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MOKSHA OR EMANCIPATION.
Be that as it may, complete deliverance from the veil and covering of karma is called moksha or emancipation from the miseries and afflictions of the world. Karma, we have seen, is the cause of bondage of the soul. But the karma which whirls us round and round through the cycle of sansår has been classified either into påpa or punya. Punya and papa are the causes of all our weals and woes with this difference only that those who commit sin go down to the lower grades of sansår, or sink into hell to suffer penalties as the natural consequences thereof whereas those who perform virtuous acts take births in the higher grades of sansár to enjoy there the pleasures of life and achieve the objects of their desire. So påpa and punya both have got to be worked out for the attainment of freedom-moksha.
Here one may argue that if nirgard or purging means complete washing out the soul of all karma-matter, påpa and punya, foreign to it, how are we then to look upon punyakarma which is enjoined on us as means to the attainment of the state of bliss and beati
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