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It is observed and concluded that every action and tendency of a living being creates karmas, which result in happiness or sorrow, either immediately or in the future. These karmas are the cause of the living being experiencing auspicious or inauspicious fruits. However, when the soul, through its own power, becomes free from all karmas and attains liberation, it is called liberated. In this state of liberation, karmas no longer bind with the soul and do not bear their fruits.
The peculiarity of the conscious entity cannot be explained without accepting karma. The soul, according to its past karmas, creates its own nature and circumstances, which influence external material objects and lead to their transformation. This is how karma-phala (fruits of karma) are obtained. The time of ripening of karma is determined by the time of its creation, and even during the time of its manifestation, the material elements of space, time, and emotions play a role. Therefore, the soul experiences the fruits of its karma accordingly, whether they are subtle, moderate, or gross.
The question arises: how does karma become connected with the living being, making it experience happiness, sorrow, and other forms of duality, and how does it receive the fruits of karma in this way? The answer is that even though the soul is pure and luminous, it continues to accept subtle particles (pudgalas) through its karmic-narrative self. This process of acceptance involves the participation of the mind, speech, and body. As long as the living being is attached to passions (kṣayā), it continues to bind karmas that bear fruits (vipaka-udaya). According to these bound karmas, the living being experiences auspicious or inauspicious fruits. There is no other giver or helper in this process of experiencing fruits. If someone else is considered to be a helper in receiving the fruits of karma, then the karmas created by the living being become meaningless. Furthermore, if the living being is considered to receive the fruits of karma from someone else, then the principle of self-created karma becomes invalid.
1. Good karma leads to good fruits, and bad karma leads to bad fruits.
2. Due to the presence of passions, the living being accepts karmas from the subtle particles. (Sattvārthasūtra 12)