11. Q. We often hear about paapam and punyam? What is meant by these words ?

A. Paapam is sin but is there a word for punyam in English? Paapam and punyam are not something that are put in a bag and carried with us.  What is paapam? When you do a wrong deed and hurt someone, you will forget and the person who is hurt also in course of time, will forget.  But the Master Computer, the good Lord has recorded it as paapam in your account. When a good deed is done by you and the individual who is the beneficiary may forget and you also will forget it as time passes by. But again the Master Computer recorded it as punyam in your account.

 As our acharya says:

yat twat priyam thadiha punyam

apunyam anyat naanyattha yooho

lakshana masthi jaathu

Punyam and paapam are His pleasure and anger respectively. Naturally we would want our punyam to increase and our paapam to be burnt out. How is it possible? How do we go abbut getting this? We should try for His pleasure but not His anger. He Himself has emphasised.

sruthihi smritihi mamai vaagna

yastha mullanghya varthathe

aagna chhedhi mama drohee

madbhakthopi na vaishnavaha,

For His pleasure we should follow His instructions to the letter to increase His pleasure and thus our punyam.