Karma (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root kri to do, make, denoting action)

Action, the causes and consequences of action; that which produces change. One of the primary postulates of every comprehensive system of philosophy, described as a universal law, unceasingly active throughout universal nature and rooted in cosmic harmony, in its operations existing from eternity, inevitable, inherent in the very nature of things. It is action, absolute harmony, the adjuster; it preserves equilibrium by compensating and adjusting all actions, excessive or defective.

Hence it is called the law of retribution, implying neither reward nor punishment, based on nature's own urge of harmonious equilibrium. As such it has been personalized as Nemesis and by many other names, a practice which lends itself to popular imagining of avenging deities, such as God or Gods, Furies, Fates, Destiny, etc. As there are no such things as inanimate beings in the universe, it is not surprising to hear of karmic agents and of scribes or lipika who record karma. Karma must necessarily be transmitted by living beings of one grade or another, because there is no other means possible, and universal nature is but a vast, virtually frontierless being whose entire structure, laws, and operations are the innumerable hierarchies of beings in all-various grades, which thus not only condition nature, but are in fact universal nature itself. By our acts we create living beings which act upon other people and ultimately react upon ourselves. These beings, then, are agents of karma on one plane; on higher planes other orders of beings are such agents.

"An Occultist or a philosopher will not speak of the goodness or cruelty of Providence; but, identifying it with Karma-Nemesis, he will teach that nevertheless it guards the good and watches over them in this, as in future lives; and that it punishes the evil-doer -- aye, even to his seventh rebirth. So long, in short, as the effect of his having thrown into perturbation even the smallest atom in the Infinite World of harmony, has not been finally readjusted. For the only decree of Karma -- an eternal and immutable decree -- is absolute Harmony in the world of matter as it is in the world of Spirit. It is not, therefore, Karma that rewards or punishes, but it is we, who reward or punish ourselves according to whether we work with, through and along with nature, abiding by the laws on which that Harmony depends, or -- break them.

"Nor would the ways of Karma be inscrutable were men to work in union and harmony, instead of disunion and strife. For our ignorance of those ways -- which one portion of mankind calls the ways of Providence, dark and intricate; while another sees in them the action of blind Fatalism; and a third, simple chance, with neither gods nor devils to guide them -- would surely disappear, if we would but attribute all these to their correct cause. With right knowledge, or at any rate with a confident conviction that our neighbours will no more work to hurt us than we would think of harming them, the two-thirds of the World's evil would vanish into thin air. Were no man to hurt his brother, Karma-Nemesis would have neither cause to work for, nor weapons to act through. . . . We stand bewildered before the mystery of our own making, and the riddles of life that we will not solve, and then accuse the great Sphinx of devouring us. But verily there is not an accident in our lives, not a misshapen day, or a misfortune, that could not be traced back to our own doings in this or in another life" (SD 1:643-4).

The effect of karma on human beings is merely the natural reaction from their actions, which may be described as only half-actions, for they are not completed until the reaction has ensued. Since the consequences of acts do not necessarily ensue immediately, it follows that at any stage of our career we may experience the results of actions performed a long time in the past.

Karma does not obviate free will or imply fatalism or mechanistic determinism. It is not merely a mechanical or mechanistic chain of linked cause and effect, by which every act is predetermined by some previous act and by no other cause. Man is a divine spark expressing itself through a series of vehicles, forming by means of these vehicles a series of egos, each conscious and operative on its own plane. Through his contract with higher planes, he has the power of bringing new forces into operation, so he is not inexorably bound in a mechanistic sense by his karma. On the other hand, to speak of an absolutely free will is meaningless; the will becomes more and more emancipated from conditions as we penetrate deeper into the recesses of our nature; but it must always be actuated by motive of some kind, and hence, being conditioned by motive, it comes under the operation of the universal law of karma.

There are many types of karma, such as human, racial, national, family, individual, etc. A chain of causation, stretched out in time, will be intersected by any given present moment; so that in speaking of a person, we may say he sums up in himself both his past and his future, he is his own karma. Since the whole universe and all the beings which compose it are linked and blended together, it follows that no person can have exclusive interests and that the karma of all beings is linked and, in a profound sense, identical. Karma in its moral aspect is cosmic justice. It should not interfere in any way with helping others, nor does it render futile the exercise of compassion, for we incur as much responsibility by refraining from action as by acting.

"Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruition. Inaction in a deed of mercy becomes an action in a deadly sin" (VS 31).

(See also: Karma, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Karma literally means "deed" or "act" and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction which governs all life. Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will creating his own destiny. According to the Vedas, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concommitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate reaction. Not all karmas rebound immediately. Some accumulate ...

See also:

Karma in Hinduism, Karma in Hinduism - Definition, Karma in Hinduism - Three kinds of karma, Karma in Hinduism - The role of God, Karma in Hinduism - Sivananda on karma, Karma in Hinduism - Hindu scriptures on mitigation of karma by God, Karma in Hinduism - A Saivite interpretation of karma, Karma in Hinduism - A Vaishnavite interpretation of karma, Karma in Hinduism - Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Karma in Hinduism - References, Karma in Hinduism - Related Links

Read more here: » Karma in Hinduism: Encyclopedia II - Karma in Hinduism - Definition

Karma - Hinduism. Main article: Karma in Hinduism Karma in Hinduism differs from karma in Buddhism and Jainism, and involves the role of God. Within Hinduism, Karma appears to function primarily as a means to explain the Problem of evil. One of the first and most dramatic illustrations of Karma can be found in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. The original Hindu concept of karma was later enhanced by several other mov ...

