IV-1 Śrī Bhāshya | Rāmānuja | 10-11

Topic 10 - Good deeds likewise cease to affect the knower of Brahman

 Sutra 4,1.14

इतरस्याप्येवमसंश्लेषः, पाते तु ॥ १४ ॥

itarasyāpyevamasaṃśleṣaḥ, pāte tu || 14 ||

itarasya—Of the other; api—also; evam—thus; asaṃśleṣaḥ—non-clinging; pāte—at death; tu—but.

14. Thus there is non-clinging of the other (i.e. virtue) also; but at death (Liberation i.e. Videhamukti is certain).

It has been said that, owing to knowledge, earlier and subsequent sins do not cling and are destroyed. The same holds good also with regard to the other, i.e. to good works--they also, owing to knowledge, do not cling and are destroyed; for there is the same antagonism between knowledge and the fruit of those works, and Scripture moreover expressly declares this. Thus we read, 'Day and night do not pass that bank--neither good nor evil deeds. All sins turn back from it' (Kh. Up.VIII, 4, 1); 'He shakes off his good and evil deeds' (Kau. Up. I, 4). In the former of these texts good works are expressly designated as 'sin' because their fruits also are something not desirable for him who aims at Release; there is some reason for doing this because after all good works are enjoined by Scripture and their fruits are desired by men, and they hence might be thought not to be opposed to knowledge.--But even to him who possesses the knowledge of Brahman, the fruits of good deeds--such as seasonable rain, good crops, etc.--are desirable because they enable him to perform his meditations in due form; how then can it be said that knowledge is antagonistic to them and destroys them?--Of this point the Sūtra disposes by means of the clause 'but on death.' Good works which produce results favourable to knowledge and meditation perish only on the death of the body (not during the lifetime of the Devotee).--Here terminates the Adhikaraṇa of 'the other.'

Topic 11 - Works which have not begun to yield results are alone destroyed by Knowledge and not those which have already begun to yield results

 Sutra 4,1.15

अनारब्धकार्ये एव तु पूर्वे, तदवधेः ॥ १५ ॥

anārabdhakārye eva tu pūrve, tadavadheḥ || 15 ||

anārabdha-kārye—Works which have not begun to yield results; eva—only; tu—but; pūrve—former works; tadavadheḥ—that (death) being the limit.

15. But (of his) former works only those which have not begun to yield results (are destroyed by Knowledge); (for) death is the limit (set by the scriptures for Liberation to take place).

A new doubt arises here, viz. whether all previous good and evil works are destroyed by the origination of knowledge, or only those the effects of which have not yet begun to operate.--All works alike, the Pūrvapakshin says; for the texts-as e.g. 'all sins are burned'--declare the fruits of knowledge to be the same in all cases; and the fact of the body continuing to exist subsequently to the rise of knowledge may be accounted for by the force of an impulse once imparted, just as in the case of the revolution of a potter's wheel.--This view the Sūtra sets aside. Only those previous works perish the effects of which have not yet begun to operate; for the text 'For him there is delay as long as he is not delivered from the body' (Kh. Up. VI, 14, 2) expressly states when the delay of the body's death will come to an end (the body meanwhile continuing to exist through the influence of the anārabdhakārya works). There is no proof for the existence of an impetus accounting for the continuance of the body's life, other than the Lord's pleasure or displeasure caused by--good or evil deeds.

--Here terminates the Adhikaraṇa of 'the works the operation of which has not yet begun.'