________________
Verse 93
opposites of these are good. How can activity be good or wicked? That activity which is performed with good intentions is good. And that which is performed with evil intentions is wicked. But the distinction is not based on the activities being the causes of auspicious and inauspicious karmasl. In that case, there would be no good activities at all, as good activities also are admitted to be the cause of bondage of knowledgeobscuring karmas etc. (by the Jainas)2. That, which purifies the soul or by which the soul is purified, is merit (punya), namely that which produces happy feeling etc. That which protects or keeps the soul away from good is demerit (pāpa), namely that which produces unhappy feeling etc.
Jain, S.A. (1960), “Reality: English Translation of
Shri Pūjyapāda's Sarvārthasiddhi”, p. 168-169.
Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pañcāstikāya-Sāra
रागो जस्स पसत्थो अणुकंपासंसिदो य परिणामो । चित्ते णस्थि कलुस्सं पुण्णं जीवस्स आसवदि ॥ (१३५) Whenever Jīva has desires high and noble, thoughts based on love and sympathy and in whose mind there are no evil impulses towards the same, the Karmic matter that causes merit flows in as conditioned by the above mentioned springs of righteousness.
1. From the Jaina standpoint, intentions are all-important and not
activities in themselves. And the consequences are largely
determined by the intentions underlying any activity. 2. From the real point of view, it is no doubt true that all activities are
undesirable as every kind of activity is the cause of influx and bondage. But from the empirical point of view there is difference. Merit leads to pleasure and demerit to pain.
145
