Punya (Hinduism)
Punya (Sanskrit: पुण्य) is a difficult word to translate; there is no equivalent English word to convey its exact intended meaning. It is generally taken to mean – 'Saintly', Virtue, 'holy', 'sacred', 'pure', 'good', 'meritorious', 'virtuous', 'righteous', 'just', 'auspicious', 'lucky', 'favourable', 'agreeable', 'pleasing', 'lovely', 'beautiful', 'sweet', 'fragrant', 'solemn' or 'festive', according to the context it is used.
Dharma (धर्म) is referred to as good karma or a virtue that contributes benefits in this and the next birth and can be acquired by appropriate means and also accumulated. In Vedanta terms punya is the invisible wealth, a part of dharma, the third human goal; the other two goals being artha and kama. Punya and pāpa are the seeds of future pleasure and pain, the former, which sows merits, exhausts itself only through pleasure and the latter, which sows demerits, exhausts itself only through pain; but Jiwan mukti ends all karmic debts consisting of and signified by these two dynamics.
Hinduism
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sites and the questioning of authority. It includes various denominations each with an interwoven diversity of beliefs and practices.
Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way" beyond human origins. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the Vedic times. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, among others.
Podcasts:
