Karma

Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म from the root kri, "to do") is a term used in several eastern religions referring to the entire cycle of cause and effect, action and reaction which governs life. This so-called 'Law of Karma' is central to the indigenous religions of India (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism) and plays a seminal role in the thought of Indian philosophy. Karma literally means "deed" or "act" and refers to the totality of mankinds' actions and their concommitant reactions in current and previous lives, all of which determine the future. However, Karma is not fate; humans are believed to act with free will, creating their own destinies. Furthermore, many karmas do not have an immediate effect; some accumulate and return unexpectedly in an individual's later lives. In religions that incorporate reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well. The idea of Karma has also been taught among western esoteric movements such as the Rosicrucians, and is echoed in Christianity's Law of Being mentioned by Paul of Tarsus in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (15:55,56).

Variations of Karma in the Religions of India

The concept of Karma in Indian thought has several different interpretations according to context, timeframe, and philosophical school. For example, in Hinduism the meaning of karma evolved over time, and the Hindu concepts differ in important ways from the corresponding ideas found in Buddhism and Jainism.

Hinduism

As a term, Karma can be traced back to the early Upanishads.

Karma is considered an entirely impersonal law that cannot be abrogated by any person but may be mitigated by God. Karma is not punishment or retribution, but simply an extended expression of natural acts. The effects experienced are also able to be mitigated by actions and are not necessarily fateful.

Not all karmas rebound immediately. Some accumulate and return unexpectedly in this or other births. Hinduism postulates three types of karma:

sanchita karma, the sum total of past karmas yet to be resolved;
prarabdha karma, that portion of sanchita karma that is to be experienced in this life; and
kriyamana karma, the karma that humans are currently creating, which will bear fruit in the future.According to Karma, performance of positive action results with the reaction of a good conditioning in one's experience, whereas a negative action results in a reaction of a bad response. This may be an immediate result following the act, or a delayed result occurring either in the present life or the next. Thus, meritorious acts may create rebirth into a higher station, such as a superior human being or a godlike being, while evil acts result in rebirth as a human living in less desirable circumstances, or as a lower animal.

Swami Sivananda, an Advaita scholar, in his commentary synthesising Vedanta views on the Brahma Sutras, also reiterates the same views. In his commentary on Chapter 3, Phaladhikaranam, Topic 8, Sutras 38-41, of Brahma Sutras, Sivananda notes that karma is insentient and short-lived, and ceases to exist as soon as it is done. Hence, he points out that karma cannot therefore bestow the fruits of actions at a future date according to one's merit. Furthermore, Sivananda notes that one cannot argue that karma generates apurva, or punya, which gives fruit. Since apurva is non-sentient, it cannot act unless moved by an intelligent being, i.e., God. Hence, it cannot independently bestow rewards and punishments.

There is a passage from Swami Sivananda's translation of the Svetasvatara Upanishad (4:6) illustrating this:

Two birds of beautiful plumage who are inseparable friends, dwell upon one and the same tree. Of these two the one eats the sweet fruit while the other looks on without eating.

In his commentary, the two birds represent the individual soul and Brahman or God. The soul is a reflection essentially of Brahman. The tree represents the body and the soul identifies himself with the body and reaps the fruits of his actions and takes rebirths while the Lord alone stands as an eternal witness, ever contented, and does not eat for he is the director of both the eater and the eaten.

Swami Sivananda also notes that God is free from charges of partiality and cruelty which are brought against him owing to the social inequality, fate of various persons, and universal suffering in the world. According to the Brahma Sutras, a Vedantic text, it is individual souls that are responsible for their fate and God is the dispenser and witness with reference to the merit and demerit of souls.

In his commentary on Chapter 2, Adhikarana XII, Sutras 34-36 from his translation and commentary of Brahma Sutras, Sivananda further notes that the position of God with respect to karma can be compared with rain. He notes that although rain can be said to be a common cause of rice, barley and other plants, the differences in various species is due to the diverse potentalities lying hidden in the respective seeds. Thus, Sivananda further explains that the differences between classes of beings are due to different merits belonging to individual souls. He concludes that God metes rewards and punishments only in consideration of the specific actions of beings.

Some non-Hindu theologians have interpreted the concept of the relationship between God and karma to indicate that God is neutral and detached towards all, and thus He has no power in controlling karma. However, it is admitted that God is at once free of cruelty and is hence not partial to anyone. But its is also held that those who seek Him will find His grace.

God is all-merciful and His grace can overcome or mitigate the karma of man in many cases. It is still important to remember that man has free will and has to seek him.

