It generally refers to virtue or merit, and the activities that allow one to acquire this attribute, in order to achieve liberation from samsara, the cycle of birth and death in the material world.
[4] The Buddhists consider Punya as the extraordinary force that confers happiness, as a spiritual merit which is one of the ten forms of balas (sources of strength) to a bodhisattva.
They hold the belief that charity leads to the accumulation of punya or a happier rebirth on earth or a long sojourn in heaven.
For instance, in a prayer to Kapinjala Ivendro Devata, Rishi Gutsamada, while describing the qualities of an upadeshaka ('teacher') states: in which mantra the word, punya, is used to mean - 'good' or 'auspicious' or 'happy'.
[10] Adi Shankara exclaims:- In his commentary on this stanza, Śri Candraśekhara Bhāratī of Śringeri explains that punya is the outcome of doing prescribed works, and pāpa, the prohibited.
The infinite bliss that Shankara speaks of is the sukha not generated by connection with sense-objects and therefore, in its experience there is no grief, no superimposition and no imagination whatsoever.