he attains liberation (see Dravyasamgrahavṛtti, 13th verse).

enter through those channels. Thus they distinguish two kinds of asravas, bhāvāsrava and karmāsrava. Bhāvāsrava means the thought activities of the soul through which or on account of which the karma particles enter the soul'. Thus Nemicandra says that bhāvāsrava is that kind of change in the soul (which is the contrary to what can destroy the karmāsrava), by which the karmas enter the soul. Karmāsrava, however, means the actual entrance of the karma matter into the soul. These bhāvāsravas are in general of five kinds, namely delusion (mithyātva), want of control (avirati), inadvertence (pramāda), the activities of body, mind and speech (yoga) and the passions (kaṣāyas). Delusion again is of five kinds, namely ekānta (a false belief unknowingly accepted and uncritically followed), viparīta. (uncertainty as to the exact nature of truth), vinaya (retention of a belief knowing it to be false, due to old habit), samsaya (doubt as to right or wrong) and ajñāna (want of any belief due to the want of application of reasoning powers), Avirati is again of five kinds, injury (himsā), falsehood (anṛta), stealing (cauryya), incontinence (abrahma), and desire to have things which one does not already possess (parigrahākānkṣā). Pramāda or inadvertence is again of five kinds, namely bad conversation (vikathā), passions (kaşāya), bad use of the five senses (indriya), sleep (nidrā), attachment (rāga)3.

Coming to dravyāsrava we find that it means that actual influx of karma which affects the soul in eight different manners in accordance with which these karmas are classed into eight different kinds, namely jñānāvaraṇīya, darśanavaraṇīya, vedaniya, mohanīya, āyu, nāma, gotra and antarāya. These actual influxes take place only as a result of the bhāvāsrava or the reprehensible thought activities, or changes (pariņāma) of the soul, The states of thought which condition the coming in of the karmas edi..... is called bhāvabandha and the actual bondage of the soul by the,.

actual impure connections of the karmas is technically called dravyabandha. It is on account of bhāvabandha that the actual ** connection between the karmas and the soul can take place. The actual connections of the karmas with the soul are like the sticking

1

Dravyasamgraha, Śl.

29.

2 Nemicandra's commentary on Dravyasamgraha, Śl. 29, edited by S. C. Ghoshal, Arrah, 1917.

3 See Nemicandra's commentary on Śl. 30.

4 Nemicandra on 31, and Vardhamānapurāṇa XVI. 44, quoted by Ghoshal.

b

of dust on the body of a person who is besmeared all over with oil. Thus Gunaratna says: "The influx of karma means the contact of the particles of karma matter, in accordance with the particular kind of karma, with the soul, just like the sticking of dust on the body of a person besmeared with oil. In all parts of the soul there being infinite number of karma atoms it becomes so completely covered with them that in some sense when looked at from that point of view the soul is sometimes regarded as a material body during its samsara stage1." From one point of view the bondage of karma is only of punya and papa (good and bad karmas). From another this bondage is of four kinds, according to the nature of karma (prakṛti), duration of bondage (sthiti), intensity (anubhāga) and extension (pradeśa). The nature of karma refers to the eight classes of karma already mentioned, namely the jñānāvaraṇīya karma which obscures the infinite knowledge of the soul of all things in detail, darśanāvaraṇīya karma which obscures the infinite general knowledge of the soul, vedanīya karma which produces the feelings of pleasure and pain in the soul, mohanīya karma, which so infatuates souls that they fail to distinguish what is right from what is wrong, āyu karma, which determines the tenure of any particular life, nāma karma which gives them personalities, gotra karma which brings about a particular kind of social surrounding for the soul and antarāya karma which tends to oppose the performance of right actions by the soul. The duration of the stay of any karma in the soul is called sthiti. Again a karma may be intense, middling or mild, and this indicates the third principle of division, anubhāga. Pradeśa refers to the different parts of the soul to which the karma particles attach themselves. The duration of stay of any karma and its varying intensity are due to the nature of the kaṣāyas or passions of the soul, whereas the different classification of karmas as jñānāvaraṇīya, etc., are due to the nature of specific contact of the soul with karma matter3.

Corresponding to the two modes of inrush of karmas (bhāvāsrava and dravyāsrava) are two kinds of control opposing this inrush, by actual thought modification of a contrary nature and by the actual stoppage of the inrush of karma particles, and these are respectively called bhavasamvara and dravyasamvara'. 3 Nemicandra, 33. ▲ Varddhamanapurāṇa, XVI. 67–68, and Dravyasamgrahavṛtti, Śl. 35.

