Questions 91 to 97.

SECTION C: VERBAL AND LOGICAL ABILITY

Analyse the following passage and provide an appropriate answer of the question nos. 91 through 97 that follow.

Number of words in this passage: 552

India is renowned for its diversity. Dissimilitude abounds in every sphere–from the physical elements of its land and people to the intangiable workings of its beliefs and practices. Indeed, given this variety, India itself appears to be not a single entity but an amalgamation, a “constructs” arising from the conjoining of innumerable, discrete parts. Modern scholarship has, quite properly, tended to explore these elements in isolation. (In part, this trend represents the conscious reversal of the stance taken by an earlier generation of scholars whose work reified India into a monolithic entity – a critical element in the much maligned “Orientalist” enterprise.) Nonetheless, the representation of India as a singular “Whole” is not an entirely capricious enterprise; for India is an indentifiable entity, united by – if not born out of – certain deep and pervasive structures. Thus, for example, the Hindu tradition has long maintained a body of mythology that weaves the disparate temples, gods, even geographic landscapes that exist throughout the subcontinent into a unified, albeit syncretic, whole.

In the realm of thought, there is no more pervasive, unifying structure than karma. It is the “doctrine” or “law” that ties actions to results and creates a determinant link between an individual’s status in this life and his or her fate in future lives. Following what is considered to be its appearances in the Upanishads, the doctrine reaches into nearly every corner of Hindu thought. Indeed, its dominance is such in the Hindu world view that karma encompasses, at the same time, life-affirming and life-negating functions; for just as it defines the world in terms of the “positive” function of delineating a doctrine of rewards and punishments, so too it defines the world through its “negative” representation of action as an all but inescapable trap, an unremitting cycle of death and rebirth.

Despite – or perhaps because of – karma’s ubiquity, the doctrine is not easily defined. Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty reports of a scholarly conference devoted to the study of karma that although the participants admitted to a general sense of the doctrine’s parameters, considerable time was in a “lively but ultimately vain attempt to define . . . . karma and rebirth”. The base meaning of the term “karma” (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem form, karman a neuter substantive) is “action”. As a doctrine, karma encompasses a number of quasi-independent concepts: rebirth (punarjanam), consequence (phala, literally “fruit,” a term that suggests the “ripening” of actions into consequences), and the valuation or “ethic-ization” of acts, qualifying them as either “good” (punya or sukaman) or “bad” (papam or duskarman).

In a general way, however, for at least the past two thousand years, the following from the well known text, the Bhagavata Purana) has held true as representing the principal elements of the karma doctrine: “The same person enjoys the fruit of the same sinful or a meritorious act in the next world in the same manner and to the same extent according to the manner and extent to which that (sinful or meritorious) act has been done by him in this world.” Nevertheless, depending on the doctrine’s context, which itself ranges from its appearance in a vast number of literary sources to its usage on the popular level, not all these elements may be present (though in a general way they may be implicit).

91. “Reify” in the passage means:

(A) Reversal of stance

(B) Unitary whole

(D) Unity in diversity

(E) To make real out of abstract

Explanatory Note:

‘Reify’ in the passage means to make real out of abstract Choice (E)

92. “Ethic-ization” in the passage means

(A) Process of making something ethical

(B) Judging and evaluation

(D) Teaching ethics

(E) None of the above

Explanatory Note:

‘Ethic-ization’ in the passage means ‘judging and evaluation’. Choice (B)

93. Consider the following statements:

1. Meaning of karma is contextual.

2. Meaning of karma is not unanimous.

3. Meaning of karma includes many other quasi-independent concepts.

4. Karma also means actions and their rewards.

Which of the above statements are ture?

(A) 1,2,3 (B) 2,3,4 (C) 1,3,4 (D) None of the above (E) All the four are true

Explanatory Note:

Statement 1 is a true statement - Refer para 4 sentence 2 - Statement 3 is a true statement - Refer para 3 sentence 3. Statement 4 is a true statement - Refer para 4 sentence 2. Only statement 3 is wrong - Refer para 2 sentence 1. Choice (C)

94. The base meaning of karma is:

(A) reward and punishment.

(B) only those actions which yield a “phala”.

(D) any action.

(E) None of the above

Explanatory Note:

The base meaning of Karma is any action. Refer para 3 sentence 2. Choice (D)

95. As per the author, which of the following statements is wrong?

(A) India is a diverse country.

(B) Doctrine of karma runs across divergent Hindu thoughts.

(D) Modern scholars have studied Hinduism as a syncretic whole.

(E) Scholars could not resolve the meaning of karma.

Explanatory Note:

Statement ‘A’ is a right statement - Refer para 1 sentence 1 - Statement B is a right statement - Refer para 2 sentence 3 - Statement C is a right statement - Refer para 3 sentence 1 - Statement E is a right statement - Refer para 3 sentence 1. Statement D is a wrong statement. Refer para 1 sentence 2. Choice (D)

96. Which of the following if true, would be required for the concept of karma – as defined in Bhagavata Purana – to be made equally valid across different space-time combinations?

(A) Karma is judged based on the observers’ perception, and hence the observer is a necessary condition for its validity.

(B) Karma is an orientalist concept limited to oriental countries.

(C) Each epoch will have its own understanding of karma and therefore there can not be uniform validity of the concept of karma.

(D) The information of the past action and the righteousness of each action would be embodied in the individual.

(E) Each space-time combination would have different norms of righteousness and their respective expert panels which will judge each action as per those norms.

Explanatory Note:

The concept of Karma, to be made equally valid, across different space-time combinations it is required that Karma should be judged based on the observers’ perception, and hence the observer is a necessary condition for its validity. Choice (A)

97. The orientalist perspective, according to the author:

(A) Viewed India as a country of diversity.

(B) Viewed India both as single and diverse entity.

(D) Viewed India in the entirety.

(E) Viewed India as if it was a single and unitary entity devoid of diversity.

Explanatory Note:

The orientalist viewed India as if it was a single and unitary entity devised of diversity. Refer para one sentence four.

Choice (E)