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Why are some people in more favorable situations then others?. Why are some rich, while others struggle? Why do some suffer more sickness than others? Why is science unable to explain all of these questions? The answer to such disparity lies in the understanding of punya and pap. What are punya and pap? Punya is earned when our activities are good while pap is earned when our activities are bad. When punya matures or gives its result it brings happiness and comfort and when pap matures or gives its result, it brings nothing but suffering.
Now, it is obvious that what we see in the world is nothing other than the result of our past actions. Knowing this will remind us that our activities should be wholesome if we want happiness and comfort in life, otherwise we should be ready to accept unhappiness as well as discomfort. When speaking about activities people mostly think of physical activities, but we should not forget that what we express verbally as well as what we think mentally, are also considered activities. For this reason, not only should our physical activities should be wholesome, but our speech and thoughts should also be pure. We should remember, that not only do we accumulate punya and pap from our actions , but also from asking someone else to do something for us or from encouraging someone else to do something.
Lord Mahavira's message is "Live and let live". Everybody desires to live and enjoy the comforts of life. Therefore, we should not come in the way of anyone seeking the same. If we can properly understand the implications of this message, it will go long way in molding our attitude. Around us we see and hear that many people hunt or fish; they eat meat, chicken, fish, eggs, etc. Some people argue that while eating meat we ourselves are not killing, so it should not affect us. However, they do not realize that by eating meat, even though they are not directly killing animals, birds, fish, etc., they are instrumental in killing. The more they eat the more killing there will be. Just like us, those animals also want to live. We should remember that not only do our actions bring karmas, but even our actions which are indirectly or directly the cause of other's actions also bring karmas to us.
People also use harsh words against each other and plan destruction. Unfortunately, because some karmas do not produce their results immediately, people do not care what may happen in the future, but these actions also produce karmas.
We also hear about riots in which people plunder, hit, and/or kill others and set fire to shops, homes, and other buildings. By doing so, they put a lot of people through unnecessary suffering. These people undertaking such heinous activities may think that they are getting even. However, they fail to realize that by causing suffering to others they themselves will have to suffer the consequences of their evil acts at some point, if not in this life, then in coming lives.
Consequently, our objective should not involve disturbing the comforts of other beings, hurting them in any way, and killing or being in any way instrumental in taking their lives. By providing comfort and security to others we can gain good karmas also known as Punya. Punya brings forth happiness in this or coming lives. On the other hand, if we cause suffering or unhappiness to others then, we have committed a sin and we acquire bad karmas, also known as Paap. Such Paap brings forth unhappiness in this or in future lives.
Jain scripture describes that even though punya or pap, on surface, may look as if their only effect is to cause comfort or discomfort, there is more to it.
Punya is sub-divided into two categories:
Pap is sub-divided into two categories:
Punyanubandhu punya:
A long time ago, a poor widow had a young son. She had to work hard to maintain herself and her son. Once there was a day of great festival and neighboring families prepared a tasteful pudding of milk and rice called kheer in order to celebrate. The neighborhood kids were enjoying the kheer and on seeing this poor boy went to his mother and asked her to make kheer for him too. He did not realize that his mother did not have enough money to buy the milk, rice, and sugar needed for making kheer. The mother tried to explain the situation but the boy started crying for kheer.
The mother could not tolerate his crying, so she said, "Don't cry, my boy, I will cook kheer for you." She went to the neighbors and borrowed some milk, sugar and rice and made kheer. She served him in a earthen plate and told him to wait until it cooled. She then left to get water
from the well.
While the kheer was cooling, a monk came to the boy's home to ask for alms (to get a food). The boy felt very happy and invited monk to come in. He served all his kheer to the monk and felt very happy to offer food to the monk. After the monk left, he ate whatever kheer was stuck to the plate and the pot. His thoughts did not change. He had offered the kheer to the monk willingly, thereby, he earned tremendous wholesome karma or punya. As a result of this action, in his next life, he was known as Shalibhadra born into a very wealthy family with all luxuries. During this life he realized what life is all about. He renounced the luxuries of life and uplifted his soul by becoming a monk of Lord Mahavira.
Papanubandhu Punya:
There lived a man who one day offered ladoos (sweet balls) to a monk who came to his house for alms. Later, he sat down to eat the left over ladoos and realized how sweet those ladoos were. He felt sorry for giving away such ladoos. He left to track down a monk to ask back those ladoos. Harboring such thoughts, he sought out to find the monk in order to get the ladoos back. By the time he found the monk the ladoos had already been eaten. He kept regretting offering the ladoos to the monk.
