Spirituality Studies 77 Nishit Shah that no material substrate is required: the continuity of causal processes alone suffices to preserve karmic efficacy. Jain philosophers respond that while intention explains moral quality at the moment of action, it does not by itself account for (1) the durable storage of karmic potency across death, (2) the differentiated obstruction of distinct intrinsic capacities, or (3) the progressive elimination of karmic effects through discipline conceived as causal intervention. The Jain material model thus aims to supply a structured ontological correlate to volition, rendering karmic causality not merely sequential but materially mediated. 4.2 Differentiation of Karmas and the Structure of Causality If karma were conceived merely as an undifferentiated moral residue, it would be difficult to explain how distinct actions generate precisely targeted effects on different capacities of the soul. Jain doctrine addresses this through its classification of eight principal types of karma, conventionally grouped into “destructive” (Sa. ghātiyā) and “non-destructive” (Sa. aghātiyā) categories (Dundas 2002, 99; Jaini 1979, 115). Ghātiyā karmas directly obstruct intrinsic capacities: “knowledge-obscuring” (Sa. jñānāvaraṇa) and “perception-obscuring” (Sa. darśanāvaraṇa) karmas limit cognition; “deluding” (Sa. mohanīya) karma distorts evaluative orientation; “obstructive” (Sa. antarāya) karma restricts the soul’s “energy” (Sa. vīrya). The four aghātiyā karmas – “life-span-determining” (Sa. āyu), “body-determining” (Sa. nāma), “status-determining” (Sa. gotra), and “feeling-producing” (Sa. vedanīya) – govern embodiment without obscuring essential capacities. This differentiation is philosophically significant. Knowledge-obscuring karma does not determine bodily form, and life-span-determining karma does not impair cognition. Jain philosophers interpret this structured differentiation as coherently accounted for within a materially differentiated causal framework, in which distinct karmic particles correspond to distinct effects across time. The soteriological implications are equally precise: destruction of ghātiyā karmas culminates in kevala-jñāna (Sa. “omniscience”), while final liberation requires exhaustion of all remaining karmic matter (Dundas 2002, 104). The structured differentiation of karmic types therefore reinforces the philosophical rationale for treating karma as material. A materially differentiated causal substrate provides a principled basis for the precise correspondence between distinct actions and the specific capacities they obstruct. 4.3 Āsrava and Bandha: The Mechanics of Material Association The doctrines of āsrava (Sa. “karmic influx”) and bandha (Sa. “karmic bondage”) specify the causal mechanism through which karmic matter becomes associated with the soul. Āsrava denotes the inflow of karmic matter toward the soul, while bandha refers to the binding of this incoming karmic matter. Umāsvāti (1994, 189) defines the causes of bondage: mithyā-darśana-avirati-pramāda-kaṣāya-yogā bandhahetavaḥ (Tattvārtha Sūtra 8:1) – Deluded world-view, non-abstinence, laxity, passions, and the activities of mind, body, and speech. In Tatia’s rendering, “deluded world-view” translates mithyā-darśana, and “activities of mind, body, and speech” translates yoga in the technical sense defined in Section 2.1. “Activity” (Sa. yoga) of mind, speech, and body produces vibratory modification in the soul, establishing conditions under which subtle “karmic particles” (Sa. karma-pudgala) flow toward it (Singh 1974, 122). While activity enables influx, “passion” (Sa. kaṣāya) agitates consciousness, producing the conditions under which karmic matter becomes firmly bound rather than merely transiently associated (Singh 1974, 132).
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