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' (Ch. 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, &c.--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 Sûtra 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 adhikarana of 'the other.'
15. But only those former works the effects of which have not yet begun;
on account of that being the term.
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
Pûrvapakshin 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 Sûtra 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' (Ch. 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
anârabdhakârya 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 adhikarana of 'the works the operation of which has not yet begun.'
16. But the Agnihotra and the rest, (because they tend) to that effect
only; this being seen.
It might here be said that special works incumbent on the several
âsramas, as e. g. the Agnihotra, need not be undertaken by those who are
not desirous of their results, since these works also fall under the
category of good works the result of which does not 'cling.'--This view
the Sûtra sets aside. Such works as the Agnihotra must be performed,
since there is no possibility of their results not clinging; for him who
knows, those works have knowledge for their exclusive effect. This we
learn from Scripture itself: 'Him Brâhmanas seek to know by the study of
the Veda, by sacrifices, gifts, austerities, and fasting.' This passage
shows that works such as the Agnihotra give rise to knowledge, and as
knowledge in order to grow and become more perfect has to be practised
day after day until death, the special duties of the âsrama also, which
assist the rise of knowledge, have daily to be performed. Otherwise,
those duties being omitted, the mind would lose its clearness and
knowledge would not arise.--But if good works such as the Agnihotra only
serve the purpose of giving rise to knowledge, and if good works
previous to the rise of knowledge perish, according to the texts 'Having
dwelt there till their works are consumed' (Ch. Up. V, 10, 5) and
'having obtained the end of his deeds' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 6), to what then
applies the text 'His sons enter upon his inheritance, his friends upon
his good works'?--This point is taken up by the next Sûtra.
17. According to some (a class of good works) other than these, of both
kinds.
The text quoted above from one sâkhâ ('His friends enter upon his good
deeds') refers to good works other than the Agnihotra and the rest, the
only object of which is to give rise to knowledge, viz. to all those
manifold good works, previous or subsequent to the attaining to
knowledge, the results of which are obstructed by other works of greater
strength. Those texts also which declare works not to cling or to be
destroyed through knowledge refer to this same class of works.--The next
Sûtra recalls the fact, already previously established, that the results
of works actually performed may somehow be obstructed.