karma in hinduism

KARMA is one of the basic concepts of Hinduism, which is closely linked to the idea of reincarnation. Since Hinduism believes in transmigration of soul, Karma is used to explain the fortunate or unfortunate status of a person in life. The main doctrine of Karma is based on justice and justification. It is maintained that no misfortune is undeserved and similarly no misery comes without a bad action in the past. Karma is the force that controls the law of cause and effect in one's life or lives. According to David Pocock, this concept of Karma is not only applicable to action in one's current life but may span all his lives. He writes: 'Some sin in a previous life "explains" why a man is born as an untouchable, or why some woman has had the great misfortune to survive her husband.' (p.39)

It is believed that man sows seeds for all his fortunes and misfortunes and thus no action, however minor, goes un-rewarded or unnoticed. When a person does something good, he receives its reward either in this life or in another life. However the concept has undergone some misinterpretations and many people think it is a fatalistic idea. Some people maintain that karma means destiny and when one refers to his karma, he is basically acknowledging his helpless state. However that is not true since Karma simply tries to explain the cause and effect of any action and event.

The concept originates from the Sanskrit word 'karam' which means action. When a person says that whatever is happening is the resulting of your karam, it means you are being rewarded or otherwise for your actions. From this comes the concept of Karma. It can explain the caste system in Hindu society and offers some justification for the division of people and the treatment meted out to them. While other religions might renounce this concept especially Islam that completely rejects the concept of reincarnation and caste system, Hinduism is based on these. The people of scheduled castes who are given very lowly status in Hindu society are considered untouchables. This is justified by the term Karma which says that these people must have done something bad in their past lives to have earned a lowly status in their current lives. The same kind of explanation can be presented to explain why Brahmins are considered special.