Talk:Reducing Bad Karm and Adding Good Karm:Pāpa/Demerit and Puṇya/Merit

By Vishal Agarwal

The words pāpa and puṇya are typically translated as ‘sin’ and ‘virtue’ but the original concepts are much broader.Each individual comprises of the ātmā that is associated with its adjuncts which are the physical body, the mind and intellect and certain life forces (called the prāṇa-s).

The ātmā itself is eternally pure and is not tainted by evil or good. The final goal of the ātmā is mokṣa, when it sheds off the body, mind, intellect, life forces and the subtle sense organs to enjoy eternal communion with the blissful Supreme Soul.

Unlike the ātmā which is always pure, the body, mind, intellect and the life forces are affected or tainted by evil and good. In turn, the ātmā’s association with the body etc. causes it to be reborn into a new body upon death of its current body. This body can be human or plant or animal, or something different. In the course of its journey from one body to another, when the soul moves closer to mokṣa or is reborn in a more fortunate circumstance, it is called upward motion (ūrdhvagati) and when the soul moves away from its final goal or mokṣa or is reborn in a less fortunate circumstance (such as by being reborn in an animal’s body, or in a poor family), it is called downward motion (adhogati).

Any action, thought, object, external influence etc., that impact the body, mind, intellect and life forces in such a way that they lead the ātmā towards adhogati are called pāpa and those which lead the soul towards ūrdhvagati are called puṇya. That state in which the adjuncts of the ātmā are completely purified and are also saturated with spiritual wisdom is called paramagati or the supreme state, because the ātmā is ready to detach from its adjuncts at this stage and attains mokṣa.

The goal of all people is to accumulate puṇya ( puṇyasanchaya) and diminish the stock of ātmā pāpa (pāpakṣaya). Often, the words dharm and adharm are also used in the same sense as puṇya and pāpa respectively. We could use the phrase ‘religious merit’ to denote puṇya and likewise substitute the word pāpa with ‘demerit’.

The concepts of puṇya–dharm and pāpa–adharm are very closely related to ‘purity’ and ‘impurity’ because puṇya–dharm purify the adjuncts of the soul, whereas pāpa–adharm taint them, or make them impure.