The story of Markandeya, who was saved from death by Siva, illustrates that God's grace can overcome karma and death for His beloved devotee.[1]

The story of Ajamila, who in the Bhagavata Purana, [2],[3] had done a lot of bad deeds during his life such as stealing, abandoning his wife and children, and marrying a prostitute, at the moment of death, involuntarily chanted the name of Narayana, and received moksha or union with God and was saved from the messengers of Yama. Ajamila, at the moment of his death, actually was thinking the name of his youngest son. But the name of God has powerful effects and he was forgiven for his great sins, and attained salvation, despite his bad karma.

A Saivite interpretation of karma

As stated in Surendranath Dasgupta's book, A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume V, The Southern Schools of Saivism, p.87, Appaya Dikshita, a Saivite theologian on Siva Advaita, states that Siva (God) only awards happiness and misery in accordance with the law of karma. Thus, he further holds that persons themselves perform good or bad actions according to their own inclinations as acquired in past creations, and in accordance with those deeds, a new creation is made for the fulfilment of the law of karma. He believes that there are cycles of creations in which souls gravitate to specific bodies in accordance with karma, which as an unintelligent object depends on the will of Siva alone. Thus, many interpret the caste system in accordance with karma, as those with good deeds are born in a spiritual family, which Hindu scriptures, consider to include brahmana caste.

A Vaishnavite interpretation of karma

Ramanuja attempts to fashion a solution to the problem of evil by attributing all evil or bad things in life to the accumulation of evil karma of jivas or human souls and maintains that God is amala or without any stain of evil.

Madhva, the founder of the Dvaita school, on the other hand, believes that there must be a root cause for variations in karma even if karma is accepted as beginningless and is the cause of the problem of evil. Since the jivas have different kinds of karma, from good to bad, then all must not have started with same type of karma from the beginning of time. Thus, Madhva concludes that the jivas are not God's creation as in the Christian doctrine, but are rather entities co-existent with Vishnu, although under his absolute control. The souls, are thus dependent on Him in their pristine nature and in all transformation that they may undergo.

According to Madhva, God, although he has control, does not interfere with man's free will and although he is omnipotent, that does not mean that he should engage in extraordinary feats. Rather, God must enforce a rule of law and in accordance with the just deserts of the Jivas give them full freedom to follow their own nature. Thus, God functions as the sanctioner or as the divine accountant, and accordingly, the jivas are free to work according to their innate nature and their accumulated karma, good and bad. Since God acts as the sanctioner, the ultimate power for everything comes from God only and the jiva only utilizes that power, according to his innate nature.

Swami Tapasyananda, further explains the Madhva view in his book, Bhakti Schools of Vedanta, from which the previous information was obtained, by illustrating the doctrine in an imperfect analogy, and stated that the power in a factory comes from the powerhouse (God), but the various cogs (jivas) move in a direction in which they are set. Thus he concludes that no charge of partiality and cruelty can therefore be brought against God. The jiva is an actor and also the enjoyer of the fruits of his own actions.

Additionally, Madhva, with his explanation of variations in karma, differed significantly from traditional Hindu beliefs in his concept of eternal damnation. For example, he divides souls into three classes, one class which qualify for liberation, Mukti-yogyas, another subject to eternal rebirth or eternally transmigrating due to samsara, Nitya-samsarins, and significantly a class that is eventually condemned to eternal hell or Andhatamas, known as Tamo-yogyas. No other Hindu philosopher or group of Hinduism holds such beliefs. By contrast, most Hindus believe in universal salvation, that all souls will eventually obtain moksha, even if it be after millions of rebirths.

Buddhism

In Buddhism, only intentional actions are karmic "acts of will". The 'Law of Karma' refers to "cause and effect", but Karma literally means "action" - often indicating intent or cause. Accompanying this usually is a separate tenet called Vipaka, meaning result or effect. The re-action or effect can itself also influence an action, and in this way, the chain of causation continues ad infinitum. When Buddhists talk about karma, they are normally referring to karma/action that is 'tainted' with ignorance - karma that continues to ensure that the being remains in the everlasting cycle of samsara.

There is also a completely different type of karma that is neither good nor bad, but liberating. This karma allows for the individual to break the uncontrolled cycle of rebirth which always leads to suffering, and thereby leave samsara to permanently enter Nirvana.

The Buddhist sutras explain that in order to generate liberating karma, we must first develop incredibly powerful concentration, and proper insight into the (un)reality of samsara. This concentration is akin to the states of mind required to be reborn in the Deva realm, and in itself depends upon a very deep training in ethical self-discipline.

This differentiation between good karma and liberating karma has been used by some scholars to argue that the development of Tantra depended upon Buddhist ideas and philosophies.

