Jaina Psychology -Mohan Lal Mehta

Like other thinkers of India the Jaina philosophers have also contributed to the field of Indian psychology. One remarkable thing in this connection is that the Jaina thinkers have developed their psychological investigations on the foundations of the Doctrine of Karma. Since the whole of our life-structure is based upon the working of karma, it is natural to seek the analysis and explanation of all our intellectual and motor activities through the assistance of karma. The Doctrine of Karma holds that every activity whether it be physical or mental produces, besides its percepti-
ble consequence, also an imperceptible effect which is known as karma. In
other words, every action generates certain potential energies which on
passing a certain length of period change themselves into actual effects.
This fact is not confined to the present life of a being. The effect may also
appear in life after death. Moreover, it is the force of karmic particles that
destines the state after death. The circle of birth and death is, however, a
beginningless fact, and hence, it requires no explanation.The Jaina account of the Doctrine of Karma is too vast to be adequately analysed in a single treatise.
THE doctrine of karma is one of the most significant tenets of Indian speculation. It has profoundly influenced the thought and life of Indian thinkers of all classes andégrades with the solitary exception of the Cārvākas. It bas penetrated Indian
religion, philosophy,’ psychology,literature, art, and the like.The Indian solution of the great riddle of the origin of suffering,
happiness, and the diversity of worldly conditions is to be found in the word ‘karma’. The people of India strongly believe that the souls have been transmigrating from beginningless time. They hold that the well-being or suffering of a being is nothing more than the result of its former karma. This solution is not altogether unsatisfactory. It stands, no doubt, as a happy one, eminently moral, and to a great extent a true one.Karma is the root of birth and death, and birth and death are called misery. Whatever actions a being has performed, good or
bad, with its karma it will depart to its next existence. As a man sows, so he reaps. No man inherits the good or evil act of another man. The doctrine we are dealing with might be called the essential element not only of all moral and philosophical theories, but also of popular belief.