________________
Verse 29
kinds of karmas indiscriminately, or is there any distinction? This question is answered in the next sutra.
Jain, S.A., Reality, p. 168-169.
Ācārya Umasvami's Tattvārthasūtra शुभः पुण्यस्याशुभ: पापस्य ॥
(6-3) Virtuous activity is the cause of merit (punya) and wicked activity is the cause of demerit (pāpa).
Ācārya Pujyapada’s Sarvārthasiddhi What is good and what is evil? Killing, stealing, copulation, etc. are wicked activities of the body. Falsehood, harsh and uncivil language are wicked speech-activities. Thoughts of violence, envy, calumny, etc. are wicked thought-activities. The 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 karmas1. In that case, there would be no good activities at all, as good activities also are admitted to be the cause of bondage of knowledge-obscuring karmas etc. (by the Jaina)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
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.
97
