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ÄSRAV INCOMING OF KARMA
disregard towards the knowledgeable or to the means of knowledge, while outright opposition or total absence of appreciation amounts to condemning.
113
Knowledge and perception are closely related terms. To know about something is knowledge, while having faith and conviction therein is perception. The purpose of specifying the above mentioned factors as the causes of obscuring Karma is to learn that whoever hurts, hinders or shows disregard for the knowledgeable persons or for the means of acquiring knowledge incurs the bondage of knowledge obscuring or perception obscuring Karma. Knowingly or unknowingly we happen to indulge in such activities. For instance, a book is a source of knowledge, while turning a rosary is symbolic of faith. As such, mishandling or otherwise having disregard for the book or the rosary would lead to knowledge or perception obscuring Karma.
Sutra 12 specifies the factors that lead to Ashätävedaniya (uncomfortable situations conferring) Karma. It states that distress, lamentation, pain, wailing, violence and affliction caused to the self or to others are the causes of acquiring that Karma. By indulging in such activities, one gets distressful, miserable or other uncomfortable situations, which one has to bear with pain and unhappiness.
The contrary also is true. Sutra 13 therefore states that compassion to the living beings in general and to the people observing restraints in particular, charities, observance of restraints with the sense of attachment, forbearance and purity are the causes of acquiring Shätävedaniya (comfortable situations conferring) Karma. By virtue of such activities, one
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