History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.341

v7.c95.341

Apart from the Upaniṣads (and commentaries thereon), the Vedāntasūtras (and the bhāṣyas thereon) and the Bhagavadgītā, there are very few regular treatises on the doctrine of Karma and re-incarnation. One work comparatively early in date is the Vijñānadīpikā of Padmapāda (said to be the same as the favourite pupil of the first Śaṅkarācārya) in 71 verses (edited with a commentary and Introduction by M. M. Dr. Umesha Mishra, Allahabad, 1940) which deal with the means of achieving mokṣa by realizing the identity of the individual self and the Supreme Self (they being like the reflection and its original) and by annihilating karma. Some of the important verses in it have been adduced above in the notes. That work (verse 9)²⁵⁸⁸ compares sañcīyamāna-karma to grain standing in the field, sañcita to grain stored in one's house and prārabdhakarma to food put in one's stomach. The food put in one's stomach is exhausted by its being digested which takes some time Therefore, Karma of the sañcita and sañcīyamāna types is annihilated by correct knowledge, while prārabdha karma by undergoing its results for some time. It emphasizes that it is *Vairāgya* (extreme non-attachment to objects of sense) that leads to the rise of correct knowledge of Reality, to the elimination of *vāsanās* (unconsciously working impressions), to the annihilation of Karma and to cessation of rebirth.