Karma Vigyaan - The Science of Karmas - Part 1

Bhed-Vigyaan is the soul of Jainism. A deep understanding of this leads to Moksha, infact this is the only way to attain liberation. Jainism doesnt believe in any "doer" God; only in supremely knowledgeable, super conscious God. All Tirthankars achieved Moksha while meditating on their own soul, nothing else. In this blog, I wanted to take you a bit deeper in Jain philosophy, some very counter-intuitive thoughts and the science of karmas. 

Exactly same actions (eating, killing, walking, loving) lead to divergent karma outcomes for different people?

Let me give an example, imagine there are two persons, one ignorant and other knowlegeable (from the lens of Jaina philosophy, say one who has Samyaktva). Assume they are doing the same karmas (read same actions, from the worldly perspective) - enjoying the same pleasures of touch, delicious food,  family, married life, kids etc. This leads to shedding of karmas for the knowledgeable person and adding of bondages for the ignorant one! Isint it shocking, how can same actions lead to different outcomes? 

See this beautiful verse from the Samaysaar. Like Bhed-Vigyan (Self Identification) is the soul of Jainism, Samaysaar is the "Geeta" of Jainism in my view. 


The one line meaning of above verse is: The enjoyment of sense perceived objects (living or lifeless) by the Samyakdrishti jeev (person with right knowledge) leads to shedding of karmas and doesn't lead to new bondages.

Have you heard the story of Bharat Chakravarti? Why I always emphasize on stories is because they have a subtle meaning, beyond the obvious, which is left on the reader to decipher. Did it ever cross your mind that a king who raged war for 1000 years (and with his own brothers too), how did he achieve Moksha in that very birth? And did he do any karma bandh even during the wars? This was the only real takeaway and thought provoking part of the story. The above verse of Samaysaar answers that riddle for you.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, let me make an attempt to explain this phenomenon of 'Karma Vigyan". For me a simple definition of a person with Samyaktva is the person who is a true master of Bhed Vigyaan. Bhed-Vigyaan is the science of differentiating your true self. You are a true soul and not the "Pudgal" body. Your karmas can only be determined by the 'thoughts' of your soul and not of your body. This body that we see, will transform into something else sooner or later, a transformation that has been happening since time infinity. But the soul is pure, can never be altered and that is the real you.

When any person is enjoying some worldly pleasures (or pains), this always leads to shedding of karmas. All the worldly pain and pleasures are a result of some old karma one had bound itself by. So the moment we experience those pain and pleasures its leads to shedding of karmas. This principle holds true for both the ignorant and the knowledgeable being. However the ignorant, adds new karmas in the process of this enjoyment and that leads to further bondages; whereas the Samyakdrishti jeev, has full understanding of Bheg Vigyaan and therefore does add new karmas. The Samyakdrishti jeev, even while experiencing pleasures or pains, encounters no anger, arrogance or extreme excitement and is at always at ease within; thereby not adding any new karmas. Therefore, even though both persons shed karmas in the process of bearing fruits of pleasure or pain; the ignorant one adds lot more new karmas. 

The actions don't necessarily imply karma bandh (bondage) or nirjara (shedding); its the thought beneath and the true knowledge of the one experiencing the same that determines the outcome; this is the basic principle of Karma - Vigyaan.

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I leave it with you to ponder upon: 1) Why after raging so many wars and doing other worldly actions, on one end Bharat Chakravarti didn't do any karma bandh and attained Moksha; whereas King Shrenik (who would be our 1st Tirthankar of upcoming cycle) had to go to hell. And that too, after King Shrenik being a very prominent disciple of Lord Mahavir himself! 2) Imagine a situation where a hunter has to kill a lion on orders of the king (or for that matter two different persons doing same action on no-one's orders); will he necessarily do karma band of killing a 5 sensed being and at what stage of the process will he do the band, if atall.

Comments

  1. Very precise article Shubham ji.
    1) Jain darshan ke do siddhant hain. Anhinsa yukt karm aur bhed vigyan (jeev dravya ka dhyan karna, apni aatma ko apne sharir se alag manna). Dono hi Bharat Chakravarti aur Raja Shrenik ko apne karmon ki nirjara karni padi moksh prapt karne ke pehale. Jab tak humare karmon ka (ache aur bure) chayopsham nahin hota tab tak hum is teen lok mein bhatakte rehate hain. Karmon ki nirjara hi moksh ke taraf leke jati hai.
    2) agar koi shikari ke man mein 5 indriya jeev ke shikar karne ka bhav bhi aaya to use bhav karm ka dosh lagta hai aur uske karm bandhte hain. Samyak drishti jeev kisi ke kehane par bhi kisi jeev ki hinsa nahin karta.

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