Śivasaṃhitā 1.29

The verse adopts an almost academic tone: tatkarmakalpakaiḥ («by those who classify karma», the theorists of karma) have established a binary division (dvidhā) between puṇya and pāpa. The use of the participle proktam («said», «declared») distances the text from that classification, suggesting the Śivasaṃhitā cites it as established doctrine without necessarily endorsing it as ultimate truth.

Kalpaka derives from the root kḷp- (to arrange, order, classify) and designates one who establishes rules or systems. Dvidhā («in two ways», «in two parts») is the technical term for binary division in Indian logic. The tension between this classificatory dualism and the Śivasaṃhitā’s Advaita perspective is deliberate: the text is preparing the ground to transcend it.

Within the context of the first chapter, dedicated to jñāna (non-dual knowledge), this reference to «classifiers» functions as a foil. The wisdom the text proposes does not operate within the pāpa/puṇya logic but beyond it. The following verses will culminate in the proposal to renounce the fruit of all action, transcending the very duality described here.