these gives rise to karma, and the more one limits one’s indulgence in them, the less karma one acquires. Karma is also engendered by giving the rein to anger, pride, deceit, or greed (Kaṣāya), or any of their sixteen divisions, or the nine Nokaṣāya. Karma is again produced by uniting one’s body, mind and speech to worldly things (Yoga); and lastly, Mithyātva, or false belief, is a fruitful source of karma.
The nine ways of arresting karma.Karma can be arrested by not using one’s own mind, body, or speech; by being careful not to cause any one karma, else to use their mind, body, or speech; and by never approving, or in any other way associating oneself with what another does by mind, body, or speech. That is to say, by never oneself doing any work, however useful or noble; never influencing any one else to do any such work; and never praising any work when done. ‘As heat can unite with iron’, say the Jaina, ‘and water with milk, so karma unites with the soul, and the soul so united with karma is called a soul in bondage.’
Differing views of karma.We have already seen that it is the inequalities of life and the desire to account for them that have given the Jaina so firm a faith in karma; to prove that the same belief is shared by others they quote a Buddhist śloka, in which a beggar says:
‘In the prime of life I am deprived of all virility, my leg is injured, and I am a beggar. All this is the result of my karma.’
The Jaina, however, say that they differ from the Hindus in two main points. The Hindus, according to them, believe,[1] that God (Parameśvara) inflicts punishment for evil karma just as a judge inflicts the penalties prescribed by the law. On the other hand, the Jaina, who do not believe in a Supreme God who takes any active part in the world’s governance, declare that karma accumulates energy and automatically works it off, without any outside intervention.
- ↑ This, however, would certainly not be true of all Hindus.
