Dr. N.L. Kachhara
All religions and cultures believe that a person reaps good fruits for his good deeds and suffers in some way for his bad deeds. How does this happen? Can we know the process responsible for it? The answer to these questions is yes. In this chapter we shall attempt to understand this process, known as the Doctrine of Karma, which is the central theme of the Jain religion.
All Indian philosophies that believe in re-birth believe that the records of actions performed in life are maintained in some form, and that these records cause effects in future lives. Such records are known as karma (or Samskara). The soul is immortal and is embodied due to karma, which is the cause of the cycle of rebirths. The births of a soul are not temporally independent but are linked together by karma records. The powers and abilities that the soul enjoys in a particular life depend on its performance in previous births. Therefore, the state of the soul in this life does not come as a surprise; it is a logical outcome of the soul's previous performances.
According to Jain philosophy, the soul is one of the six realities that constitute the universe. The other important reality is matter, both subtle and gross. A reality or substance has three properties: (1) it undergoes transformation and changes its form, called a paryaya; (2) it has the property of destruction, that is, one form is destroyed and another originates; and (3) in the process of transformation and transition, the intrinsic nature of the substance is preserved: its basic characteristic is permanent and is not lost. Such properties are easily evident in physical matter. For example, when a substance changes its form from solid to liquid to gas the chemical composition does not change. So is the case with the soul. The soul leaves one body upon "death" and enters another body according to well-defined rules. Here "death" only implies that the soul leaves the present mode; the soul in fact does not die. The soul is immortal and only changes its form when it enters a new body. In this process, the karmas, which are impressions of the actions performed by the soul, are carried forward to the next body and continuity in the mundane existence of the soul is maintained.
The aim of spirituality is to attain the pure state of jiva, soul, and to terminate its association with the body, whereas the aim of science is to study the relationship between jiva and the body. The main emphasis of Jain philosophy is on the emancipation of jiva, so it only briefly describes the relationship between jiva and body. In modern times, pudgala has received more attention from scholars and scientists, and the body as a physical entity has been studied in detail. These studies try to explain all processes and phenomena in the body on physical grounds, neglecting the existence of jiva. Because impure pudgala (skandha) is also possessed of powers and is capable of self-organization in a limited way, some success has been achieved in explaining the body's processes and functioning by physical laws. But there are many deeper aspects of the body that defy a purely physical explanation. Jain philosophy asserts that it is the combination of jiva and pudgala that works in the body; by itself, neither of them cancompletely explain the structure and functioning of the life unit.
Jiva, being non-physical, is not amenable to direct physical analysis. The connection between the jiva and the material body is also not direct but is made through the karma body. Jain philosophy describes this karma bodyin detail: its formation and functions, and its role in the formation and functioning of the material body. This knowledge can help to decode the mysteries of the material body. In this chapter, I briefly surveythe potential for and scope of interaction between the karma body and material body and attempt to understand the combination of jiva and pudgala in a scientific way.
