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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
dumb.' One who misuses one's mental powers invites madness. One who misuses one's hands gets one's arms or fingers severed. One who misuses one's legs becomes lame. An adulterous person becomes impotent. So one who wants to be happy in all respects should remain always engaged in good activities of mind, speech and body.
If donation is given with the desire of earning fame, the charm of the act of donation disappears. If someone who donates his bungalow for the public use asks the public body to put a tablet bearing his name, then as a result of his infatuation with fame it may so happen that in his next birth he will be born of rich parents having a nice bungalow but his mind will remain so burdened with the worries of business and responsibilities that he will not be able to enjoy his stay in his bungalow.
Sometimes a person, though innocent, is trapped in a grave crime or calamity, but ultimately he is saved. It is because no court or no government is capable to punish him for the crime which he has not committed in this or the past birth. The powerful law of karma (moral causation) protects him.
When someone is held guilty of the crime which he has not committed and is punished, the cause of such punishment may possibly be such a crime committed by him in this very birth or in the past birth, the crime which he might have concealed or suppressed by unfair means. But that crime has not escaped the notice of the law of karma. So the karma, though late, rises to cause him experience its fruit in this manner.
Law of karma is the law of action and reaction (counter-action). Injustice done to others by you returns to you through somebody. It is
1. manmanatvam kāhalatvam mukharogitäm/ viksyäsatyaphalam kanyātīkādy asatyam utsrjet //53//
-Ācārya Hemacandra's Yogaśāstra II This verse declares that the vice of untruthfulness causes dumbness, indistinct speech, stammering and other diseases of the mouth. Read the following verse quoted by Ācārya Hemacandra in his auto-commentary on the above quoted verse: mūkā jadāś ca vikalā vāghinā vāgjugupsitāḥ /
pūtigandhamukhāś caiva jāyante'nstabhāșinah // 2. napumsakatvam tiryaktvam daurbhāgyan ca bhave bhave/ bhaven narāṇām striņām cânyakantasaktacetasām //103//
-Acārya Hemacandra's Yogaśāstra II This verse tells us that the vice of adultery causes in the next birth impotency, misfortune and birth in the animal kingdom.
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