2.5. Shedding of karma (nirjara)

As each soul’s ultimate purpose is to attain emancipation, the soul needs to shed off each of its accumulated karma, ‘as the degree of soul purity varies from zero to infinity, the density of the karmic matter will vary from infinity to zero, inversely as it were.’^[1] The purer the soul, the lesser the karmic weightage, the more tainted it is the more the karmic matter is attached with it.

‘The time to decay and the corresponding potential strength of each component is fixed by the degree of passions with which the activity takes place. Once the karmon had its impact, it is transmitted from the spirit, coming back to an undifferentiated state and in this manner to the limitless pool of free karmons.’^[2]

But that does not mean that the same karmon can never be attracted by the same soul again, it may return to the jiva according to its passions and their intensity.

Amazingly violence can be done in many ways, by mind, speech and action; to oneself and to someone else. Each bears different negative results to the individual.

‘Violence to oneself as well as other beings results in the development of the heaviest new karmic matter, however helping other people towards Moksha with constructive peacefulness results in the lightest new karmic matter.’^[3]

Though the path of Moksha is quite a far one, but to begin with if one is knowledgeable and he shares that knowledge with everyone in an unbiased way, without expecting anything in return, that attracts lighter karmic matter.

To understand Karma and its importance on the path of spiritual upliftment,

Aa similarity from current life could be driving a vehicle towards a given goal: we do well to recall here that a car is a vehicle with huge power that should be taken care of with both consideration and expertise. Hence, the manner in which you drive and the level of consideration you take is in any event as significant as the course that you take. A slip by of even less than a second can be critical.’^[4]

This analogy can well be fitted with life, where any type of carelessness leads to the degradation of a person’s journey and once he develops a feeling of awareness, he takes the command of his own life and get it back on track.

‘To comprehend the dynamic procedure of karmic splitting, it ought to be plainly comprehended that as karmons are shed, there is an expansion in the vitality of the Jiva which permits further spiritual development. It is expected that future karmic flood will be checked, and there will be a further arrival of vitality and learning components which enable the spirit to scan for its true nature.’^[5]

It is like one good step leads to another and so on. Shedding of karma (nirjara) particles helps the soul realises its true nature by feeling peaceful that eventually enhances the same’s energy.

Being the most developed species on the planet,

‘We have it in our capacity to haul down every single other species in a blow out of debased karma, or to quit troubling them, slaughtering them, driving them to annihilation from multiple points of view -from sheer butchery to the more inconspicuous allotment of entire environments. With our very own spirits absolutely subordinate upon the cornucopia of life around us (which only we are clearing out--everlastingly!--at the present rate of a few species each day) the Jain bits of knowledge into Karma, and the potential outcomes of freedom, are noteworthy opportune. Here is a lifestyle that prompts and cossets each wild, and each refined soul; a wellspring of all-inclusive salvation that strikes at the core of environmental science. Amazing, it additionally a fine art.’^[6]

It is wonderful that the real philosophy starts from within, when one has innumerable questions, one introspects into the self and find answers to most of them. Jain karma theory is like digging deeper into the self to find the purest of treasures within.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

LJ. pp. 89

[2]:

LJ. pp. 114

[3]:

LJ. pp. 118

[4]:

LJ. pp. 122

[5]:

LJ. pp. 132

[6]:

LF. pp. 75