Chapter 23 – Punya (Good Deeds)

Why are some people in more desirable situations than the others? Why are some rich while others  struggle?  Why  do  some  suffer  more  sickness  than  others? The  answer  to  such  a disparity lies in the understanding of the Punya and the Päp.   What are the Punya and the Päp? Punya and Päp are the categories of Karma. Punya karma is earned when our activities are good and comforting to others while a Päp karma is earned when our activities are bad and cause suffering to others.   When the Punya karmas mature or give result, they bring happiness and comfort, and when the Päp karmas mature or give results, they bring nothing but suffering and miseries.

Now, it is obvious that what we experience is nothing other than the result of our past actions. Knowing this reminds us that our activities should be wholesome if we want happiness and comfort in life, otherwise we should be ready to suffer unhappiness and discomfort.   When talking about activities, people mostly think of physical activities, but we should not forget that verbal expressions, and mental thoughts are also considered activities.   For this reason, not only our physical activities have to be pious or wholesome, but our speech and thoughts should also be pure.   We should remember that we also accumulate Punya and Päp (karmas) by asking someone else to do something good or bad or by encouraging someone else to do good or bad.

Lord Mahävir’s message is “Live and let live”.  Everybody desires to live and enjoy the comforts of life.     We should not come in the way of anyone else seeking the same.   If we properly understand  the  implications of  this  message,  it  will  go  a  long  way  in  molding  our  attitude towards other living beings.  But, around us we see and hear that many people hunt or fish and they eat meat, chicken, fish, eggs, etc.   Some meat-eating people argue that they do not actually kill animals or they say these creatures were created for our food.   Therefore, eating meat or other animal foods would not affect them.    They do not realize that by eating meat or other animal foods they are directly or indirectly instrumental in killing animals, birds, fish, etc., The more they eat, the more killing there will be.   They do not realize that their direct as well as indirect actions bring Päp or Punya.   Unfortunately, because most Päps do not show their results immediately, the people do not care about the consequences.

We also hear about riots in, which people plunder, hit, and kill others and set fire to shops, homes, and buildings.   By doing so, they put a lot of people through suffering.  These people while doing 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, in this life, or future lives.

Consequently, our actions should not disturb the comforts of other living beings, hurt or kill them in any way, directly or indirectly.   By providing comfort and security to others, we gain Punya.   Punya brings happiness during this life or following lives.   On the other hand, if we cause suffering or unhappiness to others, we acquire Päp.   Päp brings unhappiness in this or future lives.   Let us understand from the following story how we accumulate the Punya and the Päp.

Story of Shälibhadra

A long time ago, a poor widow had a young son.  She had to work hard to provide for herself and her son.   Once, there was a day of a great festival and neighboring families prepared a tasteful pudding of milk and rice called kheer. The neighborhood kids were enjoying the kheer, and seeing this the 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 son, I will make kheer for you.” She went to the neighbors and borrowed milk, sugar and rice and made kheer.   She served the kheer in an earthen plate, and told him to wait until it had cooled down a little. Then she left to get the water from the well.

While the boy waited for kheer to cool, a monk came to the boy’s home for alms (to get food).  The boy was very happy to have this opportunity to offer alms to the monk and invited him come in.   While he was serving the kheer, he decided to serve all the kheer to the monk with joy.   After the monk left, he ate whatever kheer was stuck to the plate and the pot.   He did not regret for his action but instead felt very happy that he could offer the food to the monk.   Since he had offered the kheer to the monk willingly, he earned a lot of Punya.   As a result of this Punya, in his next life he was born into a very wealthy family with all luxuries.  His  name  was  Shälibhadra.   Shälibhadra  later  in  life  realized  what  life  is  all  about.    He renounced the luxuries of life, and uplifted his soul by becoming  a monk of Lord Mahävir.

 

Story of a Butcher and  King Shrenik

There lived a butcher in Magadh City.   He enjoyed his job.   One day, King Shrenik requested that there would be no more killing in the city.  All slaughterhouses and the killing of animals in the city stopped at the request of king but the butcher continued killing the animals.   When he was asked why he did not follow King Shrenik’s request, he said he loved his job of killing and could not stop.   King Shrenik decided to put him in a dry well so that there would be nothing for him to kill.  To everyone’s surprise, the killing did not stop there either.  The butcher made animals from wet clay and then pretended to kill them.   Since, he enjoyed killing so much, he accumulated Päp (bad karmas) that gave rise to a situation where he has to suffer again in his next life.

From  these  two  stories,  we  learn  that  if  we  want  happiness  and  comfort,  we  should  offer comfort to others.   As the saying goes you reap what you sow.

List of Good and Bad Deeds :

The following is a list of some activities that can bring comfort to others and can ultimately provide the same for us.   They are:

• Offering food to the needy (only vegetarian food)
• Offering clothes to the needy
• Helping the sick
• Helping others to acquire knowledge
• Giving charity (be sure that the money is used for a good cause)
• Helping parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, monks, and religious teachers
• Helping animals or organizations that help animals
• Studying religious scriptures and following its precepts in our daily lives
• Worshipping Tirthankars like Lord Mahävir.

Here is a list of some of the activities that can cause discomfort to others and can ultimately cause discomfort to us.   They are:

• Being cruel or violent to others including humans, animals, birds, bugs, etc.
• Showing disrespect to parents, teachers or others
• Speaking harsh words or planning violence
• Not following the religious principles in the daily life
• Being angry or greedy
• Being arrogant
• Being deceptive.

Someone has rightly said that:

Sow a good thought and reap a good action

Sow a good action and reap a good habit

Sow a good habit and reap  a  good character

Sow a good character and  reap  a good destiny.

 

Our life is nothing but full of habits and we are free to cultivate our own good habits.