Now dharma is necessary and mandatory for the proper acquirement for kaama, artha, and the qualifications of moksha (which are the fourfold qualifications called Viveka, Vairagya, Shamaadi shatka sampatti, and Mumukshutvam).
त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मन: |
काम: क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत् || (Gita 16:21)
There are three gateways to the hell of self-destruction for the soul. These are lust, anger, and greed. Therefore one should abandon these three completely. If a person is lustful, greedy, and remains angry, then this leads to the hell of self-destruction. His / Her life is destroyed in the sense that the person can never be happy, joyful, and satisfied with his / her life.
These people are always up to something in life and never feel contentment in life. It all starts with lust. Lust leads to greediness as you want more and more of something by any means. Finally, at some point, your lust turns into anger when you are not able to get that thing anymore. This destroys your peace of mind which is synonymous with hell.
Nobody wants to be known as a sinner, but all the same we keep transgressing the bounds of morality and disobey the divine law. We wish to enjoy the fruits of virtue without being morally good and without doing anything meritorious.
Arjuna says to Bhagavan Krishna: "No man wants to commit sin. Even so, Krishna, he does evil again and again. What is it that drives him so? ". The lord replies "It is desire. Yes, it is desire, Arjuna ".
We try to gain the object of our desire with no thought of right or wrong (Dharma or Adharma). Is fire put out by ghee poured into it? Likewise, when we gratify one desire, another, much worse, crops up. Unfulfilled desire causes anger, so too failure to obtain the object we hanker after.
We sin in four different ways. With our body we do evil; with our tongue we speak untruth; with our mind we think evil; and with our money we do so much that is wicked. We must learn to turn these very four means of evil into instruments of virtue. Like a rubber ball thrown against the wall such an unsatisfied desire comes back to us in the form of anger and goads us into committing sin. Krisna speaks of such anger as being next only to desire (as an evil).
Every Punya (joys) is an interval between two Paap sufferings. Rama and Pandavas in exile for 14 years before victory granted, can be related to Punya from prayers but you still do the 14 year exile before victory in war. You are always the Instrument. But you can try best, that is also God. Punya and Paap (sin) are related to Hinduism its just terms corresponding to Karma. Nature or God have devised only a system, where things can be assumed as creation, destruction, and disturbances.
यथाचारी यथाचारी तथा भवति साधुकारी साधुर्भवति, पापकारी पापो भवति पुण्यः पुण्येन कर्मणा भवति, पापः पापेन |
As it (the self) does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil. Some reasons can be attributed for the pain, Call it Papa. Similarly many good things will happen take it as a response to Punya.
Humans are still searching on this beautiful planet with an additional sense (the 6th sense, all other beings have only five or less) to contemplate the Truth (about existence, Creation, Creator, etc.) and strive to attain Mukthi (ultimate liberation from the repetitive birth-death cycle) through the pursuit of Spirituality. While progressing along the path to liberation, the experience of direct perception of Reality.
Life, the way it is, reveals that the Creation and the Creator are one and the same (advaita or non-duality). Once the truth is realised, some of the enlightened beings choose to be Gurus (Realised Masters) to guide any desiring fellow humans towards the realisation (since it's a possibility for all), by being a willing instrument of the Creator (the real Self, shining within oneself).
It'll be natural for any seeker (those treading the spiritual path towards self-realisation) to be aware that s/he is an instrument of the Creator, because they know (with the grace of Guru, of course) that the present and the multitude of the past lifetimes are a consequence of one's own actions / karma.
Karma means action. Every being is capable of performing various types of actions that are essential for their survival (procure food, eat, sleep, procreate, stay healthy, protect the near and dear, etc) and also for pleasure / entertainment. When such actions are purposeful, benefiting the individual or a collective of beings (family, society, humankind, planet earth, etc), without either the intent of or actually being harmful to anyone, the nature of the action is positive and is termed punya. Any action that's harmful to any being in creation - including oneself - is termed Papa.
All our mental intentions and bodily activity revolves around our desires. And these desires thrust us deeper and deeper into sin. The mind is never still. Apart from being until itself, it incites the body to action. We are unable either to efface our desires or to cease from all action. But instead of working for our selfish ends, we ought to be engaged in such work as would bring benefits to the world as well as to our inward life. The more we are involved in such work the less we will be drawn by desire.
To eradicate the vasana or sinning you must develop the vasana of doing good to an equal degree. In between there ought to be neither haste nor anger. With haste and anger the thread you keep unwinding will get tangled again. Isvara will come to our help if we have patience, if we have faith in him and if we are rooted in dharma.
Every living entity is individual and has his own free will to choose, like, decide, and accept etc. And One needs a perfect wisdom to do so. Because our every action either gross or subtle will be the cause for, our next form of life, happiness, distress, facilities, peace etc etc. through its reaction. Therefore Krishna or God gives perfect knowledge through His teachings so that we can use that wisdom and act accordingly.
