Re: Virtue and vice ...
namaste everyone.
The very terms puNya, pApa and jnAna are indicative of their nature:
• The term puNya is from the dhAtu--root, puN. Now this term puN has two meanings, both of which apply to puNya: 1. to act piously or virtuously; 2. collect, accumulate.
• The term pApa is from the combination pa + Apa, where pa has two meanings: 1. drinking, quaffing; 2. protecting, guarding. Drinking is absorbing, and protecting is for continued enjoyment of what is protected. When these two are combined, one gets pApa.
• The term jnAna is from the dhAtu jnA which has the meanings: knowing, learning, becoming intelligent/wise.
It is easy to see the connection between these three terms:
• By acting virtuously and piously, one gets puNya accumulated, for a better afterlife and rebirth.
• By absorbing worldly pleasures and by enjoying and protecting worldly objects, one obtains pApa.
• puNya accumulates automatically, if one acts virtuously and piously; pApa is obtained by efforts. In other words, behaving virtuously and piously is the svAbhava--nature, of man, because it is what distinguishes him from an animal. But acting otherwise requires deliberate efforts, by which one obtains pApa. The irony of both is that being grounded in svAbha is hard, while going out of it is easy. This is because of avidyA--ignorance, or lack of real knowledge about the Self.
• jnAna--knowledge, is one that connects these two actions. But knowledge, contrary to popular belief, does not accumulate, only arrived at by trial and error, by hard learning and becoming wise. By trial and error, a person arrives at the real and lasting knowledge of the Self, by progressively giving up what is falsely learnt and equated with the Self.
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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