Understanding the Concept of Karma

Wisdom is in not getting stuck on the desire for a particular outcome of our actions, says KISHOR KULKARNI, who adds that there is not much point in agonising over why something happened the way it did or why something that was expected, did not happen

The concept of karma is very profound. Shrimad Bhagavad Gita says, “Gahana karmano gati” (4:17). Fundamentally, karmic law is understood to mean that the kind of karma you perform gets you an appropriate fruit in return. It is akin to Newton’s law of thermodynamics ― action and reaction are equal and opposite. 

However, in real life, we often find it difficult to reconcile this karmic law. Many times, we believe our effort did not bear the expected fruit. On the contrary, we are often disappointed that someone’s bad karma did not bring him appropriate punishment.

How do we explain this? We take recourse to rebirth and carrying over of our karma across many lives. We tell ourselves that even if our karma or someone else’s karma did not bear the expected fruit in this life, it will surely do so in some future life. This is simply an attempt to kick the can down the road, to rationalise something that we are otherwise finding irrational. 

However, there is no proof that there is rebirth of an individual soul that carries the baggage of past life karmas that were performed by a body that is no more. Basically, splitting of the soul into many distinct ‘pieces’ with a unique separate identity that sustains across many lives and bodies is itself not valid. The soul is a single whole that cannot be cut or broken by any weapon, asserts the Gita.

So, how do we rationalise this belief? I have come to believe that the karma concept and karmic law are much more acceptable, not at an individual level, but rather at the collective, all-encompassing level of the whole universe. Karma is a single integrated whole which is the sum total of individual actions of myriad physical entities operating under many laws of physical nature. 

The interaction of individual actions is often complex and hence the result is unpredictable. However, that does not make karmic law invalid. The result is certainly always in accordance with Newton’s law mentioned earlier. But it is often beyond our limited perception and conditioned intellect.

We should consider two distinct perspectives on karmic law ― one that is worldly, and the other that is spiritual. As far as the worldly perspective goes, the outcome of one’s karma may be trivial, like for example, when we push a book on the table, it moves. In such a case, the outcome of our action is quite certain and predictable. 

However, even in the physical realm, there are often outcomes that are unpredictable and when they do materialise, they may surprise us. For example, one student studies hard and well and hence expects to pass the examination. But he falls ill on the day of the examination or he blanks out while writing the paper or the paper is too tough and he fails! 

On the other hand, another student does not study much and is expected to fail in the examination. But he prepares only the “expected questions” just two weeks before the examination, gets the same questions in the examination and passes!

The outcomes in the physical world are strictly in accordance with the laws of nature and the laws of land. However, the operation of these laws becomes unpredictable, at times, because of the ‘whims and fancies’ of people who are important players in the game of life in this world. Hence, the outcomes cannot often be predicted with certainty. 

In this regard, I will narrate one experience from my childhood with a guilty conscience. I was in the ninth standard when one of my teachers called two or three of us (the toppers in the class) to his home to help him in correcting the answer papers of the middle school (seventh standard) scholarship examination. 

He told us not to bother about really reading the complete answer, but instead, to just cursorily see and give some marks that we deemed fit! Now you can imagine how it must have distorted the ‘performance’ of the students giving that examination! Thankfully, we did not do such a thing ever again!

It, therefore, becomes clear why verse 2:47 of the Gita, Karmanyewadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadachan; ma karm phalheturbhoorma sangostu akarmani is regarded as the golden exhortation of the Gita. As an embodied soul, we cannot discard karma because the situation in which we are forces us to act. 

However, wisdom is in not getting stuck on the desire for a particular outcome of our actions. We should have faith that this world is operating in accordance with a Divine plan and hence everything belongs to its space and time. It then follows that there is not much point in agonising over why something happened the way it did or why something that was expected did not happen. 

Some analysis may be natural to see if you made any mistakes and which can be avoided in future. However, overdoing such analysis may be useless and even counterproductive. Besides, no two situations may be 100 per cent alike. 

So, the so-called lessons learnt from a past situation may not necessarily help in a future situation that may seem similar. Just keep moving on without carrying any baggage and always live only in the present moment.

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Kishor Kulkarni is a technologist by education with work experience of about 30 years, spanning banking and information technology. After he developed spiritual interests around the age of 50, he quit his job to pursue spirituality. He has written many books on spirituality and self-published them on Amazon. Many of his articles have been published in the ‘Speaking Tree’ column of the ‘Times of India’.

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Featured image by Dhamma Medicine from Pixabay