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Karma
The Law of Action and Consequence
The universal principle that every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in kind. Karma is not punishment or reward, but the natural law of cause and effect that governs existence across lifetimes, shaping our present circumstances and future births.
Understanding Karma
Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म, literally "action" or "deed") is one of the foundational concepts in Hindu philosophy. It represents the cosmic law that every intentional action—physical, mental, or verbal—creates consequences that must be experienced by the doer. These consequences may manifest immediately or in future births through the cycle of samsara (reincarnation).
Three Types of Karma
- Sanchita Karma: The accumulated karma from all past lifetimes. This is the vast storehouse of unresolved karma waiting to bear fruit.
- Prarabdha Karma: The portion of sanchita karma allocated for the current lifetime. This is "destiny" or "fate" that determines the major circumstances of your birth and life experiences.
- Kriyamana (or Agami) Karma: The karma being created in the present moment through current actions. This becomes part of sanchita karma for the future.
The Three Qualities of Action
The Bhagavad Gita describes three types of karma based on intention and attachment:
- Sattva Karma: Actions performed with clarity, wisdom, and without attachment to results. These lead to purity and knowledge.
- Rajas Karma: Actions driven by desire, passion, and ego. These bind the doer to the material world and create future karmic debt.
- Tamas Karma: Actions performed in ignorance, delusion, or negligence. These lead to confusion and suffering.
Karma and Dharma
Karma is intimately connected with dharma (righteous duty). When one acts according to dharma—fulfilling one's duties without selfish attachment—good karma is generated. When one acts against dharma, negative karma accumulates. However, the highest teaching is Nishkama Karma—action without attachment to fruits, action performed purely as duty or service.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches Arjuna the concept of Karma Yoga, the path of selfless action. By performing one's dharma without attachment to results, dedicating all actions to the Divine, one can escape the binding effects of karma entirely and achieve moksha (liberation).
How Karma Works
The Mechanics of Karmic Law
- Intent Matters: Karma is created primarily by intention, not just the physical act. A harmful act done unknowingly creates less karma than one done with malicious intent.
- No Escape: Karmic consequences are inescapable. They may be delayed, but they will manifest. As the saying goes: "As you sow, so shall you reap."
- Self-Generated: You are the sole creator of your karma. No deity punishes or rewards—karma is the natural consequence of your own actions.
- Can Be Modified: While prarabdha karma (current life's destiny) cannot be avoided, its intensity can be reduced through righteous action, spiritual practice, and grace.
- Collective Karma: Groups, families, nations, and even humanity as a whole create collective karma that affects all members.
Breaking the Karmic Cycle
The ultimate goal in Hindu philosophy is not to accumulate good karma, but to transcend karma entirely and achieve liberation (Moksha). This can be accomplished through:
- Karma Yoga: The path of selfless action without attachment to results
- Jnana Yoga: The path of knowledge and self-realization, understanding the illusory nature of the individual self
- Bhakti Yoga: The path of devotion, surrendering all actions and their fruits to the Divine
- Raja Yoga: The path of meditation and mental discipline to transcend desires and attachments
Primary Sources
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Explore teachings on karma and action across the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, and Upanishads
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📚 Bhagavad Gita on Karma
Bhagavad Gita:Chapter 2:Verse 47
"You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."
Source: Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BCE - 200 CE
Bhagavad Gita:Chapter 3:Verse 5
"No one can remain without action even for a moment. Indeed, all beings are compelled to act by their qualities born of material nature (the three gunas)."
Source: Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BCE - 200 CE
Bhagavad Gita:Chapter 3:Verse 19
"Therefore, without attachment, constantly perform action which is duty, for by performing action without attachment, man reaches the Supreme."
Source: Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BCE - 200 CE
Bhagavad Gita:Chapter 4:Verse 17
"The intricacies of action (karma) are very hard to understand. Therefore, one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is."
Source: Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BCE - 200 CE
Bhagavad Gita:Chapter 18:Verse 23-25
"That action which is regulated and which is performed without attachment, without love or hatred, and without desire for fruitive results is said to be in the mode of goodness (sattva). But action performed with great effort by one seeking to gratify his desires, and enacted from a sense of false ego, is called action in the mode of passion (rajas). That action performed in ignorance and delusion without consideration of future bondage or consequences, which inflicts injury and is impractical, is said to be action in the mode of ignorance (tamas)."
Source: Bhagavad Gita, c. 200 BCE - 200 CE
📖 Upanishadic Teachings on Karma
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:Chapter 4:Section 4:Verse 5
"According to his actions (karma), according to his behavior, so he becomes. He who does good becomes good. He who does evil becomes evil. By virtuous action he becomes virtuous, by evil action he becomes evil. Others say that a person consists of desires. As is his desire, so is his will; as is his will, so is his deed; as is his deed, so is his destiny."
Source: Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, c. 700-500 BCE
Chandogya Upanishad:Chapter 5:Section 10:Verse 7
"Those who are of pleasant conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Brahmin, or the womb of a Kshatriya, or the womb of a Vaishya. But those who are of stinking conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a stinking womb, either the womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast."
Source: Chandogya Upanishad, c. 800-600 BCE
Katha Upanishad:Chapter 1:Section 2:Verse 14
"The wise man should surrender his words to his mind, and his mind to his knowing self, and his knowing self to the Great Self, and that to the Peaceful Self. He who has realized the eternal Self, which is beyond all thought and which is difficult to behold, dwells in the innermost recess of the heart. Such a person transcends pleasure and pain."
Source: Katha Upanishad, c. 600-400 BCE
Yoga Sutras:Chapter 2:Sutra 12-14
"The repository of karmas (actions) has its root in afflictions and is experienced in seen (present) and unseen (future) births. As long as this root exists, it ripens into birth, life span, and experience. These (birth, life, experience) have joy or sorrow as their fruit, according to whether their causes are virtue or vice."
Source: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, c. 200-400 CE
📜 Mahabharata on Karma
Mahabharata:Vana Parva:Chapter 207:Verse 13
"Never does a person enjoy or suffer from the consequences of another person's karma. The body may perish but karma survives and leads to another embodiment. Man alone is responsible for his karma."
Source: Mahabharata, c. 400 BCE - 400 CE
Mahabharata:Shanti Parva:Chapter 174:Verse 44
"As a man himself sows, so he himself reaps; no man inherits the good or evil act of another man. The fruit is of the same nature as the seed that is sown; a good action will produce good results, a bad action bad results."
Source: Mahabharata, c. 400 BCE - 400 CE