Srimadh Bagawatham - the role of karma part 1

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/04/srimadh-bagawatham-do-we-have.html

If we act according to the Vedas we accumulate punyas.

When we act against the Vedas we accumulate papams.

Punyas and papams do not cancel each other. Karma whether punyam or papam has to be spent separately. Punyams also keep us from reaching the Lord. The following slokams from Valmiki Ramayanam narrate the incident with Sage Sharabangar in the Aranya Kandam of Srimadh Ramayanam; the sage offered all the punyam he had accumulated to Lord Rama. Devendra and Lord Brahma came in person to take the sage to their worlds but he refused to go with them. He waited for Lord Rama to come and after offering all the merits earned by his penance to Lord Rama he obtained Mukthi.

The Sage says that he does not wish to go to the lesser heavens where the countdown begins as the punyas from the karmic account is slowly spent. Once the punyas are spent, the soul has to take birth again.

The only way we can follow the Vedas without accumulating punyas is by offering our accumulated punyas to the Lord. Sage Sharabangar gives his punyas to Lord Rama as indicated in the following verse.

Lord Rama’s reply is contained in the following verse.

After replying to Lord Rama and suggesting a place for the Lord to dwell in, Sage Sharabangar said the following.

Witnessed by the Lord, after donating his punyas to the Lord, Sage Sharabangar attained moksham. This is phala thyaga. The fruit obtained by performing acts prescribed by the Shastras are offered to the Lord as otherwise the acts will result in an accumulation of punyas which will keep us from attaining the Lord’s divine feet.

Can we offer our papams as oblations to the Lord? We will examine the answer in my next post.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/04/srimadh-bagawatham-role-of-karma-part-2.html