God doesnot fabricate our life, but facilitates. It's we and our desires and actions that decides our future. If we neglect to learn the teachings of the lord then we will act (piously or impiously) which results into prolongation of our material existence. Pious karma or actions means the act perfectly performed according to the karma Kanda portion of the Vedas for individual or self sense gratification.
Impious karma or act means whimsically performed act without any reference to Vedas, for one's selfish sense gratification. Both actions whether pious or impious are the cause of our material existence or repeated cycle of birth and death. One must know the right course of action so that he can overcome material existence. After teaching entire Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, lord sri Krishna didn't force Arjuna to act according to His teachings, infact He asked Arjuna to decide by his own.
This is the ultimate result (phala) of practising Supreme Dharma i.e. to become completely happy. And this happiness is not temporary because one becomes fixed (sthitam) in it. The temporary happiness is not fixed but flickering. Hence, if one starts to practice Supreme Dharma for humans, one ultimately reaches the goal of complete happiness which the cherished desire of all conscious beings.
The thought is a very powerful thing and just a thought can trigger various chemical (rasayana) reactions within the body and can either throw one’s health out of balance or bring it to composure.
परद्रवेस्या विद्यानं| मनस:निस्ट:चिन्तनम||
विठठाबी:निवेचस्का| थ्रीविधाम मानसं स्मृतं||
Meaning, fostering ill thoughts and ill feeling towards others or towards Paradravesya (other’s possessions) is considered papa of Manas as it results in dushkarma, the fruit/consequence (Karmaphala) of which one will have to suffer with a deformity of mind or lack of content or peace of mind in future.
Vaachika means, that which is said through Vak (speech) using the indriya (mouth/tongue).
पारुष्य अमृताञ्चैवा| पैशुनछापी सर्वशा:हां||
असंवर्ध प्रलापाश्चा| वंगमासची धुर्विधाम ||
Meaning, ill words, rudeness (Paarushya), or lies (amrutanchaiva) said using speech will result in Vachika pápam. People who say such things just for fun, personal pleasure, hate, or jealousy are evil (Paishunchapi) in nature. Such papa also applies to those who talk carelessly just for the purpose of gossip (a:samvardha pralapascha), with no sense of truth or purpose, leading to a careless attitude and immoral character (again morality is not a concept of Sanatana Dharma, it is an illustrative reference), inadvertently spreading lies and confusion (Vangmaschi dhurvidham) or a false impression about themselves or others.
Even if there exist facts in what one speaks, one should always consider the place and time to speak. One can’t attend a devotional ceremony and indulge in irrelevant gossip disturbing others, corrupting the environment, and lowering one’s own prospects of evolving in consciousness. This is the reason why Shastra (sastra) says, it is Ḍharma that a human being should follow four crucial characteristic traits.
Since even the typically atheist (or agnostic) scientists believe (pun absolutely intended) that every action has a consequential re/action, it shouldn't be that hard for a reasonably intelligent individual to comprehend that the punya (non-harmful actions with a positive intent, purpose and outcome) results in non-addition or negation of one's Karma (accumulated actions of the past and present, due to which subsequent lifetimes happen), whereas Papa results in negative intentions up more to the already humongous suffering of Karma.
So, simply being aware that the individual self, defined by the ego / personality (identified through the attributes such as name, qualifications, wealth, titles, status, etc, all of which are invariably associated with survival) is a mere instrument to perform and possibly enable actions of the punya kind itself would deter a being from thoughts and actions of the Papa kind.
Irrespective of whether one is a believer or not, here's the best part of the Creator - every single piece of creation is capable of and responsible for its own actions. It seems most beings with five or less senses inherently know that and live accordingly.
A human being is actually not the body, mind, ego that he thinks himself to be. When he acts as a human, with a body, mind and intention /ego, then he does Karma and he suffers/enjoy his Karma. But when the human beings realizes that he is part of Divine, when he realizes that he is the Atman, the immortal Soul, not the body, mind, ego but a great energy (which can't destroyed but can transfer one form to another) then he becomes an instrument of God.
Then there is no paap and punya. But, as long as we live in ignorance as the mind and ego (I / ME) with the body, definitely there is Karma, definitely there will be reward and punishment. But with enlightenment, realization, we attain Mukti, we are free and can get Sat-Chit-Ananda. You can have relationship with God and he shows you vision for you to demonstrate in his Leelas your best act, that is his/your interactive combination will.
This will to some extent keep us away from sin and at the same time enable us to do more meritorious work. We must learn the habit of doing work without any selfish motives. Work done without any desire for the fruit thereof is Punya or virtuous action. It is by helping the poor and by spreading the glory of the Lord that we will earn merit.
We must serve others with our body and circumambulate the Lord and prostrate ourselves before him. In this way we earn merit. The Lord's name (Bhagavannama) is the only current coin in the other world.
"Come to me, your only refuge. I shall free you from all sins" The assurance that Sri Krishna gives to free us from sin is absolute. So let us learn to be courageous. To tie up an object you wind a string round it again and again. If it is to be untied you will have to do the unwinding in a similar manner.
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
