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CYCLES OF BIRTH AND
DEATH (AXIOM 3)
Axiom 3: “The karmic bondage leads the soul through the states of
exisiences (cycles).”
4.1 THE AXIOM
IN AXIOM 2 we concentrated only on the static situation of living beings through one life-span rather than the dynamic situation of various life cycles. The question arises as to whether there exists a cycle of birth and death. This axiom assumes that there is such a cycle. On death the soul is set free of physical body and is thus ready to move on under its own propulsion. From Axiom 2 it is quite clear that the amount of karmic matter will be responsible for the next placement on the life-axis. However, the following questions do arise: What is meaningfully transported from one life to the next?
ience can allow such a transportation?
4.2 THE KARMIC COMPONENTS
To answer the above questions, we assume that the karmic matter gets differentiated into eight specific types by the activities of the contaminated soul. We call these types the karmic components.
We will view the karmic components as negative forces arising from the karmic matter and perverted energy element of the soul. Recall the four basic elements of the soul: bliss, energy, knowledge and perception and its intrinsic freedom-longing catalyst. Figure 4.1 sketches the state of the soul at a fixed point in time. On the positive scale we have infinite bliss, energy, knowledge and perception. Underlying these elements is the strong freedom-longing catalyst. On the negative side corresponding to bliss, we have a component which defiles this element. This component will be called the Bliss-Defiling karmic component; we will write it as the "a-component". The acomponent has an Insight-Defiling sub-component (a,) and a Conduct-Defiling sub-component (az) which we will write as the a
| SR No. | 022772 |
| Book Title | Scientific Foundations Of Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | K V Mardia |
| Publisher | Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1990 |
| Total Pages | 146 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 16 MB |