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VIVEKACŪDĀMAŅI
461
punyāni pāpāni nirindriyasya
niścetaso nirvikyter nirāksteņi kuto mamäkhanda-sukhānubhūteh
brüte hyananvāgatamityapi śrutiḥ 11
How can there be for me merits and demerits (punyas and pāpas) who am without organs, without mind, without change and without form? How can these pertain to me who enjoy infinite bliss? The ananvāgataśruti also declares that these will not attend on me.
Punya is what arises from doing what is prescribed. Pāpa arises from doing what is prohibited. Karma is of three kinds: pertaining to the body, to the mind, and to speech. Vide the Gītā: śarīravāňmanobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ nyāyyam va viparītam vā: "Whatever karma a man begins to do, proper or otherwise by the body, the mind and speech”. The bodily punyas are: bathing in the great sacred rivers, and circumambulating gods and brāhmaṇas. The oral punyas are: mutterance of the great mantras and singing the names of God and talking about His glories. The mental punyas are thinking of God and reflecting on what is good to oneself and to others. Going to prohibited places, speaking ill of others and uttering falsehoods and thinking of forbidden things are respectively the bodily, oral and mental pāpas. It is said: śarīrajaiḥ karmadoşair yāti sthāvaratām naraḥ, vācikaiḥ pakşimygatām mānasair antyajātitām 11 : “One is born as an immobile by the bodily sins, as a bird or an animal by oral sins and is born very low by mental sins.” When reference is made to speech, it is to include the eye, the ear etc. Or, by vāk (speech), it may be taken to refer to motor organs enabling action, and manaḥ (mind) may be taken to refer to sense-organs like the eyes giving knowledge of objects. The distinction of good and bad with reference to the process of acting, seeing and hearing make for punya and pāpa respectively. All these relate either to the mind or to the body with form. Says the śruti respecting what is without indriyas or organs: na tasya kāryam karanam ca vidyate (svet.): "to it does not pertain either action or its instrument". The sruti also says: sacakşur acakşuriva sakarņo'karņa iva samanā amanā iva saprāno'prāna iva: "With eyes but as if without eyes, with ears as if without ears, with mind as if without mind, with breath as if without breath”. As a matter of fact, though really an acakşu (without sight for external objects), the jivanmukta appears to others as sacakşu as if with eyes looking at the world. But he remains with
