By �action' Mahavira did not mean only those things
which are physically and ostensibly done, but included even secret
thoughts and tendencies entertained by you, for it is your secret thoughts
and tendencies which make up your subconscious and which are mainly
responsible for the actual actions which you ultimately take. Like modern
psychologists, Mahavira believed that our sub-conscious is not something
separate and apart from us. He, therefore, called it Bhava-karma and
emphasised that outer manifestations of human actions are only the gross
results of these Bhava-karmas which are lying in our sub-conscious-deep
below the level of our thinking mind. Dr.Karl Jung, the great Swiss
pioneer of the age of psychology, has called this the "personal
unconscious where the individual stores rejected memories and emotional
material." According to this great psychologist, this murky region stands
between us and the deeper level of sub-conscious acting as sort of
dictator in both directions. It contains, according to Dr.Jung, not only
our heritage of instincts and patterns from entire race but the ability to
act on suggestions made to it. In the words of the great Dr.Jung "man has
only to realize that he is shut up inside his mind, and cannot step beyond
it, even in insanity, and that the appearance of his world or his gods
very much depends upon his own mental condition."
Dr.Jung's observations very much sound like the theory
of Karma propounded by Mahavira two thousand and five hundred years ago,
because like Dr. Jung, Lord Mahavira also thought that self is �shut up
inside his mind and cannot step beyond it', if it does not make positive
efforts to break open the closed doors behind which it is �shut up'. What
Dr. Jung calls �deeper level of sub-conscious acting as a sort of
dictator', Mahavira calls more simply, the Bhava-karmas, i.e., the
thoughts and tendencies, entertained and encouraged by you before or
without giving them shape by outer actions. The recognition of this great
stream of sub-conscious which is an essential part of our personality, but
of which we are mostly unaware, has given Jaina thinking about the theory
of Karma, a psychological and scientific gloss which is almost modern.
Here, it would be interesting to note the great
theoretical controversy which took place between Mahavira and one of his
principal disciples Jamali, who was his son-in-law in his worldly
relationship. Since Mahavira always emphasised. Bhava, i.e., intention or
motive as the prime mover of an ostensible action, he evolved the
principle known as �Kade-Mane Kade' which is a Prakrt expression meaning
that an action which is started, but which is yet not finished, is as good
as already done. This principle does not recognize any distinction between
the action which, though started, has not yet fructified, and the action
which is completed and which has borne fruits. The basis of this principle
is the above referred theory of Bhava-karma.
Jamali, a very learned disciple of Mahavira could not
agree to this principle, and pleaded the counter principle of �Kade Kade'
meaning an action can be termed as action only when it is complete. In
other words, according to Jamali an incomplete action is no action at all.
A modern psychologist would obviously disagree with
Jamali. The venerable author of Srimadbhagavadgita seems to be in
agreement with Mahavira when he pronounces :
�Nehabhikramana' sosti pratyavayo na vidyate' meaning
�The action just started (in Karma-yoga) is never destroyed, nor is it
obstructed.' Then in the next line he says : �Sva-Ipamapyasya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat' meaning �Even a little performance of Dharma - duty
(Karma-yoga) saves one from great calamity'.
Thus Mahavira's all inclusive definition of Karma
(action) which emphasised the inner working of mind as the prime mover of
all outward human manifestations, was of great importance in those days of
ceremonial sacrifices which gave importance to only the outward rituals at
the cost of moral and mental deterioration caused by violence on mute
animals.
This theory of Karma brings in a causal law to explain
various phenomena not only in human life but also in all lives found in
the whole universe. All lives in the universe, mobile (Tras) as well as
immobile (Sthavara), form as one well-knit family governed by the same
cosmic law of causation.
Mahavira went further and propounded that since all
Jivas (living things) are the parts of the same cosmic machine called
universe, no one can isolate himself from the rest of life and violence by
mind, speech or body (Manasa, Vaca or Karmana) is violence to one's own
self, and every good or bad action done to others gathers Karmic forces
which bind yourself and pollutes the purity of your own soul.
According to the teachings of Mahavira, therefore, the
activities of mind, speech and body, lead to constant influx of karmic
matter which forms a sort of karma-sarira (a karmic body) for the soul
which moves through �Samsara' to experience the fruits of these karmas. It
is said that the Karmic matter percolates and clings to the soul as does
the heat to a red hot iron ball. Thus every soul is responsible for its
own karma. It has either to suffer and enjoy these fruits or to shed these
karmas by positive efforts, if it wants to avoid their fruits. How to do
this, is the subject matter of a different discussion. However, the Jaina
belief that this can be done, has led them to categorise and analyse the
nature of different types of karmas, the nature of the intensity with
which they bind the soul, the time when they fructify, the manner in which
they fructify and the method by which these karmas may be destroyed or
their effects modified.
