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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Sinful acts enumerated in ancient scriptures

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 19. The duties of every person having been

unambiguously stipulated in all our sacred texts, anyone who

performs them zealously, diligently, and with deep faith, will be

elevated to a higher plane whereas those who contravene them will

be led to the doors of hell. Such men are said to commit sins

when they violate the moral law and the codes of ethics. A list

of such deeds considered as ``sins'' have been noted down in the

scriptural literature. Devotees are aware of such acts spelt out

by an extremely pious character and a servant of the Lord in the

Ramayana: ``Should I be found an accomplice to the ignoble scheme

of my mother, let me incur the punishment for the following

sins,'' says he giving out several acts held as heinous.

 

Likewise, a reputed warrior in the Mahabharata swears by numerous

deeds held as ``sins'' saying that should he fail to get his vow

fulfilled, it should be reckoned that he had deliberately

committed them and should hence suffer due punishment. His son

was brutally killed by foes in the Kurukshetra war, when he was

defenceless and was deceitfully attacked by a foe. Arjuna coming

to know of this outrageous act, vowed to destroy him before the

sunset and if not he should be branded as a sinner having yielded

to the prohibited acts.

 

Arjuna's roster of such misdeeds contained the following, which

were explained by Sri K. P. Arivanandam in his lecture: The

children who do not attend on their aged parents and cause

anxiety and grief to them resulting in their death; injuring the

sentiments of noble men; those who turn ungrateful after

receiving help and what more, even proving treacherous to the

donors; those who kick a sacred cow or extinguish fire by their

feet (this should be done by using fresh flowers); those who

defile a tank or a pond used by travellers and the public; those

who extract work from labourers but deceive them by not paying

adequately or utilising their emoluments for personal gains;

those who had promised to lend money or some article to another

but refuse to part with them later thus giving false hopes and

retracting from the same; those who receive dowry and those who

swerve from the path of righteousness.

 

Arjuna, guided by the Lord, not only killed the powerful warrior

before sunset but caused the death of another foe by making the

former's severed head fall on his father's hands. This was

possible by the Lord making it appear as though dusk has set by

hiding the sun through His Discus.

 

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