Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

SIN AND VIRTUE
ACCORDING to Christian conceptions, 1 sin is a violation
of the personal will of, and apostasy from, God. The flesh
is the source of lusts which oppose God’s commands, and
in this lies its positive significance for the origin of a
bias of life against God. According to St. Thomas, in the
original state, no longer held as the normal, the lower
powers were subordinate to reason, and reason subject
to God. “Original sin” is formally a “defect of original
righteousness,” and materially “concupiscence.” As St.
Paul says (Rom. vii. 8, 14), the pneumatic law, which
declares war on the lusts, meets with opposition from
the “law in the members.” These and similar notions
involve a religious and moral conscious judgment which
is assumed to exist in humanity alone. Hindu notions of
pāpa (wrong) and puṇ ya (that which is pure, holy, and
right) have a wider content. The latter is accordance
and working with the will of Īśvara (of whom the jīva is
itself the embodiment), as manifested at the particular
time in the general direction taken by the cosmic process,
as the former is the contrary. The two terms are
relative to the state of evolution and the surrounding
circumstances of the jīva to which they are applied.
Thus, the impulse towards individuality which is necessary
and just on the path of inclination or “going forth”
(pravṛ ttimārga), is wrongful as a hindrance to the attainment
of unity, which is the goal of the path of return
(nivṛ ttimārga) where inclinations should cease. In short,
1 See authorities cited in Schaaff Herzog Dict.