Answer

In the Bhagavatī Sūtra, the importance given to kāṅkṣā-mohanīya is to show that even the subtlest form of craving or leaning toward an object can become a cause of bondage. The words utthān, karma, bal, vīrya, puruṣākāra, and parākrama indicate different levels of effort, activity, and exertion. The sutra is not saying only human-style deliberate effort. It is pointing to any kind of soul-driven activity, even very subtle.

So, in sūkṣma ekendriya jīvas, these do not occur as conscious planning, but as very fine instinctive activity, vibration, and life-functioning. That is enough for karmic bondage.

Explanation

• Kāṅkṣā means desire, craving, or longing.
• Mohanīya karma is the karma that deludes the soul and disturbs right faith and right conduct.
• The sutra highlights it because desire is a root movement of delusion.
• When there is craving, there is some form of attachment, and where there is attachment, bondage becomes possible.

For subtle one-sensed beings:

• They do not have complex thinking like humans.
• But they still possess jīva-pariṇāma — the soul’s subtle activity.
• They also have bodily vibration and life-functioning.
• This subtle activity is enough to bind karma.

So the terms like:

• utthān = stirring up or arising for action
• karma = activity
• bal = force
• vīrya = energy
• puruṣākāra = effort
• parākrama = strong exertion

are used to show that bondage does not require only gross, visible effort. Even the smallest living being has a minute form of activity through which karma can bind.

Spiritual Understanding

This teaching reveals a deep Jain principle:

• As long as there is embodied existence, there is activity.
• As long as there is activity mixed with delusion, karma can bind.

The sutra therefore teaches us that the real root problem is not only outer action, but the inner movement of craving and delusion. That is why Jain Dharma places so much emphasis on reducing desires, attachments, and mohanīya states of the soul.

Takeaway

The importance of kāṅkṣā-mohanīya is that craving itself is a powerful form of delusion. In subtle one-sensed beings, its bondage happens through extremely fine instinctive activity, not through conscious human effort. This shows how universal and subtle the law of karma is in Jain philosophy.