From the Jain standpoint, the objection arises from treating the soul (jīva) like a material thing that must change in substance in order to be affected. Jainism does not say that karma changes the soul’s essential nature into something else. It says that karma conditions the soul’s qualities as expressed in embodied life while the soul’s fundamental nature remains intact.

In Jain philosophy:

• Jīva is conscious by nature: its essential nature is knowledge and perception.
• Karma is pudgala: subtle material particles.
• Bondage happens through association of karma with the soul, like dust covering a lamp.
• The lamp’s light is not destroyed in essence; it is obscured.
• Liberation means the soul becomes free from karmic coverings and its innate qualities shine fully.

So the key Jain answer is:

1. Karma does not alter the soul’s essence

The soul remains jñātā-draṣṭā — knower and seer — in its intrinsic nature. Karma does not create consciousness, and it does not destroy consciousness. It obscures and limits expression.

2. Bondage is real because contact is real

Jainism accepts a real relation between jīva and karma. This relation is not mere appearance. It is an actual bondage caused by:

• passions,
• activity of mind, speech, and body,
• and the inflow and attachment of karmic matter.

3. Manifested state is conditioned, not the essence

The “manifested state” is the operative condition of the soul under karma:

• limited knowledge,
• limited power,
• embodied experience,
• suffering and pleasure,
• different births.

This is not the soul’s pure nature, but its state under bondage.

4. Liberation is removal of obscuration, not destruction of self

When karma is fully shed, the soul does not become blank or dissolved. It becomes fully manifest in its own nature:

• infinite knowledge,
• infinite perception,
• infinite bliss,
• infinite energy.

So Jainism says both:

• the soul is permanent in substance,
• and its states are variable.

This is not a contradiction in Jain thought. It is the distinction between:

• dravya = substance, and
• paryāya = modes/state.

5. Why bondage and liberation are possible

Bondage and liberation are possible precisely because the soul is:

• permanent as a substance,
• but capable of having changing modes due to association with karma.

If there were no enduring soul, Jainism says there would be no stable bearer of karma, no continuity of responsibility, and no meaningful liberation.

In one sentence

For Jainism, karma binds the soul not by changing its essence, but by covering and conditioning its manifested powers, and liberation is the complete removal of that covering so the soul’s true nature shines unobstructed.