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Law Of Karma
September 25, 2010
In this article, we will study how three heterodox rebels put forward
their own theories to counter the Law of Karma, which was the basis of
decadence of Brahmanism.
Buddhist React
BG: 13: 5-6: The (five) great elements (fire, water, air, wind and
ether), Ahamkara (egoism, the sense of self), Buddhi (intellect), the
un-manifested (soul), the ten senses (five sensory organs and five
organs of action), five objects of senses (heat, sound, light, etc.),
desire and hatred, pleasure and pain, the aggregate, intelligence
and firmness -the Kshetra (Field) has been thus briefly described
with its modifications.
BG: 2:23: Weapons do not cleave the Atman, fire burns It not,
water wets It not, wind dries It not.
BG: 2:18: The bodies into which the eternal, indestructible and
immeasurable Atman resides are said to have an end.
BG: 2:14-15: The contacts of the Senses with their objects create
feelings of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure (Dwandwam). They
come and go and are impermanent. Bear with them patiently. That
man is fitted for immortality, whom Dwandwam do not torment
(when he acts), who is balanced in pain and pleasure, and is
steadfast.
Note here that he refers to sacrifices performed along the north bank of
the Ganges and atrocities perpetrated by people along its south bank.
Obviously Kashyapa was referring to Brahmanic people and non-
Brahmanic people. If Kashyapa truly believed in Amoralism, he would
not have become outraged by Brahmins immoral behavior in the
matter of Kamya Karma and animal sacrifices. Obviously, his goal was
to prove that the Law of Karma was a fraud. Poorana Kashyapas
obsession to prove that actions did not earn one Papam or Punyam
(which affected ones afterlife) blinded him to the fact that there are
serious negative consequences to ones immoral actions here on earth.
Perhaps the only person who listened with delight to this outrageous
philosophy was king Ajatashatru who came to power in 491 B. C. by
murdering his father Bimbisara in cold blood. Nothing could have been
more soothing to his ears than these reassuring words of Poorana
Kashyapa that he would not go to hell for parricide!
Regarding Akriyavadins claim that neither good deeds nor bad earn
one any Karmaphalam, Upanishadists disagreed in the Bhagavad Gita
and said that all acts earn Karmaphalam with sole exception of selfless
Yajna performed to propitiate Vedic gods (BG: 3:9), but one could
avoid earning any Karmaphalam by developing indifference to fruits
while acting:
When this was said, Sajaya Belatthaputta said to me, If you ask
me if there exists another world [after death], if I thought that
there exists another world, would I declare that to you? I dont
think so. I dont think in that way. I dont think otherwise. I dont
think not. I dont think not not. If you asked me if there isnt
another world both is and isnt neither is nor isnt if there are
beings who transmigrate if there arent both are and arent
neither are nor arent if the Tathagata exists after death
doesnt both neither exists nor doesnt exist after death, would I
declare that to you? I dont think so. I dont think in that way. I
dont think otherwise. I dont think not. I dont think not not.
(To be continued)