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Chapter 16: Guru's Exposition about the Path and Means of Liberation
186
Karmas are of infinite types, of these
there are mainly eight; deluding (Karma) is the principal of them. Let me show how to destroy it.
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Explanation & Discussion:
Every activity, whether it be physical, mental, or verbal, results in Karma. Since each activity has its own peculiarity, there can be as many types of Karma as the number of activities. Thus, there are infinite types of Karmas. The seers have laid down 148 (another version states 158) categories of Karma. All of them can, however, be classified in 8 broad divisions. Four of them are called Ghäti, in the sense that they adversely affect the capability of the soul. The remaining four are called Aghäti, because they do not adversely affect the soul. Knowledgeobscuring, vision-obscuring, deluding, and obstructing are the four defiling (Ghäti) categories. Of these, all except deluding can be overcome by putting in enough efforts. In other words, it is not too hard to overcome the impact of obscuring, and obstrucing Karmas.
The deluding category, as the name suggests, is delusive. That deludes the worldly soul, whereby it thinks and perceives wrongly. This is comparable to the situation of a drunkard. If one has too many drinks, he loses his common sense and judgement. He thinks of different persons and various objects the way they are not. He loses his discernment and may even think of his wife as being his mother or vice-versa. He thus remains under delusion on account of the impact of the drink. Similarly, under the impact of deluding Karma, the worldly soul fails to have right understanding of the Self. Under that impact it forsakes its true nature and identifies itself with the body. Thereby it tends to overlook its true nature, and considers the
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