Asrava and Bandha: The Inflow and Grip of Karma

Asrava and bandha are two consecutive tattvas that together explain the mechanism by which the soul falls into bondage. If jiva and ajiva describe what exists, asrava and bandha describe how the living and non-living become fatefully entangled, and why the pure, luminous soul finds itself veiled and imprisoned in the cycle of transmigration.

Asrava means "influx" or "inflow," and the term is drawn from the image of water streaming into a vessel or a boat through open channels. In Jain metaphysics, asrava is the influx of subtle karmic matter toward the soul. This influx occurs through yoga, the activity of the three channels of mind, speech, and body. Whenever a being thinks, speaks, or acts, vibrations are set up in the soul that attract karmic particles from the surrounding cosmos, drawing them toward the jiva. Activity as such is the gateway of karma; where there is no activity, there is no influx.

Jain texts analyse asrava into several sources. The principal causes are the mithyatva or wrong belief, avirati or lack of restraint, pramada or spiritual carelessness, kashaya or the passions, and yoga or the activities themselves. A crucial distinction is drawn between sampara-yika asrava, the influx that binds a soul possessing passions and thus produces lasting karmic consequences, and iryapathika asrava, the momentary, passionless influx of an advanced ascetic or omniscient being, which touches the soul only for an instant and falls away without binding. This distinction shows that it is not activity alone but activity coloured by passion that produces enduring bondage.

Bandha means "bondage" and denotes the actual union of the incoming karmic matter with the soul. Influx brings the karmic particles near; bondage is the moment they adhere to the jiva and are assimilated with it, like iron filings clinging to a magnet or dust settling on a surface moistened with oil. The oil in this analogy is the passions, for it is the moisture of attachment and aversion that makes karma stick. Without the passions, karmic matter would flow past the soul without binding at all.

At the instant of bandha, four features of the karmic bond are simultaneously fixed. Prakriti bandha determines the nature or type of the karma, that is, which of the eight great categories and their subtypes it will belong to. Pradesha bandha determines the quantity, the number of karmic particles that bind. Sthiti bandha determines the duration, the length of time the karma will remain dormant before it ripens and yields its fruit. Anubhaga bandha, also called rasa bandha, determines the intensity or potency of that fruition, whether mild or severe.

The Jain analysis assigns these four features to their proper causes with great precision. The nature and quantity of karma, prakriti and pradesha, are governed by yoga, the activities of mind, speech, and body. The duration and intensity, sthiti and anubhaga, are governed by kashaya, the passions of anger, pride, deceit, and greed. Thus the passions are the decisive factor, for they determine how long karma will bind the soul and how forcefully it will act. A deed performed with violent passion binds karma of long duration and fierce intensity, while the same outward act done dispassionately binds only lightly.

Understanding asrava and bandha carries a clear practical lesson. Since bondage flows from activity infused with delusion and passion, the remedy lies in stemming the influx and dissolving the passions. This directly prepares the way for the next pair of tattvas, samvara and nirjara, which reverse the process. To grasp how karma enters and grips the soul is already to see, in outline, the road by which it may be stopped and shed.