Hindu Karma: No Escape from Cause and Effect

Karma is not Fate. This is a common but mistaken belief.

Karma is Action. Every action of a being capable of knowing right from wrong lays the seeds for the future. Good Karma paves the way for a happier life, especially one with a greater opportunity for union with God. Bad Karma's seeds will result in suffering and more difficulty in achieving liberation.

Humans, though, still have free will. Although, as I understand it, the wise exercise of free will will be easier for those with a greater amount of good Karma.

Karma is a form of cause and effect.

Some seeds of Karma will sprout in this life; some in one's future lives. Hindus, generally, believe in reincarnation. You cannot escape your Karmic residue through death. You continue on your rounds of birth and death -- until you learn the lesson of Dharma and Karma. Then upon death the atman, that drop of divinity which is the real "you" becomes one with the Ocean of Brahman.

God cannot excuse one's Karma or dilute it. (However, some segments of Hinduism may disagree with this, or so I've read.)

Karma is part of Dharma, part of the cosmic law which is part of the "body" of Brahman (God). For this reason, it seems as though Karmic effects would have to come to pass.

A popular way of defining Karma: What goes around, comes around.
Or as the Bible says: As you sow, so shall you reap.

(Caveat: Hinduism is enormously variegated and complex. This is just my attempt to give you a sense of the meaning of Karma.)

Hindu Dharma ---- the Framework of the World

The word, "'dharma" is used in both Hinduism and Buddhism. Some meanings are similar and some are not.

Dharma within Hinduism is seen as the universal law that governs everything and everyone. The idea of dharma arose from the most ancient sacred scriptures of Hinduism or Santana Dharma. There were four Vedas, the most well known being the Rig-Veda. The four contain the bedrock of morality, religion, philosophy, ritual ... in present day Hindu life and belief. The four Vedas may have been gathered together around 1500 BCE, and, are, generally considered the oldest religious texts in continuous use. Somewhat later appeared the Upanishads and finally the Bhagavad Gita -- which ended those texts considered most authoritative and basic in the Hindu faith.

Dharma holds everything together. It is not so much a set of commandments as a word for the very nature of all existence. It is the "cosmic norm" --- which when deviated from brings unhappiness, instability, and malevolence. In Hinduism, especially in Vedanta --- Brahman, the Supreme Absolute is considered impersonal, but not in the sense Westerners might think. For example, Brahman is the essence of being, existence and bliss (satchidananda), but Brahman cannot be conceptualized. Therefore nothing we can say is what Brahman is. If we could do this --- Brahman would not be the Absolute.

Many Hindus do not believe the world was created as those of the three monotheisms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do. Reality --- the universe, the earth, sentient creatures -- are all Brahman. They all are expressions of Brahman, and, have no real self-identity. Some followers of Santana Dharma (Hinduism) consider that observable world as maya -- illusion. In reality it is Brahman. How could Brahman construct things, people, animals? All there is -- is Brahman. Brahman is All.

This universal framework, law "holds" or "sustains" the world and its beings. Dharma -- these ways of living, principles of ethics, qualities of compassion, wisdom and equanimity form a web that sustains stable, healthy, beneficent life. This dharma, IMO, is really a visible (to us) aspect of Brahman. Dharma is not Brahman's commandments or rules --- dharma is Brahman, Absolute Reality's Nature. This is why Dharma is absolute as Brahman is.

When a nation departs from Dharmic behavior and values, when man mistreats the natural world, when he shows cruelty and oppression ---- Dharma weakens and Adharma
becomes dominant. Adharma destroys harmony, creates conflict. Things begin to fall apart. Evil and misery become rampant.

To restore Dharma, Hindus believe, the Absolute "projects" or "emanates" avatars or incarnations of divinity -- at various times and places -- to lead mankind back to Dharma and restore order and harmony. Among these avatars, Hindus include Krishna and Rama, but many also regard Buddha and Jesus as avatars.

Another related meaning of Dharma is one's personal "Dharma" --- or the role that "God" wants you to play in the Divine Drama. Dharma in this sense is similar to "duty". The Bhagavad Gita says that it is better for one to fulfill his/her designated dharma imperfectly -- that that of another --- perfectly. This makes me wonder about all the persons we see from time to time on television talking about their plans for who they wany to be. If the actors in a play decided that they wanted to play someone else's part ---- it would be chaos.

Westerners are mostly centered in their egos. Hindu's believe that the ego is fundamentally an illusion. Oh, it may be relatively "real". The inner true reality of a person is the atman which can be thought of as the "soul" --- but for many Hindus it is a drop of divinity (Brahman) and upon one's death --- if one's karma permits --- the individual returns to the Ocean.