Karma is related to the notion of Buddhist rebirth - sometimes understood to be the same thing as reincarnation - which has its roots in the principle of Karma.

Jainism

Sikhism

Karma in Western Thought

The 'Law of Karma' is taught among western esoteric movements, like the Rosicrucians, as the 'Law of Cause and Consequence/Effect' ^[4] and, in Esoteric Christianity, as the Law being mentioned by Paul of Tarsus in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (15:55,56).

The idea of karma was popularized in the Western world through the work of the Theosophical Society. Kardecist and Western New Age reinterpretations of karma frequently cast it as a sort of luck associated with virtue: if one does good or spiritually valuable acts, one deserves and can expect good luck; conversely, if one does harmful things, one can expect bad luck or unfortunate happenings. In this conception, karma is affiliated with the Neopagan law of return or Threefold Law, the idea that the beneficial or harmful effects one has on the world will return to oneself.

Psychologist Melvin Lerner showed experimentally that people have a cognitive bias that predisposes them to think that innocent victims deserve their suffering and beneficiaries of good fortune their windfall. This just-world phenomenon bears striking resemblance to the principle of karma, and is hypothesized to be caused by the need for people to see the world as a just and orderly place in order to avoid cognitive dissonance.

Recent ideas from quantum and theoretical physics lend support to the idea that karma is a type of energy or force of nature. This view rejects karma as a sentient creature capable of making value judgments about good and evil deeds, since applying those labels would require judgments; rather it sees karma as a type of positive and negative energy, where negative energy can include things not seen as "being bad" like sadness and fear, and positive energy can be caused by being creative and solving problems as well as by exuding love and doing virtuous acts. This conception of karma handles the big problem with the more traditional view, because it explains why bad things happen to people who've done nothing "wrong"; it is due to the sort of energy they have sent into the universe with their thoughts and feelings, which exert as much power as actual actions. This view of karma centers around the idea that all things are made of karmic energy and thus able to affect each other. It is referred to as "omniverse karma" or "omni-karma" because it requires the existence of an omniverse, (a space which contains all the universes) as portrayed by superstring theory, with which it closely agrees, and includes concepts such as souls, psychic energy, synchronicity (a concept originally from Carl Jung, which says that things that happen at the same time are related), and ideas from quantum and theoretical physics (such as that time doesn't exist as we think it does).

Some observers have compared the action of karma to Western notions of sin and judgment by God or gods, while others understand karma as an inherent principle of the Universe without the intervention of any supernatural Being. In Hinduism, God does play a role and is seen as a dispenser of karma. If we accept that the basic ethical purpose of Karma is to behave responsibly, and that the tenet of Karma may be simply stated 'if you do good things, good things will happen to you - if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you', then it is possible for us to identify analogs with other religions that do not rely on Karma as a metaphysical assertion or doctrine.

Karma does not specifically concern itself with salvation - it is just as important within a basic socio-ethical stance. However, as a mechanic, Karma can be identified in purpose with the concept of God's relation to 'good works' as found within Christianity, as well as any other religions that assert an omnisicent, omnipotent judge, as Hinduism considers with respect to the role of Karma.

Similarly, the Egyptian goddess Maàt (the divine judge) played a similar an impartial role meting out justice in a manner very similar to Karma; Maat could not be appeased by faith or regret - an action done was done, with no space for the more recent theistic concepts of grace, as Hinduism allows for its role of God.

While the action of karma has often been compared with the Western notions of sin and judgment by God, karma instead has been commonly perceived by Westerners to operate as a law of nature without the intervention of any supernatural Being. That notion is incorrect in Hinduism, and holds true rather for Buddhism and Jainism.

Karma in Hinduism, differs from Buddhism and Jainism as it involves the role of God. Notably, unlike Buddhists, and Jains who believe that karma, as natural law, on its own, joins the soul when it reincarnates and comes to fruition, Hindus, believe in the role of God for linking karma to the person.

Strengths and Criticisms of Karma

Some see karma as a more reasonable concept than eternal damnation for the wicked.

Karma in Hinduism is used to explain the problem of evil that persists in spite of an omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent God; in this it is related to theodicy.

References and related external links

^ Max Heindel, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity (Part I, Chapter IV: Rebirth and the Law of Consequence), ISBN 0-911274-34-0, 1909
^ Cited from My Baba and I by Dr. John S. Hislop, page 95.

cited from Swami Sivananda's commentary on the Brahma Sutras
cited from Bhakti Schools of Vedanta by Swami Tapasyananda
cited from Shri K. Thirugna Sambantha's explanation of God's role and Karma. See Outline of Saivism, section on Karma.

External links

Hinduism portal

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