Theory of Karman in Indian Thought

Author(s): Koshelya Walli
Publisher: Bharat Manisha

Page 63

CHAPTER 11
KARMAN IN AGAMA AND TANTRA
We now proceed to take a brief survey of the Āgamas or the Tantras to find out the true significance of Karma from this viewe point. The self or Ātmā is absolutely pure in its own nature and acts from this freedom (Swatantrya ). This action is described as its play which is eternally associated with its nature and is eternal. What is called creation, sustenance and destruction of the world is its round of three-fold act. What happens before creation and what happens after destruction is the great mystery, In one case it is His Supreme Act of self-concealment and in other that of self revelation. The human soul as such comes into existence after self-concealment and it disappears ultimately into identity with the Supreme-self or Siva after the final act of selfrevelation.
This process of action within the Supreme-self may be looked at fron a double point of view. One view-point considers the three-fold act of creation of the body, its continuance for a certain length of time, then its disappearance in death to be followed by a new act of creation, preservation and destruction. This round of his activities is in a sense an eternal round from which there is apparently no escape, Vedānta and other systems of philosophical thought referred to these three Supreme-acts in Paramātmā. It is true from the relative point of view but it leaves unanswered the question of the possibility of the first and the nature of what happens ultimately after the final act. These three represent the round of Samsāra for mundane existence, Creation is nothing but the association of the eternal soul with a body but if the soul is ultimately identical with the Supreme Ātmā, how are we to account for the possibility of its compulsory association with the body. In the same way, the dissolution