Scriptural Authority for the Cancellation of Sins

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[Shri Kishore Ram asked:- Is there an authority from the scripture regarding cancelation of pending punishments by reformation especially in this kali age? Some of my friends are asking for scriptural authority.]

Swami Replied:- This concept is based on the logic and hence, this concept exists in any age because logic of the concept is beyond time. The logic is that by reformation the soul passes through realization, repentance and finally non-repetition of sin in practice. What is the aim of punishment for sin? It is not revenge as tit for tat! It is only to create fear in the mind of the soul so that the sin is not repeated again. But, punishment being without spiritual knowledge can’t bring realization except fear. In the absence of realization, there is no question of repentance and non-repetition of sin in practice. Of course, due to fear there will be temporary non-repetition of sin. Since the non-repetition of sin is most important being the final practical step, punishments are introduced here as well as there in the hell so that the non-repetition of sin is affective for some time at least. The soul is not much attracted to the sin as soon as it returns from the hell and takes a new birth here. As it (its body) grows, it picks up information from the surroundings and based on the quality of the information, it proceeds in that line of quality. Generally, the soul picks up such qualitative line congenial to its inherent qualities only. Hence, in general, the soul continues in its own inherent line unless it comes across the true spiritual knowledge radiated by the human incarnation of God. Such spiritual knowledge may bring total or partial reformation based on the intensity of the inherent qualitative line of the soul.

To bring the reformation quickly, simultaneous usage of fear through punishments and realization through spiritual knowledge is essential like simultaneous treatment with antibiotics and B-complex tablets so that the weakness introduced by antibiotics is neutralized by the B-complex tablets. The simultaneous exposure to spiritual knowledge and punishment for the sin is very essential because the spiritual knowledge brings not only some strength to the soul removing the weakness introduced by punishment, but also, brings the permanent reformation gradually. This is the background of the divine system of God in treating the souls using the pending punishments simultaneously along with the propagation of spiritual knowledge through incarnations. Now, the main point is the cancelation of pending punishments on attaining total reformation. This cancelation is perfectly justified by logic since the aim of punishment is also to bring reformation only specially to bring the final step, which is non-repetition of sin in practice. When the reformation is attained permanently through the spiritual knowledge, what is the use of using the punishments again to bring temporary reformation? Since the aim of punishment is not to revenge against the sin, but, to bring reformation only, the pending punishments are useless in the implementation and hence, get cancelled. Actually, the file of pending punishments is kept in cold storage in the hell so that the file again becomes active if the reformed soul becomes active again in doing the sins thinking that its file is already destroyed!

My aim in explaining the logic behind the concept as above is to say that the logic in this concept is the strongest scriptural authority and no separate theoretical scriptural quotation is needed. If the above said strong logic is absent in a concept, such concept quoted by even the scripture must be rejected treating it as some foreign insertion in the scripture and such insertion is a wrong concept. If you treat the insertion also as genuine part of scripture and feel bad for doing such rejection, it is very bad. It is said that the finger bitten by a serpent shall be cut off immediately without blind fascination towards your finger since otherwise, the poison will spread all over the body and will kill you (Aṅgulīvoragakṣatā). From this, you must understand that even if the wrong part of the scripture is genuine part of the genuine scripture, it must be rejected leaving blind fascination to the scripture. Logical analysis is greater than the scripture. Please don’t think that I am criticizing the divine scripture by lowering its value. I had to tell you like this because your blind fascination to the scripture setting aside the logical analysis must be condemned. In fact, I am not criticizing the divine scripture since the wrong part is not the genuine part of the genuine scripture. It is only an insertion done by an ignorant fellow with the idea to make you think that his wrong insertion is correct since the divine scripture quotes it. Such a fellow is exploiting the divinity of the divine scripture.

You must know one basic point, which is that will God, the author of divine scripture speaks such illogical wrong concepts? Definitely not. This one point makes the logical analysis to occupy higher place than the scripture since such logical analysis proves what is spoken by God and what is inserted by ignorant or wrong people in the scripture. Revealing all this background is to give stress on the point that a concept supported by sharp logical analysis itself is the scripture even if it is not found in the divine scripture, which had the possibility of insertions. However, this concept of reformation is genuine and has authority of the divine scripture. The Veda says that a specific soul is got rid of all its pending punishments (Apahata pāpmā) and the past done sin can’t bind such soul (Na karma lipyate nare) etc. The Gita said by God directly reveals this concept more clearly that the realization attained by the spiritual knowledge-fire burns all the past done actions along with their fruits (Jñānāgniḥ sarvakarmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute...). The Gita praises the spiritual knowledge as the boat to cross the sin-river (sarvaṃ jñānaplavenaiva vṛjinaṃ santariṣyasi). Shankara tells here that all the pending punishments are cancelled except the present running punishment (Prārabdham). The reason for His statement is that the total perfect reformation is impossible based on the strong human tendency. For this reason only, the file of pending punishments is not burnt to ash, but, is kept in cold storage only, which is almost equal to burning of the file to ash. However, if a blessed soul attains perfect total reformation, the omnipotent God burns the file of pending punishments including the present running punishment. If the reformation is really real on the side of the soul, nothing is impossible on the side of the omnipotent God!

This reformation resulting in cancelation of the pending punishments is true in every age or in all times. This concept has become most significant in this Kali age since now the sinners are the majority of humanity. In Pongal festival, the customers to purchase new cloths are many in number and hence, the special rebate in the sales is announced as a special Pongal bumper offer! The shop keeper never undergoes loss in the sales due to such special Pongal offer and this fact shall never be forgotten by any customer! Based on this, this concept is announced by God Datta as a special bumper offer in this Kali age.

This type of propagation of spiritual knowledge, which is answering a single question containing a single concept with full clarification in all sides is the best in this Kali age in view of low standards of spiritual knowledge of majority of humanity. A single concept preached with full clarity brings full satisfaction to any soul of any standard. This is one extreme end. The other extreme end is to mention many concepts without any clarification. The middle path is many concepts with brief clarifications of any concept. The first extreme end is the Gita, in which God answered every question of Arjuna with full clarity. The second extreme end is the Upanishads, which give many concepts briefly without any clarification. The middle path is the Upanishads with brief commentaries by the divine preachers.

The Gita is told in the fag end of Dvaapara age and it is meant for Kali age only. Divine preachers wrote commentaries on the Upanishads in Kali age. The Gita serves the purpose of preaching major humanity and the Upanishads with commentaries are useful for the scholastic minority in Kali age. However, the Gita covers the entire humanity because even the scholars are advised to read the Gita since the Upanishads with commentaries giving brief clarifications may be, sometimes, misunderstood by even scholars. From this point of view, full clarification is needed for every human being in Kali age.

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