________________
9. ACALABHRĀTĀ REGARDING THE REALITY
OF PUNYA-PAPA (GOOD-EVIL)
Hearing that they had become monks, Acalabhrātā decided to approach Lord Mahāvīra with the intention of paying his respects to him. As he approached, Mahāvīra accosted him by his name and gotra as Acalabhrātā-Harita and told him that he had a doubt as to the reality of merit (punya) and sin (papa). There are Vedic statements like 'Puruşa evedam gni sarvam'* which Acalabhrātā interpreted as meaning that there is nothing in the world except the Puruşa; on the other hand most people believe in punya and păpa. Hence his doubt. But the truth was that he did not understand the true meaning of this Vedic statements (1905-7).
Moreover a number of views were set forth by different thinkers as to punya and pāpa and Acalabhrātā, not being able to decide which was acceptable, was confounded:
(i) Punya alone exists, not på pa. (ii) Pāpa alone exists, there is nothing like punya,
(iii) There is only one thing of the nature of both punya and pāpa. As the mecaka-maņi (a jewel) has a number of different colours and yet is one, similarly being one this thing yields both pleasure and pain.
(iv) Pleasure - yielding punya and pain-giving pāpa are different entities;
(v) There is nothing like karma or pāpa-punya; the manifold worldly existence just goes on by itself, by its own nature (1908).
The arguments in favour of these views, are respectively as follows:
* See Gañadharavāda, 2
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
