The world is full of joy
and sorrow. Some people are happy and some are unhappy all throughout
their life. Some people are happy or unhappy for some time. A child is
born without eyes and ears, A man saves his life miraculously in a plane
crash. A saint is murdered. A murderer enjoys all his life without being
detected. When we ponder over all such and so many other incidents
happening around us, we are puzzled. We ask ourselves, "Is there justice
in this world? If there is, why should such things happen in this world?
Is not God cruel and unjust? Is there any rule or law which decides all
these things?" To this Jainism answers, "Yes. There is a law which
decides and explains all these things. It is the Law of Karma (i.e. The
Law of Deeds or Actions)."
According to Jainism,
the Law of Karma leads us to believe in the theory of rebirth, which
explains all that is inexplicable about such incidents.
With this Law of Karma,
Jainism explains why there are joys and sorrows, happiness and
unhappiness, prosperity and adversity, equalities and inequalities in the
world; why one person is rich and the other is poor; why one is
intelligent and the other is dull; why two persons do not have similar
face, figure, voice, fingerprints, etc.
According to Jainism
there are eight types of Karma and whatever happens to any living being at
any time is due to the nature and intensity of the relevant Karma, either
as result of an old Karma of the previous or the present birth or is due
to a new Karma which is being produced. These eight types of Karma are
(1) Jnanavaraniya
(Regarding Knowledge)
(2) Darshanavaraniya
(Regarding Faith)
(3) Vedaniya (Regarding
Experiences)
(4) Mohaniya (Regarding
Attachment)
(5) Aayu (Regarding type
of Life and Age)
(6) Nama (Regarding
different physical and other attributes)
(7) Gotra (Regarding
Family)
(8) Antaraya (Regarding
obstacles in different activities of life).
Of all these Karmas, it
is most difficult to conquer the Karma of attachment because of anger,
ego, infatuation, greed etc. When the body dies the soul transmigrates to
another life with the remaining Karma.
Jainism believes that
the soul is an independent and the most powerful substance and therefore
the soul itself can liberate itself from the bondage of Karma. This could
be done by adopting the right path of liberation or the path of Moksha.
