Karma, Law of

One of the perplexing questions facing religious systems relates to the uneven distribution of good and bad fortune in the world. Some are born healthy and some with poor health, some are born to wealthy parents and some to impoverished ones, some grow up in happy homes and some in dysfunctional families, and some succeed in life with little effort and some face only hurdles and accidents in life. All this seems incompatible with the vision of a God who is merciful, just, and compassionate.

Various traditions have come up with various explanations for this ancient and all too common feature of human societies. Hindu thinkers resolve the paradox in terms of what is known as the law of karma.

The word karma ordinarily means action in Sanskrit. In Vedic literature it generally meant ritualistic duties. In this context, however, it refers to any consequential action. Some of the acts that we do are inconsequential, while others have consequences. Scribbling on a piece of paper while waiting for a person may be inconsequential, but offering a helping hand to a person in need is a consequential action. A karma has some impact on others or on the world around us. The law of karma states that every karma has an experiential effect on the doer, that is, every individual will experience something as a result of his/her karma.

This experience (consequence on oneself) resulting from a karma may occur right away or at some future time. Furthermore, our current significant experiences are the results of our past karma. Indeed no one can escape the sweet fruits or the bitter berries arising from one's karma.

But what about little children who undergo pain? And how do we explain the fact that many people get away with all sorts of sins and crimes without ever apparently experiencing anything for their misdeeds? It is in this context that the notion of reincarnation becomes meaningful.

According to Hindu metaphysics, the âtman (soul) (pronounced aathman) migrates from body to body. The phenomenon of (physical) death is thus the disembodiment of the âtman that later encases itself in another body. One of the earliest expressions of this idea of the transmigration of the âtman is to be found in the Brhadaaranyaka Upanishad (IV. 4.4).

Just as a leech that reaches the end of a blade of grass jumps over to another blade, so too the âtman, after leaving behind an unconscious body, enters another body. A famous passage in the Bhagavad Gita (11.22) propounds the doctrine of metempsychosis with this simile: Just as a man discards worn-out garments and puts on new ones, so too the souls abandon the old bodies and take on new ones.

Reincarnation or the cycle of birth and death is known as samsâra (pronounced samsaara). It is a basic tenet of Hinduism. Its fundamental thesis is the periodic reemergence of the âtman in physical encasements, that is, the continuity of the âtman on the temporal plane in association with different bodies. Consider the words in a book. We find that the same [Page 248]letter occurs over and over again in different contexts in different pages of the book. Likewise, the same soul appears in different bodies at different times. In other words, according to the notion of reincarnation, each of us has been on earth before in other bodies, and we will return again many more times in the future.

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