SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

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TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. 199
manavar likens the nature of the saintly
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USf-iJlut
to
the babies, and lunatics and men possessed.
Karma or &&& simply means an act, and this act may give
pleasure or pain and if it gives pleasure, it is called good and
if it
produces pain, it is called evil. Every good act is right
and every evil act is wrong, or Punyam or papam, Virtue or sin.
Sivajnana Siddhiyar defines punyam and papam as a. ui//r
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^cv,* doing good to all sensient creatures and *.e$t4*/*u> Qj-ujj$&>
doing evil to all creatures in the largest and broadest sense of
the term, in the same way as any modern utilitarian philosop
her would define these terms, and we have no doubt that the
definition is quite correct from any point
of view. When we
interpose conscience in the middle as a judge of good and evil,
right and wrong,
it is seen how varying the consciences of men
are, and so we must necessarily seek a higher authority or test.
Karma therefore signifies acts or series of acts or the
on each
aggregate of human experience, acting and reacting
other ;
and Law of Karma means the invariable order or Niyati
which results, pain or pleasure
attaches itself to a doer in
accordance with the kind of acts performed by him,
in accord
ance wilh the maxim
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He who sows must reap accordingly".
One result of this law is, that the respective fruits have to
be e/jjoyed in a suitable body and this body is determined by
the Karma performed by each, (Vide Sivajnanabotha II. 2. ab)
and if his previous Karma is good, he will get a good body,
and if it is bad, he will get a bad body. And this accounts
for the myriads of physical bodies in every stage of develop
ment to the highest, from that of the amoebae to that of a
Christ or Manickavachakar, possessed of every
varying mental
and spiritual characteristics. The more good a man performs,
the Better and more developed body does he get, with the
accompanying development of mind and heart, and the result of
this privilege is, that he is enabled to get a purer and purer