1 See Gunaratna, p. 181.

2 Ibid.

The bhāvasamvaras are (1) the vows of non-injury, truthfulness, abstinence from stealing, sex-control, and non-acceptance of objects of desire, (2) samitis consisting of the use of trodden tracks in order to avoid injury to insects (īryā), gentle and holy talk (bhāṣā), receiving proper alms (eṣaṇā), etc., (3) guptis or restraints of body, speech and mind, (4) dharmas consisting of habits of forgiveness, humility, straightforwardness, truth, cleanliness, restraint, penance, abandonment, indifference to any kind of gain or loss, and supreme sex-control1, (5) anuprekṣā consisting of meditation about the transient character of the world, about our helplessness without the truth, about the cycles of world-existence, about our own responsibilities for our good and bad actions, about the difference between the soul and the non-soul, about the uncleanliness of our body and all that is associated with it, about the influx of karma and its stoppage and the destruction of those karmas which have already entered the soul, about soul, matter and the substance of the universe, about the difficulty of attaining true knowledge, faith, and conduct, and about the essential principles of the world2, (6) the pariṣahajaya consisting of the conquering of all kinds of physical troubles of heat, cold, etc., and of feelings of discomforts of various kinds, (7) căritra or right conduct.

Les

Next to this we come to nirjarā or the purging off of the karmas or rather their destruction. This nirjarā also is of two kinds, bhāvanirjarā and dravyanirjarā. Bhāvanirjarā means that change in the soul by virtue of which the karma particles are destroyed. Dravyanirjarā means the actual destruction of these dis karma particles either by the reaping of their effects or by penances before their time of fruition, called savipāka and avipāka nirjarās respectively. When all the karmas are destroyed mokṣa or liberation is effected.

Pudgala.

(

noi

The ajiva (non-living) is divided into pudgalāstikāya, dharmā stikāya, adharmāstikāya, ākāśāstikāya, kāla, punya, papa. The word pudgala means matter3, and it is called astikāya in the sense that it occupies space. Pudgala is made up of atoms 2 Ibid. 3 This is entirely different from the Buddhist sense. With the Buddhists pudgala means an individual or a person.

1 Tattvärthādhigamasútra.

which are without size and eternal. Matter may exist in two
states, gross (such as things we see around us), and subtle (such
as the karma matter which sullies the soul). All material things
are ultimately produced by the combination of atoms. The
smallest indivisible particle of matter is called an atom (aṇu). alema
The atoms are all eternal and they all have touch, taste, smell,
and colour. The formation of different substances is due to the
different geometrical, spherical or cubical modes of the combi-
nation of the atoms, to the diverse modes of their inner arrange-
ment and to the existence of different degrees of inter-atomic
space (ghanapratarabhedena). Some combinations take place by
simple mutual contact at two points (yugmapradeśa) whereas
in others the atoms are only held together by the points of at-
tractive force (ojaḥpradeśa) (Prajñāpanopāngasūtra, pp. 10–12).
Two atoms form a compound (skandha), when the one is viscous
and the other dry or both are of different degrees of viscosity or
dryness. It must be noted that while the Buddhists thought that
there was no actual contact between the atoms the Jains regarded
the contact as essential and as testified by experience. These
compounds combine with other compounds and thus produce
the gross things of the world. They are, however, liable to
constant change (pariņāma) by which they lose some of their
old qualities (gunas) and acquire new ones. There are four
elements, earth, water, air, and fire, and the atoms of all these
are alike in character. The perception of grossness however
is not an error which is imposed upon the perception of the
atoms by our mind (as the Buddhists think) nor is it due to the
perception of atoms scattered spatially lengthwise and breadthwise
(as the Samkhya-Yoga supposes), but it is due to the accession of
a similar property of grossness, blueness or hardness in the com-
bined atoms, so that such knowledge is generated in us as is given
in the perception of a gross, blue, or a hard thing. When a thing.
appears as blue, what happens is this, that the atoms there have
all acquired the property of blueness and on the removal of the
darśanavaraṇīya and jñānavaraṇīya veil, there arises in the soul
the perception and knowledge of that blue thing. This sameness
(samāna-rūpatā) of the accession of a quality in an aggregate of
atoms by virtue of which it appears as one object (e.g. a cow)
is technically called tiryaksāmānya. This sāmānya or generality
is thus neither an imposition of the mind nor an abstract entity