(Manuṣya āyu karma), and also enters a state in which he understands which gurus and gods are true and which books reliable, and in obedience to them he protects all life and follows the dictates of the Jaina religion. But a man who gives way to craftiness and intrigue will be sentenced to pass some of his next life as a bird or beast (Tiryañċ āyu karma); another by indulging in any of the following sins: gambling, drinking intoxicants, eating flesh, unchastity, thieving, or hunting, is determining the time he will pass in hell (Naraka āyu karma).
vi. Nāma karma.In studying Āyu karma we have seen that a jīva may be sentenced to spend a certain time as a man, a god, an insect, or a hell-being. Each of these four states or conditions is called gati, and it is according to our past deeds that we are born in the Manuṣya gati, Deva gati, Tiryañċ gati, or Naraka gati, the karma that decides which of these four shall be our particular gati, i.e. in which prison we shall dwell, being called Nāma karma.[1] There are one hundred and three divisions of Nāma karma, many of which we have already discussed when we were studying the categories of Pāpa and Puṇya.
vii. Gotra karma.An Indian’s whole life, his occupation, the locality in which he may live, his marriage, his religious observances and even his food and fellow diners are determined by the caste into which he is born; so that it is small wonder if a Jaina attach the greatest importance to the accumulation of Gotra karma, which, as he believes, determines his caste in his next and subsequent lives. There are two main divisions of this karma: it decides whether the jīva shall be born in a high- or in a low-caste family. Pride is one of the chief factors in determining a man’s future caste: if he indulge in pride about his high caste, his- ↑ Dr. Bhandarkar quotes Govindānanda’s saying: ‘Nāmika, i.e. the belief that I am a person bearing such and such a name; Gotrika, i.e. the knowledge that I now belong to the family of the pupils of the worshipful Arhat.’ Loc. cit., p. 97. None of the Jaina that the writer has consulted accept these translations as correct.
