Sri:

Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma in simple terms – 6

What is the Karma law?

The law of Karma is unique to Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism. It has also been adopted in other Dharma-based religions that are offshoots of Hinduism namely Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

Karma can mean different things depending on the context. The principal meaning in this article will be that relating to the law of consequences of actions (more below). But sometimes karma can mean the action itself (and even selfless action when we talk of karma yoga, another whole new chapter!). Sometimes it can mean the consequence of action.  You must have heard people say, ‘the karmas of my previous birth are bothering me now’! Here they mean the effects of their previous acts. Other times it can also mean duty, for example the karma of a householder is to protect his/her family. Normally it is easy to know which meaning is used from the context in which it appears.

So, what is this law? It is simple and logical. Just like in the physical world, we have Newton’s law of physics which says that every action has a reaction, Karma law says every word, every thought, every action has a consequence (an effect). A good thought/speech/deed gives a good karma (effect), a bad thought/speech/deed gives a bad karma (effect). Who gets these karmas and who experiences their effects? The jivatma (individual)! The jivatma keeps accumulating good and bad karmas in each life and keeps experiencing their effects.

[Q: How do we know about this law?]

Karma and rebirth

So, all that we experience in life are the result of our past karmas, the consequences of our thoughts/words/actions. But past karmas of when? Here we need to pause a bit and introduce rebirths. The concept of rebirths is an important distinction between Dharma-based religions and others (for instance Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam). In Hinduism, every atma has many ‘births’!

What do we mean by birth? It is the association of an atma with a particular body. When an atma – which is consciousness – gets associated with a particular body, we say it is born. When the body perishes, that is at death, it enters another one. And this goes on until the atma is liberated (i.e. attains the state of moksha – joins the Supreme Being Paramatma, Brahman). The cycle of births and deaths is called samsara. The following verse from the Gita, which we saw earlier (in article 3), says it beautifully.

Bhagavad Gita 2.20

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ।।   2.20 ।।

na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre

The self (atma) is never born: It never dies; having come into existence, It never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, abiding and primeval, It is not slain when the body is slain.

It changes ‘form’ from one birth to another, just like we change clothes… once our clothes are worn out, we discard them and wear new ones. Similarly, when the body becomes old, the atma discards it and takes a new body. This analogy is also in the Bhagavad Gita (2.22).

The new form that it takes and the new life that it gets are directly dependent on its karmas. It can be ‘reborn’ as anything – plant, insect, animal, human being, deva 😊. When the atma changes bodies, it takes with it all its remaining karmas in a subtle way.

The ultimate aim of an atma is moksha, that is, to be freed from samsara and attain Paramatma.

How does karma operate?

As the atma accumulates good karmas (from its good thoughts/words/actions), the atma will go to spiritually higher levels of beings, meaning beings that can practice spirituality to attain the Supreme, and vice versa. So, there are three possibilities:

1. The atma is liberated… all karmas vanish
2. The atma takes birth is a ‘spiritually superior’ form (it had more good karmas than bad karmas).
3. The atma takes birth in a ‘spiritually inferior’ form (it had more bad karmas than good karmas).

[Q. What does it mean ‘spiritually inferior’ or ‘spiritually superior’?]

Precautions and caveats on the understanding of Karma law:

Be careful of possible misinterpretation and misuse of this theory.

A common misinterpretation of this Karma theory is that it implies fatality. This law does NOT imply fatality but ON THE CONTRARY, every being is free to do whatever they want, and it is what they do, out of choice, that determinestheir karma. At all times, one can decide to be good and accumulate good karmas.

Three types of karma:

1. Prarabdha karma (past karma that has already started giving effect in the current birth) 
2. Samchita karma (past karma which has not yet started giving effect)
3. Agami karma (the karma which is added in the current life).

Let me narrate a small story here which illustrates how Karma theory provides a logical and scientific explanation of the state of things in the world. Once a great acharya asked someone to go to a maternity hospital and check out on the babies born on that day. This person came back saying, “many babies are born today – one is healthy, another has some issues, another born into a rich family, another’s parents are very poor, and so on”. The acharya asked “tell me, if God is fair, neutral and equal to all, why would there be such differences among babies who are just born and have not yet done any actions, or not had any thoughts, nor spoke any words yet?”. The answer can be either ‘God is not neutral and gives some beings good things and some others bad things, right from the start’, OR ‘it is their karma (from previous births) operating here’! The second answer provides a neat explanation of why God (Paramatma) can be affirmed to be neutral despite apparent differences in birth situations. These differences arise out of the effects of one’s own past decisions. Of course, Paramatma can intervene at any time to change any situation and will, provided we surrender to Paramatma.

Now, an important caveat due to a possible misuse:

People often misuse the theory to say that we do not need to care for people who suffer as they are suffering because of their karma. Just because there is a reason (previous karma) for their current state, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything to improve their situation. It is our duty to help people in need or people who are suffering, irrespective of why they are suffering. And we know that not doing our duty will give us a bad karma! So we should care for people who are suffering, and that is what the karma theory says too!

Are there any other goals apart from moksha?

Moksha – attaining Paramatma (Brahman) and never being born again – is the ultimate goal in life. But while waiting for moksha, how should one lead one’s life in this world? Karma law is all about life in this world. Sanatana Dharma recognises three other goals in this worldly life: dharma, artha, kaama. We add a few words on each of them before finishing this article. Dharma is good conduct in short – right thought, right word and right action. We might want to elaborate on the concept of Dharma in a later article if there is interest. Artha is prosperity, material wealth. Thus, material wealth is a legitimate aim to be pursued but to the extent of what is required for a decent sustenance of oneself as well as one’s family (no place for greed here). Kaama is desire for good things in life such as a good family, good children, good social relations, and living in harmony with other species and Nature.

Note that there is a specific order in the above goals – dharma, artha, kaama, moksha. They start with dharma. Why? To stress that all goals have to be achieved through dharmic means. All goals can be honestly and legitimately pursued at different stages in life provided the ways to achieve them are dharmic.