We have dealt with Jiva and Ajiva in
the last chapter. Now we are taking the next two fundamentals, viz. Punya
that can be earned by meritorious or virtuous deeds and Paap that is
acquired by evil or vicious acts.
As long as soul is embodied, it does
indulge in some or other activity. This activity may be physical or mental
or both. It is possible that a person may refrain from physical activity
for some time. His mental apparatus however never rests. It functions even
when he rests or undergoes sleep. Every activity involves Karma and he has
to bear consequences thereof sooner or later. If one undertakes
meritorious activity, he earns Punya or Shubha(wholesome) Karmas; if he
indulges in evil activity, he acquires Paap or Ashubha(unwholesome)
Karmas. Depending upon the intensity and accumulation of wholesome Karmas,
one may be blessed with happy and comfortable situations like handsome and
strong or beautiful and graceful body, good health, attractive and loving
sp ouse, children to be proud of, wealth, amenities etc. Unwholesome
Karmas on the other hand would result in unhappy and miserable situations
like ugliness, illness, quarrelsome and wicked spouse, issuelessness or
vicious issues, poverty etc. It is therefor e generally accepted that
every one should try to undertake meritorious activities and refrain from
evil ones.
Many of the physical activities are
evidently good or bad. Organized societies therefore endeavor to encourage
beneficial or virtuous activities and to discourage the wicked or vicious
ones. There may also be legal provisions to forbid some of the manifes tly
wicked activities so as to maintain peace and order within the society.
Some of the activities however cannot be clearly labelled as good or bad.
In spiritual field the intention, with which and the disposition in which
an activity is undertaken, play s an important role in deciding whether it
would attract wholesome or unwholesome Karmas. Let us examine this aspect
with the help of illustrations. A burglar, for instance, comes across a
person whom he wants to rob. He therefore fatally stabs the person . On
the other hand, a patient with tumor in stomach is advised to undergo
surgery. He therefore goes to a surgeon who opens his belly with the
surgical knife. Unfortunately for the patient, the tumor is in too
advanced stage or there are other complicat ions. Consequently, the
patient dies at the opening of the belly. In both these cases a person
hurts the other person with a knife and that other person dies. Does it
mean that the burglar and the surgeon would attract the same type of
Karma? Obviously n ot. The burglar�s activity is evidently sinful, while
that of the surgeon can be treated as meritorious.
Let us take a finer case. Suppose,
Suresh and Raman, two young pupils of the same preceptor are going from
one place to another. On the way they come across a river that is flooded.
On the bank of the river, there is a beautiful young girl intending to go
across but scared of too much water. Realizing her anxiety, Suresh offers
his hand and leads her into water. Watching this, Raman screams, but
Suresh ignores his screams and goes ahead. Flow of the river gets swifter
causing the girl to drift. Suresh the refore holds his hand around her
waist and leads her ahead. For Raman this act of Suresh is beyond
imagination and he severely reproaches Suresh for his audacity. Suresh
again ignores his objection. Water gets deeper ahead. The girl does not
know how to s wim. Suresh therefore carries her on his back and swims
across the river. This is too much for Raman who abuses Suresh like
anything for gross violation of the vow of celibacy. Suresh does not
respond any way. He leaves the girl on the other bank and sile ntly
proceeds ahead with his colleague. On the way, Raman rebukes him again and
again for what he had done and warns him of the dire consequences at the
hands of the preceptor. Suresh maintains silence while reproaches of his
friend continue unabated. Aft er listening for one hour Suresh points out
that he had left the girl one hour back, while Raman was still holding her
in his head.
It would be evident that in this case
Suresh had no intention aside from helping a girl in crossing the river.
While holding her hand or while carrying her on his back, he had no other
motivation. Therefore he left her as soon as he reached the other bank .
In all probability he even did not look at her beauty. For him, she was
simply a person who was in need of help. He rendered it while retaining
unimpassioned attitude throughout. Raman�s attitude was totally different.
