Bhaktisandesam / What is Karma ?

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Hari-Om

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About the Law of Cause & Effect

 

 

The self-controlled person, moving among objects,

with his senses free from attachment and malevolence

and brought under his own control, attains tranquility.

~ Bhagavad Gita II.64

 

The law of cause and effect forms an integral part of Hindu

philosophy. This law is termed as 'karma', which means to 'act'. The

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines it as the " sum

of person's actions in one of his successive states of existence,

viewed as deciding his fate for the next " . In Sanskrit karma

means " volitional action that is undertaken deliberately or

knowingly " . This also dovetails self-determination and a strong will

power to abstain from inactivity. Karma is the differentia that

characterizes human beings and distinguishes him from other creatures

of the world.

 

The theory of karma harps on the Newtonian principle that every

action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Every time we think

or do something, we create a cause, which in time will bear its

corresponding effects. And this cyclical cause and effect generates

the concepts of samsara (or the world) and birth and reincarnation.

It is the personality of a human being or the jivatman - with its

positive and negative actions - that causes karma.

 

Karma could be both the activities of the body or the mind,

irrespective of the consideration whether the performance brings

fruition immediately or at a later stage. However, the involuntary or

the reflex actions of the body cannot be called karma.

 

Every person is responsible for his or her acts and thoughts, so each

person's karma is entirely his or her own. Occidentals see the

operation of karma as fatalistic. But that is far from true since it

is in the hands of an individual to shape his own future by schooling

his present.

 

Hindu philosophy, which believes in life after death, holds the

doctrine that if the karma of an individual is good enough, the next

birth will be rewarding, and if not, the person may actually devolve

and degenerate into a lower life form. In order to achieve good karma

it is important to live life according to dharma or what is right.

 

According to the ways of life chosen by a person, his karma can be

classified into three kinds. The satvik karma, which is without

attachment, selfless and for the benefit of others; the rajasik

karma, which is selfish where the focus is on gains for oneself; and

the tamasik karma, which is undertaken without heed to consequences,

and is supremely selfish and savage.

 

In this context Dr. D N Singh in his A Study of Hinduism, quotes

Mahatma Gandhi's lucid differentiation between the three. According

to Gandhi, the tamasik works in a mechanic fashion, the rajasik

drives too many horses, is restless and always doing something or

other, and the satvik works with peace in mind.

 

Swami Shivananda, of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh classifies

karma into three kinds on the basis of action and reaction: Prarabdha

(so much of past actions as has given rise to the present birth),

Sanchita (the balance of past actions that will give rise to future

births - the storehouse of accumulated actions), Agami or Kriyamana

(acts being done in the present life).

 

According to the scriptures, the discipline of unattached action

(Nishkâma Karma) can lead to salvation of the soul. So they recommend

that one should remain detached while carrying out his duties in

life. As Lord Krishna said in the Gita: " To the man thinking about

the objects (of the senses) arises attachment towards them; from

attachment, arises longing; and from longing arises anger. From anger

comes delusion; and from delusion loss of memory; from loss of

memory, the ruin of discrimination; and on the ruin of

discrimination, he perishes " .

 

 

Jai Shree Krishna !

 

Source: Hinduism.