Science of papah or sin

In Christianity “sin” is a prohibited action which is said to be committed by violating certain prescribed religious commandments or rules or laws. In the eastern philosophies such as Hinduism and Buddhism, the word “papah” comes closest to the meaning of “sin”. However, “papah” and “sin” are not synonymous. In the east, whenever the word “sin” or “papah” is used, it means actions which take the jivatma or the conditioned soul in a direction opposite from liberation.

Unlike “sin” in Christianity, the Hindu “papah” is not a crime against God. It just stunts one's evolution or even worse can be the cause of one's devolution. So one may call it a crime against self. In Hinduism, God does not decide the punishment. The Divine laws of nature or the Cosmic Law determines the punishment for wrong actions. For according to the Hindu philosophy, the person within or the soul is not at work. The modes of material nature is at work. Nature or Prakriti, which is full of attibutes or gunas is an integral aspect of the attibuteless Brahman just as heat is an integral aspect of fire. People act according to the three gunas Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas. Through action, people accumulate karma or tendencies that form deep tracks or impressions in their minds. People reap the fruits of their karma. Bad karma bears bad fruits. People are subject to the fruits of their good and bad actions. Hindus believe that the goal of human birth is to realize one self or attain liberation from the cycles or birth and death. Papah means the type of accumulated karma which keeps one from progressing toward liberation. It takes one toward tamas or darkness. The antonym of papah is punya. Punya is the accumulated good or virtuous deeds which help the mind evolve toward pure Sattwa and hence toward liberation. Of course for liberation one has to finally transcend Sattwa or mode of goodness since Sattwa also binds the jivatma to the cycle of birth and death. In Hinduism there is no forbidden action as long as one is prepared to face the consequences of one’s action. However, if a person wants liberation, he has to evolve his mind toward the mode of goodness or Sattwa by doing good deeds or virtuous deeds. If one wants to go into deep tamas and bondage, and lead a demoniac or a less evolved existence, then one may choose to be engaged in demoniac activities or papah karma.

Eastern philosophy believes that all “papah” or “accumulated bad karma” or simply “karma”, that which is responsible for the continuation of birth and death cycle, can be cleansed or burned through penance, japa, yoga, meditation, nama samkirtan, etc. etc., activities in which the mind is made to fully engage in the divine thought. By diligently engaging in these divine activities, one can eventually burn all bad tracks from the mind and eliminate the seeds of rebirth. Of course, it is much more difficult for one who has been engaged in demoniac activities to suddenly develop interest for divine activities and do them with diligence. That is why one is warned against papah karma. It takes the mind to lower and lower spheres of evolution and gradually transforms the mind from subtler to grosser.

Now let us talk about the science of papah or sin. We already know sin or papah are related to bad or nonvirtuous actions. Why do we act? At the root of every action there is a thought. Where does thought come from? Thoughts that bind us to the world originate whenever there is contact of the senses with the sense objects. These thoughts lead us to actions that are selfish and become cause of the bondage. The more we do certain action to please our senses, the more the sense rules over us propelling us to perform actions to please it more. Senses are insatiatiable. The more we feed them the more they want. The more we feed a sense, the stronger it becomes and the stronger it binds us to this world.