Though he did not even touch the g irl, he was thrilled by the imaginary
sensation of close contact of a beautiful girl. In the heart of his heart
he longed to have a feel of her beauty. He did not actually do so simply
because it was forbidden. In the spiritual sense he therefore committe d
sin of indulging in undesirable activity, while Suresh earned the Punya of
helping a person in need. Thus Paap and Punya are to be conceived in
relative terms and more often than naught they depend upon one�s mental
attitude in a given situation.
Concepts of Punya and Paap are more or
less identical with most of the religions. The latter concept is however
more subtly treated by Indian philosophies, They take into consideration
not only the actual act but also the intention behind it. They are una
nimous in adoring the meritorious intentions and activities and in
condemning the sinful ones. In a major respect however Jainism differs
from others in its approach to Punya or meritorious activities. As
explained above, one may obtain material happiness and comforts as a
result of wholesome Karmas, but what after that? Material happiness does
come to an end and comfortable situations do not last for ever. One has
therefore to undergo miseries at the expiration of Punya Karmas, unless he
has earned other Punya Karmas meanwhile. This earning of new Punya Karma
while enjoying the fruits of earlier ones is known in Jain terminology as
Punyanubandhi Punya or wholesome Karmas motivating further wholesome
activities.
Very few persons fall within the
category of Punyanubandhi Punya, because most of the persons get
infatuated by the happiness and comforts. By virtue of the infatuation
they indulge in unwholesome activities. This type of Punya is known as
Papanubandhi Pu nya or wholesome Karmas leading to unwholesome activities.
Misery is thus destined for them in the end. How can one avoid this
situation? If the objective is to attain liberation, one has to avoid all
sorts of Karmas. There is no other alternative. In ult imate analysis,
Jainism therefore lays down avoidance of wholesome Karmas as well.
Paap Karmas or unwholesome Karmas are
also considered of two types. As consequence of operative Paap Karmas a
person does undergo varying degrees of miseries. If however that person
realizes that his miseries are the consequence of his previous Karmas, he
may like to stay unaffected and bear the miseries with a sense of
detachment and objectivity. He may therefore undergo the pain of the
miseries with equanimity and meanwhile try to undertake the best possible
activities. This attitude would earn to him P unyas. His operative Karmas
are therefore known as Punyanubandhi Paap or unwholesome Karmas motivating
wholesome activities.
On the other hand, most of the people
undergoing miseries blame some one else or some extraneous factors for
causing the miseries. They therefore indulge in anger, jealousy, enmity
etc. and react violently or wrongly to the pain and miseries obtained by t
hem. Thus they acquire new unwholesome Karmas or Paap. The current Paap
Karmas of such persons are therefore known as Paapanubandhi Paap or
unwholesome Karmas leading to further unwholesome Karmas.
The wholesome as well as unwholesome
Karmas cause bondage to which soul gets chained. If unwholesome Karmas are
shackles of iron, wholesome ones are those of gold. Both of them come in
the way of soul�s liberation and are to be avoided as such. This can b e
done by cultivating sense of detachment in all possible situations,
favorable as well as unfavorable. No situation lasts for ever and every
conceivable situation comes to an end sooner or later. Why then get
infatuated or feel miserable in a situation w hich is ephemeral? If a
person stays tuned to such detached attitude and maintains equanimity, he
does not attract new Karmas. His earlier Karmas would steadily drip off as
he bears their consequences. In due course he would therefore shake off
all Karmas . As such, he proceeds on the path of liberation. Unfortunately
however it is not possible for a worldly soul to stay continuously tuned
to its true nature very long. The Seers have stated that no one can
continuously concentrate on any object more than t wo Ghadies or 48
minutes. Beyond that time the attention of the aspirant gets diverted.
Thus after staying tuned to true nature, the attention reverts to other
aspects. During periods of such reversals a person may better be involved
in wholesome activiti es instead of indulging in unwholesome ones. Therein
lies the preference of Punya Karmas over Paap Karmas.
