Sins, Punishments and Atonements - 2

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Life is interspersed with misery and happiness. No living being has

real

happiness, except, perhaps a few among millions, who are jnaAni’s of

high

order. Scriptural authorities assert, that amidst death and

destruction,

life persists and souls regenerate. Logic cannot refute janmAntara or

regeneration. The theory of karma is well accepted and acted upon by

masses. All acts, karma of human beings, fall under one of the 3

categories – dharma, adharma and udAsIna – all of them having their

phala

which the doer has to experience at some time. Dharma generates punya

which yields happiness; adahrma generates papa which yields misery;

udAsInakarma accounts for the course of inconsequential acts. Every man

is

born with a specific bundle of karma to be worked out in that life,

which

determine his experience and activities.

 

Adharma or its effect, pApa with which the present article is

concerned,

consists of different varieties and gradation of the same. The

classification of sins and their atonement’s are described at length

and

explained illustrations in Sri Visnu Rahasya purAna.

 

Every soul has to work out his spiritual goal in human body only.

Animal

bodies are not equipped with buddhi or viveka to distinguish between

good

and bad to act after making a decision. A wise decision is very

essential

to reach the goal of moksa, emancipation and eternal bliss. Past sins,

particularly those committed in previous human bodies, leads one to a

wrong path. Such sins could be rendered ineffective only by the grace

of

the Lord. It is therefore, the foremost duty of every man to understand

how to His grace. This is made possible by serving a worthy guru and

learning from him, His greatness and acquiring bhakti of steadfast and

constant nature. To make full use of the unique gift of viveka,

conferred

on man, he must be pure in thought, word and deed. The instinctive

moral

sense would be vague and indistinct in problematic situations and

therefore, a fairly good knowledge of vidhi and nisheda is very

necessary;

this again is made possible by the study of sAstrAs under the guidance

of

a guru. To be pure in thought, a control of the mind is essential and

that

is possible by constant practice (AbhAsya) and abstinence from sensual

pleasures (vairAgyA).

 

Sins are of different varieties and gravity. Naturally, the punishments

therefore and the expiatory religious acts to be observed for the

atonement varies greatly. These have been set out in detail in the

smRtis:

vAsiStha, pArA`sara, manu and the like. Sri Mdhva’s general

classification of sins is highly instructive an useful for the

sAdhakas.

In his BhAgavata tAtparya he describes the 8 principle categories of

sins

and explains their implications at length. He illustrates them by

example

too.

Minor sin – killing of ants and the like

Sins – killing of animals with bones in the body; theft of fruits and

the

like

Nearly a great sin – sexual connections with a parastri and the like

Great sin – intentional killing of a man of sUdra caste and the like

Very great sin – slaying a Brahmin and the like

A very grave sin – misappropriation of properties of temple or mathAs

A heinous sin – contempt or disrespect of divine beings, devatAs and

Hari

bhaktAs

The most heinous sin – contempt or disregard of Sri Hari (avaj~nA)

 

avaj~nA is explained at length, as every aspirant for moksa has to take

care to avoid the most heinous sin which leads to andhatamas.

SrimadAchArya says these thoughts and ideas amount to contempt of the

Lord:

Sri Hari has equals

I am myself Hari

BrahmA, RudrA, and other deities like mahAlakshmi are not different

from

Hari

Sri Hari is nirguna

All muktAs are HarisvarUpAh

Sri Ahri has no body, or His body is materialistic

He is subject to births and deaths

He has ignorance & misery like all other living entities

He has a superior

 

Sri Madhva also illustrates the different grades of heinous sins by an

example:

A lustful look at another’s wife (parastrI) is ksudrapApa;

sexual connection with her is upapAtaka;

cohabitation with another woman outside the four castes is pAtakah

forced intercourse with a woman enjoyed by one’s father is mahApAtakaH

to look greedily at the wife of one superior to himself is

sumahApAtakah;

to cohabit with her is sumahattara-mahApAtakaH

to covet the company of a person who covets the wife of a deity

(devastri)

is a heinous sin and is worse to do so himself

When this is so, what can be said of desiring the company of Sri

Vshnu’s

consort?

 

The use of the word ‘stri’ used in this context is symbolical and

stands

for mithyAj~nAna and visayAsakti (attachment or addiction to sensual

pleasures). False knowledge about God and the world is accepted by

tAmasic

souls and therefore mithyAj~nAna and is also called yosit and it

attracts

and seizes them – they love it and it possesses them.

 

To be continued…

 

 

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