SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

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ZOO
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
body, which, the more it becomes pure, will reflect the Light and
Glory of God; so that when man reaches his physical and mental
perfection, he reaches the spiritual perfection of complete mer
ger in the supreme Light. And of all bodies, the human body is
the one in which a man can work out his salvation, and therefore
is he enjoined to take time by the forelock and do good while
this body lasts, if not to secure salvation in this birth, atleast to
secure a better body in which he can carry on the good work.
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Among births numberless, that of man
Is rare, rare indeed ;
When this birth is lost, what will happen I know not.
Hence
O thou Supreme of Supreme,
The good desiring to attain Sivajnana, ever perform good deeds and
Tapas and make gifts.
And so this doctrine of Karma instead of leading to quietism
and indifference, inculcates a life of active beneficence desiring
the welfare of all and furnishes as good and sure a basis for
perfect ethical conduct as any other system in the World.
But even when doing good works, he is not to have any
regard for the result, he is to do it without tasting the fruits
thereof, as this tends to bind him to the world still by pro
ducing the physical body and will not effect his final release
from this body and after performing evil and. good, he attains
;
to g)@a98gw OOJ/TUL/, becoming balanced in good and evil, pain
and pleasure. This does not mean that he should so perform
actions, that all his good actions will weigh as much as his bad
actions, or doing as much punyam as papam, but it is attaining
to a condition of viewing deeds either good or bad without
either liking or disliking, a condition of being described as
In such a condition, man is not