TALK 23 by Prabhuji (12 APRIL 2016)
Let us contemplate on ‘Good merit and Bad merit (Sin)’ or ‘Paapa and Punya’.
We do many transactions in our day to day life, helping or hurting actions to others. As per the Law of Karma, ‘whatever you do to others will come back to you’. So, if you do something good to others, good will come back to you, Punya; and if you do something bad to others like hurting, bad will come back to you, ‘Paapa’. This is in the transactional world; it can be any living beings like plants and animals. There is another type of action that you do, something which you do to uplift yourself – for Self-Realization or God-Realization. This comes under the category of ‘Sukarma’. The action of denying the higher consciousness, reality or inner self, will come under the category of ‘Dushkarma’.
So ‘Paapa and Punya’, has to be experienced in the world only. I give something to somebody, either good or bad, and the same will come back to me. This has to be experienced in the physical world and requires repeated number of births to settle the transaction. If you are thinking that this ‘Paapa and Punya’ is a transaction, then it is not so. It is a mental or a subconscious impression. Whenever we do something to others, there is deep impression in us. This is like a record in an accounts book. I have to give something to somebody and receive something from somebody. Similar to what is recorded in Accounts Books, something is to be received and something is to be given. Or you can call it as debit and credit. This type of entry is there in our subconscious impressions. This is actually what you call as ‘Paapa and Punya’. This entry is what makes us to take repeated births to settle the account.
There is a story from a popular book called ‘Past life and future lives’. The author of this book is a psychiatrist. Through hypnotherapy, he records past life. He interviewed a couple of patients who came to him for the therapy. He found that two patients had a related past. In this current life they are not related, but in the past two to three lives they were related. In one life, one of the persons was the master and the other person was a slave in a goldsmith factory. The master is the goldsmith and the slave is the worker. The master ties up the servant with a chain so that he doesn’t run away, and puts lot of pressure on the servant to complete the work in time. If the servant doesn’t complete the work in time, he beats the servant with hot iron. He tortures the servant like anything. In the next life, the roles are reversed. The servant becomes the master and master becomes the servant. Next life the servant has become a master, as farmer, and the master has become the servant of the farmer. This farmer ties up the servant and uses the servant for ploughing the field instead of a buffalo or bullock, and he beats him with whip. In the past life, the master used to torture the servant, and in this life, servant is torturing the master. This had been continued for three life times, and the psychiatrist noted the records of these people over many settings and he found the similarity persists. It took three to four life times for two persons to get over their karmic debt. ‘I give something to you and you give something back’, this is what is called as ‘Paapa and Punya’.
Whereas ‘Sukarma’ and ‘Dushkarma’ are what you do for your spiritual Sadhana and Seva for your spiritual upliftment. This is not a debt to somebody; it will help you to uplift yourself. Also, there are Dharmic acts that are not generally done as one person, but you do them in a group as part of dharma, which is your essential duty. These dharmic acts qualify for the heaven, and the joys of the heaven, which are temporary, and after experiencing the heaven, you have to come back. Whereas the Adharma which you do, which is not in specific for some person, but overall as your duty which is not performed according to your duties, then it becomes Adharma, in some cases which can qualify to hell.
So, ‘Paapa and Punya’ are the earthly transactions that have to be settled on the earth and ‘Dharma’ and ‘Adharma’ have to be completed in heaven and hell. Whereas, ‘Sukarma’ and ‘Dushkarma’ will be continued on the earthly plane as your Sadhana- if you do Sukarma, you will take birth in a place where you can continue your Sadhana and get uplifted; if you have done Dushkarma, you can fall back in your Sadhana or possibly take animal-like forms.
Service can be desire oriented or unselfish. When you do service to others with a desire, it leaves impressions in you, even though it is a good karma. So, Punya is accumulated. If it is done as Nishkama then it becomes Sukarma and helps in your Sadhana.
If something good comes to you without any expectations, then it is due to good karma, and if something bad comes to you without any expectations, then it is due to bad karma. Same thing with other person also, if he has expectations of help then it creates further karma, if not it is due to past Punya.
Transcription by Atmajyothi Satyavathi
Light of The Self Foundation 