4. The Karma Concept and Expiatory Rites (Introduction)

It is well thought-out that the good Karma results in Puṇya and bad Karma reflects Pāpa. The Vedic Saṃhitās and the Brāhmaṇas use the word Karma only in the sense of religious acts or rites, particularly sacrifice or oblation. For instance, the word Karma is used in Ṛgveda only in the sense of sacrificial rites like Iṣṭāpūrta and Agnihotra.^[1] Later the concept of Karma is deeply related to ethical and moral activities. The Upaniṣadic concept of Karma, which is closely related to Mokṣa, is the best example for this.^[2] The Pūrvamīmāṃsakas divide Karma in to four class; they are Nitya Karma, Naimittika Karma, Kāmya Karma, and Niṣiddha Karma. According to them, Nitya Karma means daily rites or rituals (Agnihotra, Sandhyāvandana etc.), and Naimittika Karma is performed only in special occasions, whereas Kāmya Karma is performed only for the personal advantages (Putrakāmeṣṭi etc.) and Niṣiddha Karma means prohibited rites which leads to negative impacts. According to Mīmāṃsakas, the non-performance of Nitya Karma and Naimittika Karma is a sinful act, and they use the word Karma importantly in the sense of Yajña Karma.^[3] Mīmāṃsakas give great importance to the Karma concept in their philosophy. The famous Mīmāṃsaka, Śabara considered that the results of some sacrifices become visible in another life.^[4] The Apūrva theory has association with the Karma theory.^[5] Jaimini asserted significance to actions justified by the Mantras rather than discussions on the meaning of the Vedas.^[6] The Mīmāṃsakas justified caste system, fostered the social hierarchy and assigned the roles to the Śūdras equal to that of slaves.^[7] The philosophers facilitated the intensification of the thoughts of the Brāhmaṇa texts. Jaimini very much accolades Karmakāṇḍa through Pūrvamīmāṃsa. The Pūrvamīmāṃsakas state that the Vedic instructions are to be observed strictly. In the philosophers’ stance, ‘āmnāyasya kriyārthatvād’,^[8] the ardent concern towards the Karmakāṇḍa is explicitly seen. According to Mīmāṃsakas, the expiatory rites include in Naimittika rituals.^[9]

If a sinner did not undergo an expiation, the Smṛtis, Purāṇas, and medieval digest affirmed that he had to go through ominous and far-reaching penalty. Yājñavalkya announces that men obsessed to sins, and who do not think about expiation, and who do not experience the proper expiations, go down in to excruciating and atrocious hell.^[10] It is stated that sinners, after having undergone the horrors of hells, and after having passed through the bodies of lower animals, are born as human beings with certain marks.^[11]

The Karma concept is strongly associated to the caste system of the society. The religious rites advised to each person are according to his Varṇa and caste. Yājñavalkya states that, the murderer of a Brahmin gets birth in the body of a beast, a dog, a pig, or a camel. The drinker of Sura would be born as a Paulska or Vena.^[12]

It is very difficult to determine the first root of the Karma theory. The fist waves of the thought might be heard in Chāndogyopaniṣad.^[13] The Punarjanma theory propounds guarantee for happiness at least in the next birth after death. This provided with boundless mental power for enduring anything to those who suffered due to the miseries of this world. By this way, they could have forgotten the adversities of the world and must have largely overcome the dilemmas of the time. It seems that the Karma theory very deeply influenced the concept of Prāyaścitta and it instigates the performances of expiatory rites related to all religious ceremonies.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Yuvaraj Krishan, The Doctrine of Karma, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1997, p. 4.

[2]:

Idem.

[3]:

Yuvaraj Krishnan, op. cit., p. 283.

[4]:

Śābarabhāṣya, 4.3.27. Śabara explains the story of Kaikeya for the fixation of this theory as thus: “Kaikeya being desirous of performing a sacrifice, said to Dalbhya: ‘Please help me to perform this sacrifice which is calculated to bring me a Kingdom.’ Dalbhya replied, ‘do not, my boy, think that the sacrifice brings kingdom in this life, in fact sacrifices are performed for results come in ones next’s life’, Jha, G.N., Śābara Bhāṣya, Baroda, Vol. 2, pp. 1014-1015.

[5]:

Here the observation of Yuvaraj Krishan is note worthy. He says: “By giving the word Apūrva the meaning, an unseen force or potency which brings the fruits of action to the Karta or agent, Śabara made Apūrva a species of Karma. In the case of Karma also the time of fruition and the nature of fruit or consequences of acts cannot be foreseen and determined; in fact, all Karmas are the nature of a potency or force which in a manner and at a time which is unknown: it is also not possible identity or link the specific good and evil men suffer to their specific previous deeds. It is thus difficult to distinguish between Karma and Apūrva except that the later Yajña Karma only, that is, transcendental effect is likely to be realized in future from the performance of prescribed rites.” Yuvaraj Krishan, op. cit., p. 288.

[6]:

Mīmāṃsāsūtra, 2.

[7]:

Damodaran, K., Bhāratīya Cinta, Kerala Language Institute, Trivandrum, 2011, p. 246.

[8]:

Purvamīmāṃsasūtra, 1.2.1.

[9]:

prāyaścittam nimittena, Mīmāṃsāsūtra, 2.4.21.

[10]:

Yājñavalkya-smṛti, 3.221. Almost all Purāṇas hold these similar views; for instance Viṣṇupurāṇa states: pāpakṛdyāti narakaṃ prāyaścittaparāṅmukhaḥ || Viṣṇupurāṇa, 4.5.21.

[11]:

Vasiṣṭha-dharmasūtra, 44.1-10.

[12]:

Yājñavalkya-smṛti, 3.207-208.

[13]:

tadya iha ramaṇīyacaraṇā abhyāśo ha yatte ramaṇīyāṃ yonimāpadyeranbrāhmaṇayoniṃ vā kṣatriyayoniṃ vā vaiśyayoniṃ vātha ya iha kapūyacaraṇā abhyāśo ha yatte kapūyāṃ yonimāpadyeraṃśvayoniṃ vā sūkarayoniṃ vā caṇḍālayoniṃ vā | athaitayoḥ pathorna katareṇa ca na tānīmāni kṣudrāṇyasakṛdāvartīni bhūtāni bhavanti jāyasva mriyasvetyetattṛtīyaṃ sthanaṃ tenāsau loko na saṃpūryate tasmājjugupseta tadeṣa ślokaḥ steno hiraṇyasya surāṃ pibaṃśca gurostalpamāvasanbrahmahā ca | Chāndogyopaniṣad, 5.10.7-9.