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By
Ms. Shweta Shah In Jainism nine principles sometimes known as nine Tattvas, explain the philosophy of Karma. It explains the birth, death, and reincarnation cycle of every being. It also explains the pleasure and pain one goes through during each life cycle, and how one can get rid of all their Karmas and attain liberation. Jainism is the only religion that treats Karma as a substace or matter. Jainism believes that from the beginning of time the Soul (living being) is attached with Karma (non-living being) and our effort in life is to get rid of all Karma so that the Soul can attain it's original charecteristics of perfect knowledge, vision, power, and bliss, and will live in Moksha permanently. The nine principles are:
The first principle is Jiva or
Soul. There are two types
of Souls, Mukta or free and Samsari or worldly. Mukta or free Soul is free from all Karmas.
The Soul is liberated and it is known as Siddha or God. This Soul does not possess a body.
It has perfect, knowledge, power, vision, and bliss. It never again returns to the cycle of life, death, pleasure, and
pain. There are an infinite
number of free Souls, that live in Moksha. The second type of Soul is
Samsari or worldly. It is
covered with Karma. It has
a body, and it goes through the cycle of life and death. It has limited knowledge, vision, power, and bliss. There are in
infinte number of worldly souls and all of them are capable of becoming
free. Worldly Souls are divided according to the number of senses
(touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) they have. Souls with one to four senses do not have a mind. Five sense
organisms do. The second principle is Ajiva
or non-living substance. It
does not have conciousness. There
are five types of Ajiva, they are:
All of them together are known
as Ajiva, of which matter has body and occupies space. It also has senses touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing and
color. Karma is one kind of
matter. The third principle is
Asrava. It is the cause which leads to the in coming of good and bad
Karma, which binds to the Soul. The causes of Asrava are:
The first catogory is
Jananvaraniva, which covers the Soul's power of perfect knowledge.
The second is Darsanavaniya, which covers the Soul's power of
perfect vision. The third
is Vediya, which covers the blissful nature of the Soul. The fourth is Mohniya, it prevents the Soul to realize it's own
true nature. The fifth is Aayu, it determines the life span and covers
it's nature of eternal existance. The
sixth in Nama, it produces the body with limitations and qualities.
The seventh is Gotra, it determines family and social standing. The eighth and last is Antaraya, it destroys the natural energy
of the Soul and prevents it from attaining liberation. Jnanavaraniya,
Darsanavaraniya, Mohinya, and Antaraya are called Ghati Karmas because they cover the
real nature of the Soul. Ayu, Nama, Gotra, and Vedniya karmas are called
Aghati because they are not so dangerous. When a person attains Keval
Jnana, he is known as Arihant. He
has destroyed all of his Ghati Karmas but none of his Aghati. After
attaining Keval Jnana the Arihant lives a normal life. At the time of Nirvan or death all Aghati Karmas get destroyed
and the Arihant becomes a Siddha. All
Siddhas live in Moksha which is located at the top of Lok-akash. The fifth principle Punya or
Virtue, is the in coming of good Karma due to good activities of mind,
body, and speech. Things
such as offering food, drink, and shelter to needy people and monks. The sixth principle Papa or
Sin, is the in coming of Karma due to evil activities of mind, body, and
speech. Activities such as
himsa, lying, stealing, unchastity, attachmaent to objects, anger,
cociet, deciet, and lust. Punya and Papa are the results
of Bandha. Some Jains do
not treat these as seperate principles and according to them there are
only seven instead of nine. The seventh principle
Samvara. It is the reverse of Asrava. Samvara is the method which stops
new Karma from coming into the Soul. This can be accomplished by restraint of activities of mind,
body, speech; religious meditation, the conquest of desire, forgiveness,
tenderness, purity, truth, austerity, unattachment, and chastity. The eighth principle Nirjara,
is getting rid of the Karma already aquired. All Karma exhaust themselves by
producing their results when time
to do so. We should get rid
of them before they produce results, otherwise it is difficult to be
free from them. Scince by that time new Karma begins to come in. Nirjara is to be done in two ways, external and internal. External
Nirjara:
Internal
Nirjara:
The last and ninth principle
is Moksha, which is a place, where all the liberated Souls live after
complete elimination of all Karmas. Liberated Souls are known as
Siddhs. All Siddhas live in a pemanant bliss forever in Moksha and never
again return to the cycle of life and death. Moksha is located on the top of
Lok-akas. In Jainism, these nine
principles has significant importance for a religious person. One has to understand the relationship between Soul and Karma so
that he can put all his effort in the right direction to get rid of all
Karma. It is like a doctor
who diaognize a disease first, before he can treat a patience. In the world of religion the person is his own doctor and has to
diaognize his own disease which is Karma before he can treat it
properly. This way he can
get rid of his Karma easily. Mail
to : Ahimsa Foundation
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