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SIN AND VIRTUE
According to Christian conceptions,1 sin is a violation of the personal will of, and apostasy from, God. The flesh is the source of lusts which oppose God's commands, and in this lies its positive significance for the origin of a bias of life against God. According to St. Thomas, in the original state, no longer held as the normal, the lower powers were subordinate to reason, and reason subject to God. " Original sin" is formally a " defect of original righteousness," and materially " concupiscence." As St. Paul says (Rom. vii. 8, 14), the pneumatic law, which declares war on the lusts, meets with opposition/ from the " law in the members." These and similar notions involve a religious and moral conscious judgment which is assumed to exist in humanity alone. Hindu notions of papa (wrong) and punya (that which is pure, holy, and right) have a wider content. The latter is accordance and working with the will of Isvara (of whom the jlva is itself the embodiment), as manifested at the particular time in the general direction taken by the cosmic process, as the former is the contrary. The two terms are relative to the state of evolution and the surrounding circumstances of the jiva to which they are applied, Thus, the impulse towards individuality which is
1. See authorities cited in Schaaff Herzog Diet. necessary and just on the path of inclination or " going forth" (pravrttimarga), is wrongful as a hindrance to the attainment of unity, which is the goal of the path of return (nivrttimarga) where inclinations should cease. In short, what makes for progress on the one path is a hindrance on the other. The matter, when rightly understood, is not (except, perhaps, sometimes popularly) viewed from the juristic standpoint of an external Lawgiver, His commands, and those subject to it, but from that in which the exemplification of the moral law is regarded as the true and proper expression of the jiva's own evolution. Morality, it has been said, is the true nature of a being. For the same reason wrong is its destruction. What the jiva actually does is the result of his karma. Further, the term jiva, though commonly applicable to the human embodiment of the ātma, is not limited to it. Both papa and punya may therefore be manifested in beings of a lower rank than that of humanity in so far as what they (whether consciously or unconsciously) do is a hindrance to their true development. Thus, in the Yoga-Vasistha it is said that even a creeping plant acquired merit by association with the holy muni on whose dwelling it grew. Objectively considered, sin is concisely defined as duhkhajanakam papam. It is that which has been, is, and will be the cause of pain, mental or physical, in past, present and future births. The pain as the consequence of the action done need not be immediate. Though, however, the suffering may be experienced as a result later than the action of which it is the cause, the consequence of the action is not really something separate, but a part of the action itself—namely, the part of it which belongs to the future. The six chief sins are kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya—lust, anger, covetousness, ignorance or delusion, pride and envy.1 All wrong is at base self-seeking, in ignorance or disregard of the unity of the Self in all creatures. Virtue (punya), therefore, as the contrary of sin, is that which is the cause of happiness (sukhajanakam punyam). That happiness is produced either in this or future births, or leads to the enjoyment of heaven (Svarga). Virtue is that which leads towards the unity whose substance is Bliss (ananda). This good karma produces pleasant fruit, which, like all the results of karma, is transitory. As S'ruti says: " It is not by acts or the pindas offered by one's children or by wealth, but by renunciation that men have attained liberation. "2 It is only by escape through knowledge, that the jiva becoming one with the unchanging Absolute attains lasting rest. It is obvious that for those who obtain such release neither vice nor virtue, which are categories of phenomenal being, exist.
KARMA
Karma is action, its cause, and effect. There is no uncaused action, nor action without effect. The past, the present, and the future are linked together as one whole. The iccha, jfiana, and kriya saktis manifest in the jxvātma living on the worldly plane as desire, knowledge, and action. As the BrhadĀraņyaka
1. This in part corresponds with the Christian classification of the " seven deadly sins ": pride, coveteousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, and sloth which if deliberately persisted in, drive from the soul all state of grace. 2. Na karmana, na prajayS, dhanena Tyagena eke amrtatvarh Snasuh. (Taittiriyopanisad). Upanisad says : " Man is verily formed of desire. As is his desire, so is his thought. As is his thought, so is his action. As is his action, so his attainment. "1 These fashion the individual's karma. " He who desires goes by work to the object on which his mind is set. "3 " As he thinks, so he becometh,"3 Then, as to action, " whatsoever a man sows that shall he reap." The matter is not one of punishment and reward, but of consequence, and the consequence of action is but a part of it. If anything is caused, its result is caused, the result being part of the original action, which continues, and is transformed into the result. The jivātma experiences happiness for his good acts and misery for his evil ones.4
Karma is of three kinds—viz., sarhcita-karma— that is, the whole vast accumulated mass of the unexhausted karma of the past, whether good or bad; which has still to be worked out. This past karma is the cause of the character of the succeeding births, and, as such, is called samskara, or vasana. The second form of karma is prarabdha, or that part of the first which is ripe, and which is worked out and bears fruit in the present birth. The third is the new karma, which man is continually making by his present and future actions, and is called vartamana and agami.5 The embodied soul (jivātma), whilst in the samsara or phenomenal world, is by its nature
1. Chapter IV, iv. 5. 2. Chapter IV, iv. 6. 3. Chandogya Upanisad, HI, xiv. 1. 4. Mahābhārata, S'anti-Parva, cci- 23, ccxi, 12. 5. Devi-Bhagavata. VI. x, 9, 12, 13, 14.
ever making present karma and experiencing the past. Even the Devas themselves are subject to time and karma.1 By his karma a jiva may become an Indra.2
Karma is thus the invisible (adrsta), the product of ordained or prohibited actions capable of giving bodies. It is either good or bad, and altogether these are called the impurity of action (karma-mala). Even good action, when done with a view to its fruits, can never secure liberation. Those who think of the reward will receive benefit in the shape of that reward. Liberation is the work of S'iva-S'akti, and is gained only by brahmajnāna, the destruction of the will to separate life, and realization of unity with the Supreme. All accompanying action must be without thought of self. With the cessation of desire the tie which binds man to the samsSra is broken. According to the Tantra, the sadhana and acara (q. v.) appropriate to an individual depends upon his karma. A man's tendencies, character and temperament is moulded by his samcita karma. As regards prarabdha-karma, it is unavoidable. Nothing can be done but to work it out. Some systems prescribe the same method for men of diverse tendencies. But the Tantra recognizes the force of karma, and moulds its methods to the temperament produced by it. The needs of each vary, as also the methods which will be the best suited to each to lead them to the common goal. Thus, forms of worship which are permissible to the vira are forbidden to the pasu. The guru must determine that for which the sadhaka is qualified (adhikari).
1. So it is said ; Namastat karmabhyo vidhirapi na yebhyah prabhavati, and Ye samastajagat£rististhitisamh3rakare|}3h. Tepi kalesu llyante kalo hi balavattarah. 2. Devi Bhagavata IX, xxvii, 18-20. |