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Karma, Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions, Karma - Hinduism, Karma - Buddhism, Karma - Analogs of Karma - God the judge, Karma - Western interpretation, Karma - New Age and Theosophy, Karma - Psychology

Read more here: » Karma: Encyclopedia II - Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions

If we accept that the basic ethical purpose of Karma is to behave responsibly, and that the tenet of Karma may be simply stated 'if you do good things, good things will happen to you - if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you', then it is possible for us to identify analogs with other religions that do not rely on Karma as a metaphysical assertion or doctrine. Karma does not specifically concern itself with salvation - it is just as important within a basic socio-ethical stance. However, as a mechanic, Karma can be identifi ...

See also:

Karma, Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions, Karma - Hinduism, Karma - Buddhism, Karma - Analogs of Karma - God the judge, Karma - Western interpretation, Karma - New Age and Theosophy, Karma - Psychology

Read more here: » Karma: Encyclopedia II - Karma - Analogs of Karma - God the judge

pancha nitya karma (karmas): (Sanskrit) "Five constant duties." A traditional regimen of religious practice for Hindus:

1)   dharma (virtuous living),

2)    upasana (worship),

3)    utsava (holy days),

4)    tirthayatra (pilgrimage) and

5)    samskaras (sacraments.)

See: dharma, festival, samskara, tirthayatra.

(See also: Pancha nitya karma (karmas:, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

A large majority of Christians belive that salvation is completely a gift of God's grace through Christ received by faith, and that to think otherwise is offensive. For them, the idea of the Abrahamic God, dispersing decisions through ineffable and omniscient judgements, makes the concept of karma redundant. Therefore, only God through grace can save humans in the afterlife; humankind is usually thought to be too sinful to achieve salvation through its own means. Traditional doctrine on forgiveness and remission of sins is very different fro ...

See also:

Karma in Christianity, Karma in Christianity - Karma in the Christian context, Karma in Christianity - Christian teachings and scripture, Karma in Christianity - Grace in Karma, Karma in Christianity - See Also

Read more here: » Karma in Christianity: Encyclopedia II - Karma in Christianity - Karma in the Christian context

seed karma: Dormant or anarabdha karma. All past actions which have not yet sprouted.

See: karma.

(See also: Seed karma, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Sat-karma - pious deeds recommended in the karma-kansa section of the Vedas.

(See also: Sat-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

An academic and religious definition was mentioned above. Millions of people believe in it and is a part of many cultures and the psyches of millions of people. Others without religious backgrounds, especially in western cultures or with Christian upbringings, become convinced of the existence of Karma. For some, karma is a more reasonable concept than eternal damnation for the wicked. Spirituality or a belief that virtue is rewarded and sin creates ...

See also:

Karma, Karma - Karma in the Dharma-based religions, Karma - Hinduism, Karma - Buddhism, Karma - Analogs of Karma - God the judge, Karma - Western interpretation, Karma - New Age and Theosophy, Karma - Psychology

Read more here: » Karma: Encyclopedia II - Karma - Western interpretation

Three Karmas

The three conditions, inheritances or karmas, of which there are several groups, including the karmas of deeds, words and thoughts.

 (See also: Three Karmas, Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma-viddha - vaisnava-dharma which is adulterated with karma, activities directed toward material benefits.

(See also: Karma-viddha, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

prarabdha karma: (Sanskrit) "Action that has been unleashed or aroused."

See: karma.

(See also: Prarabdha karma, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Naimittika-karma - occasional religious duties induced by specific circumstances.

(See also: Naimittika-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Nitya-karma - daily obligatory religious duties.

(See also: Nitya-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Kamya-karma - religious rites performed to obtain some specific material benefit.

(See also: Kamya-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma-adhikara - eligibility for pious action leading to material gain.

(See also: Karma-adhikara, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Subha-karma - activities producing auspicious results.

(See also: Subha-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Smarta-karma - social and religious rites prescribed by the smrtisastras.

(See also: Smarta-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Avaidha-karma - actions which defy the regulations of sastra.

(See also: Avaidha-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Asubha-karma - activities producing inauspicious results.

(See also: Asubha-karma, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

The central teaching of the Karma Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra or "Great Seal". This doctrine focuses on four principal stages of meditative practice (the Four Yogas of Mahamudra), namely: The development of single-pointedness of mind, The transcendence of all conceptual elaboration, The cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a "single taste", The fruition of the path, which is beyond any contrived acts of meditation. It is through these four stages of development that the practitioner is said to att ...

See also:

Karma Kagyu, Karma Kagyu - Origins, Karma Kagyu - Teachings

Read more here: » Karma Kagyu: Encyclopedia II - Karma Kagyu - Teachings

karma phala: fruit, results, of actions in the world.

(See also: karma phala, Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)