Chapter 2 pg 27/28- notes from 6/11/08

Notes from class of 6/11/08: Chapter 2 pg 27, last paragraph continued:

Vahan dev manushya tiryanch..

Generally, all ghati aghati karm prakrutis result in short sthiti bandh due to alpa kashay (less kashay) and greater sthiti bandh due to more kashay. However, Ayu karm is an exception in that alpa kashay leads to longer ayu and more kashay leads to shorter ayu. (This however is not applicable to narak gati ayu).

Why does alpa kashay lead to more ayu for manushay gati? If we were to live only for say a year, we would never have the opportunity to pursue mokshmarg hence alpa kashay will lead to longer ayu for manushyas. What is the explanation for tiryanch? The reason why alpa kashay will lead to longer ayu for tiryanch is that tiryanch jeevs have a very strong desire to live and do not want to die.

Pg 28:

Here the author summarizes that of the 4 types of karma bandh (Pradesh, Prakruti, Sthiti and Anubhag), Pradesh and Prakruti are not that strong; it is Sthiti and Anubhag that are eventually relevant in assigning the duration and intensity of the karma and for our sansar paribhraman.

The above point is further explained with the help of this example: Just like drinking a lot of low intensity alcohol (more quantity but less intense) will lead to less intoxication than drinking little of high intensity alcohol (less quantity but more intense); similarly, even if the pradesh (quantity) is higher but anubhag is low (intensity) than we have low karmaprakruti bandh but even if we have less pradesh with higher anubhag, we would still have very high karmaprakruti bandh.

This means that in order to reduce our karma bandh we have to focus on Sthiti and Anubhag more than Pradesh and Prakruti. And what causes Sthiti and Anubhg? They are essentially caused by Kashays. Hence it is said that the one who wants to get rid of karmas, should get rid of kashays.

Homework:

Read the next paragraph Gyanhin jad-pudgal..all the way upto middle of pg 29.


Please let me know if anything needs to be corrected.
Thanks.

Shweta Shah