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Verse 18
भवन्ति प्राप्य यत्सङ्गमशुचीनि शुचीन्यपि । स कायः सन्ततापायस्तदर्थं प्रार्थना वृथा ॥
(18)
Knowing that on contact with the body even pure objects are rendered impure, and that the body is home to many afflictions and woes, to provide it with the objects of pleasure makes no sense.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
Jaina thinkers consider the soul (jīva) and the non-soul (ajīva) as two distinct substances. The former is conscious and incorporeal while the latter is unconscious and corporeal. The soul is an eternal, spiritual substance; it has neither beginning nor end. The body is perishable. Every embodied being has a soul as well as a gross body. The soul, although coextensive with the body it occupies, is different from the body or the sense organs. In our worldly existence we are identified with our body and this, perhaps, is the cause of all the confusion. This identification of the soul with the body is the outcome of our delusion. Consciousness is the essence of the soul. The body is unconscious physical matter.
Depending on the life-span that has been assigned to us by our karmas, our soul inhabits the body, our worldly identity. What we are able to see is the gross body. There are two other kinds of bodies, the luminous body, and the karmic body, which accompany the soul throughout its transmigratory journey. That which is the cause of brilliance or which is caused by brilliance is the luminous body. The body composed of karmic matter is the karmic body. These two
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