Dr. Samani Mangal Pragya
Bondage is an intermediate state between influx and shedding of the karma. The external karmic atoms enter into the (kārmaṇa) body and through Nirjarā (Shedding off karma) they exit from it.[1] The relation of the soul and karmic particles is called 'bondage' in the Jain karma theory.
Types of Bondage
There are four types of bondage
- Prakṛti (Nature)
- Sthiti (Duration)
- Anubhāga (Intensity of fruition) and
- Pradeṣa (Mass of karmic particles).[2]
- Prakṛti Bandha (Types of Karma): The combination of sthiti, anubhāga and pradeṣa- together is called as Prakṛti.[3] As per this definition, the combination of remaining three bondages is prakṛti bandha. The meaning of Prakṛti is 'type'. The bondage of the eight kinds of karmas like knowledge-obscuring karma etc. is called as Prakṛti bondage. Another meaning of the term 'Prakṛti' is 'nature'. The different nature of karmas like obscuring, deluding etc. are called as Prakṛti bandha.[4]
- Sthiti Bandha (Duration): The karma particles absorbed by the soul have a determined duration to stay with the soul. That is called as sthiti bandha.
- Anubhāga Bandha (Intensity): The potency of karma particles to yield a particular intensity of fruition is called as anubhāga bandha.
- Pradeṣa (Mass of Karmic Particles): The relation of atoms of karmic vargaṇā with the soul is called pradeṣabandha.
Illustration of Modaka (sweet dish)
Ancient acharyas have illustrated the concept of bandha, through the example of 'modaka' (a kind of sweet). The modaka made up of different ingredients has different potency such as curing gastric trouble, bile or cough problems. Similarly, some karmic atoms obscure the knowledge; others delude the vision whilst some others produce pleasure and pain etc. This is called as Prakṛti bandha.
Secondly, some modakas do not decay over few days whilst others do not get spoiled for even a longer duration. In the same way, karmas stay with the soul for either a long or a short period of time. This is called sthiti bandha.
Thirdly, the modakas have different intensity of sweetness. Similarly, some karmas have greater or more intense effect whilst some others may have a mild intensity or effect. This is called as Anubhāga bandha.
The fourth aspect is - some sweets are smaller whilst others are big in size. Similarly, some karmas have less numbers of karma particles and others have bigger compounds. This is called as pradeśa bandha.
Types of Prakṛti Bandha
There are eight types of karmas- Knowledge-obscurant, Intuition-obscurant, Pain and pleasure (feeling) producing, Deluding, Life span determining, Body determining, Status determining and hindrance producing karmas.[5] There is also a mention of subtypes of each of these karmas. Such as, five sub-types of knowledge-covering, nine sub-types of intuition covering, two sub-types of pain-pleasure producing, twenty eight sub-types of deluding, four sub-types of life determining, two sub-types of body determining, two sub-types of status determining and five sub-types of obstructive karmas. Ṭhāṇaṃ states, two-two sub-types of each of the eight kinds of karmas.[6]
Two Types of Antarāya Karma
The two sub-types of hindrance producing karmas as stated in Sthānāṅga (Ṭhāṇaṃ) Sūtra, clarify its broad functioning.
In general opinion, the five types of obstructive karmas are merely examples of obstruction.[7] From the description of the two subtypes of hindrance producing karmas, mentioned in Ṭhāṇaṃ, significant conceptions comes up which are as follows:[8]
Pratyutpanna-Vināśita - The function of this karma is to destroy the objects that are available at present.
Pidhatte āgami patha - The function of this karma is to obstruct the way of obtaining the objects in future.
This statement also manifests that this karma obscures the availability of supportive causes also in the upliftment or salvation. The mention of five types i.e. beneficence, gain, satisfaction, comfort and power obscuring karmas are found at several places, but the above mentioned two subtypes are referred at very few places. Actually, analysis of these two sub-types implies that these two are the main divisions and the other types of divisions aggregate within these two.
