Doctrine of Liberation in Indian Religion

Author(s): Shivkumarmuni
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 89

THE DOCTRINE OF KARMA AND TRANSMIGRATION
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with karma as a relgious-moral concept. From this standpoint karma is either good (punya) or bad (pāpa). All those actions which promote spiritual welfare and advance man's approach towards liberation are good actions. Contrariwise all those actions which defile the self, increase the burden of samsāra and prolong transmigration are bad. Although in liberation all karmas good as well as bad are destroyed, eradication of bad tendency which leads to sinful deeds and cultivation of good tendencies and purification of the heart are essential prerequisites for the progress on the path of liberation.
There are two types of karmas, viz. good (śubha) and bad (aśubha). The karma leading to wrong conduct is bad and that leading to right conduct is good. The bad karma brings suffering in the world while the good karma results in happiness. In other words good actions produce punya and the bad ones create pāna, Where there is action either good or bad, the presence of karmas is there. Those who are the seekers of liberation are totally detached from both types of karmas. The good karmas lead to heaven which is also a part of the world, and the bad karmas lead to hell that is also a part of the world. ,
The author of Samayasāra also states that both kinds of karmas are to be avoided as they lead to chain of samsāra. Good karma is compared with gold-fetters and the bad karma with iron-fetters. For binding a man both the fetters are equally powerful. So the karmas whether good or bad equally bind the self.49 The distinction between the good and bad karmas is meaningless from the liberation point-of view. The author of the Paramātma-prakāśa also holds the view that liberation consists in getting release from both types of karmas, i.e. good (śubha) as well as bad (aśubha)50
The root cause of binding karma is desire. Desire is the source of human happiness as well as misery. It can be said that the bondage of karma is really the bondage of desire. The desire for possession, acquisition and enjoyment knows no end. It can be ended only by achieving its opposite, a state of complete desirelessness in which there is no trace of attachment to anything whatsoever (vītarāga). The moment the self thinks of enjoyment, its action-body (kārmanaśarīra) attracts minute and subtle particles according to the nature of enjoyment. No outside agencies are involved in this process, the self by its own force receives and retains those karmic particles. This
49. 50.
Samayasara, 146, pp. 109-109-10. Paramātma prakaśa, 11. 63, ed. by A.N. Upadhye, p. 36.