By Swami Chidananda
Expressing the message of the Upanishads using different words, Swami Vivekananda said1, “You can also undo – what you have done!” Two great Vedic scholars – Ārtabhāga and Yājnavalkya – engage in a serious, private discussion, as we find in an Upanishad. They discuss what in life makes us great and what leaves us mediocre. They declare the vital great place of karma, our own actions. They then praise nothing else than karma.
Good deeds lead to the good.
Sinful actions lead to sin (sorrow).
punyo vai punyena karmanā bhavati
pāpah pāpena – iti ॥
Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, 3.2.13
(Chapter 3, brāhmana 2, mantra 13)