As a result of giving alms to the monk, he was reborn as a rich man in his next life, but because he had regrets about his offerings he became miser in this life. He could not use his wealth and lived unhappy. In fact, he risked his life in order to collect more money. For this reasons, he died and went to hell.
It should be realized that even though both the boy and the man should have been happier because of their offering, the second one was not. These stories remind us of a very important fact: anytime we offer something not only should we offer it happily, but we should never have regrets about offering it. Otherwise the offering turns sour. In retrospect, punya accumulated in the first example are called Punyanubandhu punya and those accumulated in the second example are called Papanubandhu punya.
Papanubandhu paap :
There lived a butcher in Magadh city. He enjoyed his job. One day, King Shrenik decided that there would be no more killing in the city. All killing in the city halted except for this butcher's killing. As to when he was asked why he did not observe King Shrenik's command, he said he loved killing and could not stop. King Shrenik decided to put him in an almost dry well so that there would be nothing to kill. To everyone's surprise, the killing did not stop there either. The butcher made animals with wet clay and then pretended to kill them. Since he was enjoying killing so much, he accumulated pap (bad karmas) which gave rise to a situation where he could do nothing other than continue killing.
Punyanubandhu paap :
There was a robber named Rohini during Lord Mahavira's time. At his father's death, Rohini promised that he would not go and to listen to Lord Mahavira at any time. He kept on robbing and he avoided Lord Mahavira to keep his promise. He would help the poor from what he collected from robbery. But one day, things were not favorable for him and when he was on his way to commit a robbery, he learned that Lord Mahavira was giving a sermon on his path. He thought about changing his route. But he realized that it would take longer putting him at risk of being caught. He was puzzled because if he went on the first path he would be unable to keep the promise he gave to his father and if he went on the second path he might get caught. After some thought, he decided to go on the path where Lord Mahavir was preaching, but he also decided that he would cover his ears with his hands so that he would be unable to hear. While he was passing the area where Lord Mahavir was giving a sermon a thorn pocked into his leg. He decided that he would rather bear the pain than let go with his hands. As he walked further the pain became unbearable and he decided to pull the thorn quickly out of his leg. He thought to himself, "How much can I hear in a few seconds any way?" While pulling the thorn he heard the following words: "Angels do not walk on the ground, do not cast a shadow, and do not blink. Flowers they wear do not whither." He figured that these words would not affect his profession.
Rohini continued on his pursuit of the robbery. Somehow, he got caught but would not admit to committing any crime. Abhaykumar, the chief minister of King Shrenik, decided to trick Rohini by getting him drunk and creating an environment of being born in heaven. He put Rohini in a bed in a highly decorated palace with lots of young girls acting as angels. When he awoke, they asked him, "Beloved, what kind of good karmas did you accumulate that entitled you to became our master?" For a moment, Rohini was confused. He did not know what was going on or whether he really was an angel. Contemplating deeply, he suddenly noticed that all the angels had a shadow, they all walked on the ground, their eyes blinked, and their flowers were withering. He realized what was truly going on and recognized that it was a trap. So he went along with them. He said, "He was a very nice and righteous person and had helped many people." Since Abhaykumar did not get the confession he was looking for, he let Rohini go free. Rohini was amazed at what a few words of Lord Mahavira had done for him. After some thinking, he decided to go and listen to the words of Lord Mahavira. After listening Lord Mahavira's sermon, he renounced his life and began on the path to spiritual uplift.
From these last two examples, we would not expect either the butcher or Rohini to become spiritually elevated. For the butcher the expected outcome prevailed because all that was on his mind was killing. Rohini, on the other hand, defied the expected outcome because he had more on his mind than just robbing. Rohini did not have a callous heart for he helped the poor and so, while he was accumulating pap from robbing he also left a window open through which punya could enter. Ultimately, the effect of the punya led Rohini in the right direction. There is a lesson to be learned here: if we have to indulge in bad activities, for whatever reasons, then we should not enjoy them. In fact, we should regret committing such acts and try to do anything good if possible. We must remember that pap will lead us to more pap, leaving us no chance to improve and therefore, we should try, with our fullest efforts, to avoid accumulation of papanubandhu pap. In the other scenario we have at least some chances for improvement and therefore, if it is necessary to accumulate pap, we should try to accumulate punyanubandhu pap.
We should now understand that if we want to have happiness and comforts, then we should be careful what we do and how we do it. The following is a list of some activities which can bring comfort to others and can ultimately provide the same for us. They are:
Here is a list of some of the activities which cause discomfort to others and can ultimately cause discomfort to us. They are:
