In Jain दर्शन, the key point is this:

Karm bandha is beginningless, but it is not the natural nature of the soul. The soul’s svabhav is chetana, upayog, anant darshan, anant gyan, anant virya, and anant sukha. Karma is pudgal attached to the soul due to mithyatva, avirati, pramad, kashaya, and yoga.

So Jainism does not say:

• karma is the soul’s true nature,
• or that bondage is the real self.

It says:

• the soul and karma have been associated from anadi kaal,
• but that association is not essential to the soul,
• it is an adventitious covering.

Why “anadi” does not mean “natural”

Anadi means without beginning in time. It does not mean “eternal as the soul’s own nature.”

Example in Jain thinking:

• Soul = pure consciousness
• Karma = foreign matter bonded to soul

Their union has no first point we can trace, but that does not make karma the soul itself.

“Then all jivas will become free eventually?”

Not automatically.

In Jainism, liberation happens only when the causes of bondage are fully destroyed:

• right faith
• right knowledge
• right conduct
• complete stoppage of influx (samvar)
• shedding of karma (nirjara)

If bondage were naturally self-ending for all beings without effort, then samyak charitra, tapas, and samvar would not be necessary. But Jain agamas and acharyas clearly teach that purusharth is essential.

“So the real soul is not there now?”

The real soul is there now, but it is covered.

It is not that only a “mixed version” exists and the soul is absent. Rather:

• the soul remains soul
• karma obscures its pure qualities
• because of bondage, its powers do not manifest fully

So the correct Jain view is:

The soul is always present and pure in nature, but from anadi kaal it has been covered by karma. When karma is removed, the soul does not become something new — it simply reveals its own original pure state.

In short

• Bondage is beginningless, not natural
• Liberation is possible, but not automatic
• Soul is not absent now
• Soul is present, but obscured by karma

If you want, I can also explain this in the language of dravya, guna, paryaya, and bhava in Jain philosophy.