Dr. N.L. Kachhara
Agnibhuti, the younger brother of Indrabhuti Gautam, was the next scholar to go to Mahavira. Like Indrabhuti, Mahavira also addressed Agnibhuti by name and said, "Agnibhuti! You have a doubt about the existence of karma, as it is not directly proved by any means. This doubt is not correct. I see karma directly and you can also prove it by inference. You experience the result of the fruition of karma as pleasure and pain: on that basis you can infer the existence of karma. Pain and pleasure are products that must necessarily have a cause. As the cause of sprouting is the seed, karma is the cause of pain and pleasure."
Agnibhuti said, "If a visible cause can be found for pain and pleasures, why should one assume an invisible cause for them? We know that sandalwood brings pleasure and snake poison is the cause of pain."
Mahavira replied, "The visible cause also may sometimes be insufficient, because even when visible causes are the same, individual experiences differ. Therefore, the proposition of karma is essential. The karma body exists even prior to the formation of the physical body. Further, when we perform acts like charity, etc. these actions must produce fruits later, like the fruits of sowing seed. These fruits of charity are karma."
Agnibhuti agreed, but posed another question: "As the fruits of agriculture are crops, the fruit of charity can be assumed to be peace of mind. Not granting existence to visible fruits such as this, why should one assume the existence of invisible karma?"
Mahavira replied, "Agnibhuti! Peace of mind is also a kind of action, and like other actions it must also produce fruit. This fruit is karma. The fruition of this karma again produces pain and pleasure in the future and so on."
Agnibhuti: "If the existence of any action is due to a cause, the cause of the physical body must also be physical."
Mahavira: "Yes, I believe in physical karma, as its fruits, like the body, are physical. Further:
- Karmas are physical, since their association results in the experience of pain and pleasure - as doe’s food, which is physical. Any relation of the body with a non-physical thing, like akasa, does not produce pain or pleasure.
- Karma is physical, for its association results in a burning feeling.
- Karma is physical because it attracts external physical matter, just like a pot smeared with oil attracts dust.
- Karma is physical since its transformations are different from the transformation of the soul.
“How can physical karma establish a relation with the non-physical soul? See, a physical pot is related to the non-physical akasa. In the same way, the physical karmas are related to the non-physical soul. The visible body is physical but we find that it is related to the soul. The transmigrating soul from one body to another must have a relationship with the karma body, in the absence of which the soul cannot form a new body.
“You may ask how physical karma can influence the non-physical soul. We see that non-physical intelligence is adversely influenced by physical things like wine, poison, etc. and is favorably influenced by nourishing food like milk, ghee, etc. In the same way, the non-physical soul is adversely and favorably influenced by physical karma.
“In other words, we may say that the mundane soul is really not non-physical. The relationship between karma and the soul is beginning less, and so the state of the soul determined by karma is also physical. The body and karma have a cause and effect relationship: the body is the cause and karma is its effect; similarly, karma is the cause and the body is its effect.”
Agnibhuti said, "If we assume that God is the cause of this universe, there is no need for karma."
Mahavira: "If we assume that the pure soul or God is the cause of the body and deny the existence of karma, then all such assumptions shall be inconsistent: the pure soul or God (being non-physical) does not have access to karma (the physical power). It cannot be the cause of the body as it lacks the necessary means. As a potter cannot make a pot without a wheel and a stick, God also cannot make a body without karma. Also, if God is impartial and non-physical, he cannot be the maker of the physical world."
All doubts of Agnibhuti were cleared and he, along with his 500 disciples, was initiated into the Order of Mahavira.
