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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
session and indulge in the vicious activities are to be regarded as having päpānubandhi punya. Those who are in miserable condition due to poverty, etc. and yet move on the auspicious path of religion and righteousness are to be regarded as having punyānubandhi papa. And those who are miserable and poor and still indulge in vicious activities are to be regarded as having pāpānubandhi pāpa. On noticing men becoming rich and enjoying all the comforts and pleasures of life on the strength of treachery, killing, robbery, beating, theft, cheating, unscrupulous violence, etc., some short-sighted persons say, “Look, Brother! Miseries and calamities befall the good religious persons, while the wicked rascals roll in riches and enjoy all the pleasures, what is the use of religious practice and good conduct?' But that this statement is made through ignorance is clear from the above discussion about karma. A man can enjoy pleasures while indulging in the vicious activities, but he can do so so long as there continues the process of the fruition of the past accumulated auspicious karmas. And one should bear in mind that the governance and rule of Nature is not so weak and disorderly that the newly bound inauspicious karmas (through those vicious activities) can get destroyed without yielding their bitter fruits. There is a reign of law and order in Nature. Its fine elements and powers are beyond our understanding and comprehension. Groping in the darkness of ignorance, a living being may formulate imaginary hypotheses or theories in order to escape from the real fear of bad consequences of bad acts, but it is certain that from Nature's relentless punishment no culprit can escape. The most intense inauspicious karmas demonstrate their inexorable power by yielding their bitter fruits in the very birth in which they are bound through unwholesome activities. This fact too is to be kept in mind.
1. 'Satyam atyugrapāpānām phalam atraiva labhyate. (It is true that the most intense
inauspicious karmas yield their fruits in the very birth in which they are bound).' Ac. Hemacandra puts this statement in the mouth of Abhayakumāra, an illustrious son of Śreņika, the king of Magadha. (See the story related in the explanation of the verse 30 of the second chapter of the Yogaśāstra). Like the greatly intense inauspicious karmas, the greatly intense auspicious karmas too yield their fruits in the very birth in which they are bound. Study the following verse: ja jena kayam kammar annabhave iha bhave a satteņaṁ / ta tena veiavvam nimittamittam paro hoi // This verse declares that inevitably one has to experience the fruits of the bound karmas-bound in the past births or in the present birth. Other living beings that give pleasure or pain to one are simply an instrumental condition; the real cause of one's pleasure and pain is one's own karma. From this verse, we know that the karmas can rise to give their fruits in the very birth in which they are bound.
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