Tag: Karma

The Doctrine Of Karma

The origin of the word ‘karma’ maybe traced back to the Sanskrit root ‘kru’ meaning activity. The ‘karma’ is essential for the attainment of moksha. The basic philosophy of karma relates to the performer of karma, the circumstances under which action is done, the results or reaction of karma and inspirations lasing to karma. The references about karma theory are found in our Upanishads.

The doctrine of Karma is so deeply rooted in Hindu social setup that it is considered the ethical background of Hindu social organization. Every action of human beings enetes some results which affects and influences the course of his future life. This is known as karmaphal. The philosophy of karma establishes a close relationship between karma and soul on one hand and soul and re- birth on the other. As long as the accumulated effect, the good deeds and the bad deeds of a person, does not lead to purification and the karmas of a person are not up to the expectation of Dharma, the soul will continue to take pain and rebirth. The good deeds of the man will get him moksha or nirvana whereas his bad deeds will not enable him to attain moksha.

The doctrine of Karma is based on the following beliefs and assumptions:

  1. Definite Result: Every action has some reactions in one way or the other. Every good action will be rewarded and the bad action will never go unpunished.
  2. Indestructibility: The results of karma can never be destructed. The present life is the result of punishments and rewards of the past life. No one can destroy the effects of action because these are immortal.
  3. Necessity of Rebirth: Man cannot free himself from the consequences of his actions. Such consequences of his karma do not leave him even after his death. It is his past deeds that necessitates him to take birth again and again.
  4. Belief in immortality of self: The doctrine believes that the soul is immortal. The body may decay and turn the soul into ashes, but the soul survives. As destined to face the consequences of his deeds, the self or jiva enters a new body, after the death of the previous one.
  5. Determination of general condition of life: The difference with respect to prosperity and poverty, success and failure, happiness and grief and various amenities of people in the present life are believed to be the results of their good or bad performances in the past.
  6. Supremacy of Karma: The doctrine considers man as the maker of is own destiny. Theory of Karmaphal believes that every karma (action) has its own results (phal). Thus, there is no action which goes without its results.
  7. Karma Vipak: Karma is unlimited. It always moves in circular path. Therefore, it is continuous and never ending. It survives not only after death but even after the death of this universe.

The doctrine is karma is viewed as an important part of Hindu social setup. The doctrine inspires the good actions of the people in form of rewards in this as well as the afterlife. It also gives inspiration to man to attain a moral life and preaches self control.

The Concept of Karma and Re-birth in Hindu Philosophy

Karma and Reincarnation are one of the central concepts of Hinduism. Although it is also a concept that is explored by many Western Philosophies. This article however is restricted to the concept that is discussed in the Indian Scriptures and Indian Philosophies. Karma and re-birth also comprise the core of Indian Philosophies as it is through this that the difficulties in overcoming suffering is measured. The path that needs to be followed in order to attain liberation or freedom from bondage is often by annihilating Karma thereby annihilating Re-birth. 

The knowledge about laws of Karma and reincarnation is believed to be first revealed by God to sages who underwent deep and focused meditations. Thus they are considered to be direct revelations by God made to the sages (rishis) 

The concept of Karma is simple. Action and Reaction. According to Karma every action we do will have an equal reaction. Therefore if we do good things we may get good in return and if we do bad things then we may get bad returns. However, this Karma is not limited to present human life but also extends itself to upcoming lives of humans. If the deeds that we did in this life were full of evil then our next life will also be full of suffering. 

Reincarnation comes as a concept that mainly concerns soul. According to Hinduism soul is immortal. It never dies. It just jumps from one body to another. And this cycle of human birth, death and rebirth (jumping from body to body) is called samsara or reincarnation. 

The reason why reincarnation happens is because our soul is on a journey to maturation. In order to evolve to its maturity and finally become one with God, the soul has to go through this cycle of reincarnation until a certain number of times. It is said that when a person dies, the soul moves to a Second Realm where it temporarily stays in some other kind of body and when the time comes for rebirth, the soul moves to earthland and again possess a physical body/form. How the next life will be and how many times one will reincarnate majorly depends on our Karmic Deeds done in this life. It is also said that when a soul completes its number of physical rebirths and reaches maturation it further undergoes a cycle of inner development which eventually makes the soul to dissolve and become one with God.

All of these concepts are deeply explored in the Vedas and Upanishads. Most of the orthodox schools that has Vedas as their foundations also expound upon this concept with their own twists and philosophies. In some philosophy the concept of Karma and Re-birth is accepted however none of them accept God as the being who is responsible for Re-birth or Karma in any way. Philosophies such as Buddhism and Jainism do not accept the existence of God however they do believe in birth and re-birth. 

Hence, the concept is widely explored in almost every Indian Philosophy whether they agree with it or disagree with it.