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Understanding Karma, a pillar of Hinduism

The concept of Karma is one of the pillars that support the edifice of Hinduism, the oldest living religion, that was built assiduously for thousands of years by saintly scholars. They devoted their lives in meditative yoga to transcend the worldly phenomena of time, space and causality in order to find the Cosmic  Truth, and record and analyze it. But most of them never left their names to those doctrines that were developed  by generations of Gurus and their disciples, who in their turn emerged as Gurus themselves and trained other disciples to continue the noble task. Just about a dozen names figure intermittently in the several voluminous doctrines.

Thus one of the profoundest philosophies that has withstood the vicissitudes of evolution boasts of no founder. Why? Because recording their names would  have amounted to an egoistic declaration; and that was bad karma. Karma as a foundation of religion is a peculiar aspect of Hinduism.

The concept of Karma figures consistently in the Vedas and Upanishad, the Vedanta being a part of the latter. Not that it is a scriptural conundrum, but  Karma can be best understood by a comparison with Newton’s 3^rd law of nature. It envisages, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Newton’s observation relates to the external nature. The Vedanta which is in countenance with science advocates that we have an internal nature which is controlled by divine forces inherent in external nature.

If you punch a concrete wall with your fist, the wall hits you back with the same amount of force you had engaged in hitting it. Your bad actions in this world will inevitably hit you back too; just as your good actions will ensure good consequences reflected either in ensuring, say, unburdened living, or in ameliorating accumulated bad karma.

We are put through a cycle of birth and death because, “We are the results of all reincarnations  through Karma,” which needs to be worked out, to quote Swami Vivekananda, who was also fond of mentioning the rather poetic sentiment from the Buddhist lore on karmic reincarnation, “One lamp  lighted from another – different lamps, but the same light,” life after life.

“The law of karma can never be hoodwinked.”

Karma envelopes a person’s life in its entirety, his/her thought, speech and action are unceasingly under the karmic scanner. The Swami: “The law of karma can never be hoodwinked.” It is an inter-play of cause and effect. An action being the cause invariably produces a reaction as the effect, which in turn gets converted as the cause again. It goes on ad infinitum till the karma is worked out. “It is obvious there can be no such thing as free will and free existence.” Living, therefore, is really a dance to the tune of nature.

That being so, how can karma be worked out? For, no matter however  methodically I plan my life on the lines of goodliness and Godliness to earn good karma, the external nature that has a grip on my internal nature may continue to play havoc with me. The masters say that it really depends on the degree and extent of good karma.

Exceptional and exemplary karma may bear immediate beneficial fruit postponing the consequences of bad karma for a time; but there is no respite from it. Good thoughts and kind words have the potentiality of weakening the accumulated bad karma for their dissipation more easily than otherwise. Consistent good karma can seize a sorrowful life and mold it into a pleasurable one. For this, even rendering service to others will have to be undertaken without ego. The scriptural instruction is for you to feel gratified in being able to render that particular service, and remain thankful to the beneficiary for the opportunity that has been provided.

The concept of reincarnation is also sought to be understood from the reactions of a child to various situations and circumstances. The child, being exposed to new audio-visuals in the panorama of life as he/she grows up, exhibits various feelings and sentiments like fear and pleasure to situations, without having been tutored about them. This can happen only because he/she has innate memories of past experience.

Good Karma, Bad Karma

Meditation and yoga have a decisive role to play in initiation of life with good karma. Ordinarily, the soul at its lowest state gets entangled with the senses tirelessly prompting to live a life of ego and desire, and remains confused. Yoga is a  process to remind the soul about its divine origin, and the need to get back to its source by shaking off the shackles of its slavery, and gain mastery over nature. Gradually it starts to ascend to its desirable level of consciousness. Once it reaches the level of higher consciousness, it becomes infallible.

The Vedanta with its meaningful system of meditation and yoga is considered a science which has the human body as its laboratory. The seeker can observe the accruing result of meditation and yoga in his/her own being. It cannot be displayed to others because it comes only as a response to personal endeavor.

The science of Vedanta resolves the question of why there should be a merciful God of love above, and so much of pain and misery coupled with a radically unjust system of stark inequality among His children on the earth. We make and unmake our fate through our karma. There is no other explanation. Can God play the tyrant?

(C) Tapas Mukherjee

Tapas Mukherjee was a journalist in India for over 40 years. He has written on many topics for several publications, but was a business journalist in the latter part of his career with the ABP group of publications. Since his retirement, he has immersed himself with research on spirituality, and the journey of the soul.

Do you think Karma is the deciding factor? Please share your thoughts!