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## The Futility of Practices like Vrata in the Prajñapana Sutra
The Prajñapana Sutra highlights the futility of practices like Vrata and other such practices in achieving liberation. To rectify these misconceptions and enlighten the world with the truth, Bhagwan Mahavir not only preached through his words but also demonstrated the reality of the Karma theory through his own actions of Karma-Kshaya (destruction of Karma). While the Tathagata Buddha acknowledged Karma and its consequences, his theory of momentariness (Kshanikavada) makes the origin of Karma and its consequences impossible. The experience of the fruits of one's own Karma and the influence of others' Karma can only occur if the soul is neither eternally permanent nor eternally momentary. Some non-believers completely reject the concepts of rebirth and the afterlife. According to them, the fruits of good and bad Karma, auspicious and inauspicious Karma, do not occur. Then what is the meaning of spiritual practices? To answer this question realistically, Bhagwan Mahavir established the Karma theory. Without Karma, the connection between birth and rebirth, this world and the afterlife, cannot exist. Those who say that the soul is ignorant and incapable of experiencing the painful consequences of its own Karma are like helpless children. They are unaware of the unique power of Karma. If others are considered to be instrumental in experiencing the fruits of Karma, then one's own Karma becomes meaningless. This would also negate the efforts of the soul and discourage the motivation to engage in virtuous actions and abstain from non-virtuous ones. This is why Bhagwan Mahavir, in the 23rd Karma-Prakriti-Pada, does not attribute the creation, sustenance, or destruction of the universe, or the distribution of the fruits of Karma, to any deity or power. Instead, he states that the soul itself is responsible for binding Karma, experiencing its consequences, and reaping the fruits of its own actions and Karma-Kshaya. The soul has been wandering through various states of existence and births for an infinite period, bound by its own Karma. The soul carries its own good and bad Karma into the next life and experiences happiness, sorrow, and other consequences accordingly.
Some philosophers raise an objection to the Karma theory, arguing that according to the 23rd Pada, Karma is eternally attached to all beings, and there is an eternal connection between Karma and the soul. If this is true, then Karma can never be completely destroyed. However, there is no such absolute, universal rule regarding the Karma theory. This is why the second Uddeshaka of the 23rd Pada clarifies that all Karma has a specific time limit. When that time is fulfilled, the Karma is destroyed. Just as gold and clay, milk and ghee, though eternally connected in a flowing stream, can be separated through specific efforts, similarly, although the soul and Karma are eternally connected in a flowing stream, they are not eternally connected individually. The eternal connection between the soul and Karma also has an end. When the state of pre-bound Karma is fulfilled, it separates from the soul. New Karma continues to be bound. Thus, even though Karma is eternally present in a flowing stream, through practices like penance, restraint, and Vrata, the flow of Karma is eventually destroyed, and the soul becomes Siddha, Buddha, and liberated.