Karma is a concept of Hinduism which describes a system in which advantageous effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's (jivatman's) reincarnated lives, forming a cycle of rebirth. The causality is said to apply not only to the material world but also to our thoughts, words, actions, and actions that others do under our instructions.Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, The hidden power in humans, Ibera Verlag, page 23.,
According to Vedanta thought, the most influential school of Hindu theology,Flood, Gavin Dennis (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism, pp. 231–232, 238. Cambridge University Press. the effects of karma are controlled by God (Isvara).
There are four different types of karma: prarabdha, sanchita, and kriyamana and agami. Prarabdha karma is experienced through the present body and is only a part of sanchita karma, which is the sum of one's past karma's, Kriyamana karma is the karma that is being performed in the present whereas Agami karma is the result of current decisions and actions.
Origins The earliest appearance of the word "karma" is found in the Rigveda. The term karma also appears significantly in the Veda. According to the Brahmanas, "a man is born to the world he has made" and after death, one is placed in a balance in the other world for an estimate of one's good and evil deed. The Brahmanas also state that as a man is 'constituted' by his desires, he is born in the other world according to those desires.Radhakrishnan, S. History of Philosophy - Eastern and Western. P. 50
The earliest evidence of the term’s expansion into an ethical domain is provided in the Upanishads. In the Brhadaranyaka, which is the earliest of the Upanishads, the Vedic theologian Yajnavalkya expressed: “A man turns into something good by good action and into something bad by bad action.”Tull, Herman. “The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual.” SUNY Press (1989) The doctrine occurs here in the context of a discussion of the fate of the individual after death.Tull, Herman W. The Vedic Origins of karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual. SUNY Series in Hindu Studies. P. 28
The doctrine of transmigration of the soul, concerning fateful retribution for acts committed, appears in the Rig Veda (Mandala 1, Sukta 24, Mantra 2), with words like "saha na mahye aaditaye punar-daath pitharam drisheyam matharam cha" (You must also know that one God to be a giver of rebirth, non else can do this work. It is he who gives birth to emancipated persons also through parents at the end of MahaKalpa.) Rebirth is also mentioned in the Yajur Veda (Mandala 3, Mantras 53-54):
The belief in rebirth is, suggests Radhakrishnan, evident in the Brāhmaṇas, where words like punar-mrtyu (re-death), punar-asu (coming to life again) and punarajati (rebirth) are used to denote it.Radhakrishnan, S. History of Philosophy - Eastern and Western, P. 50 Radhakrishnan acknowledges that other scholars interpret certain punar-mrtyu verses of Rigveda to be discussing "repeated deaths"; however, he suggests that it might also be re-interpreted to imply rebirth, as in "come home once again".
The significance of reinterpreting religious principles such as karma in the Bhagavad Gita as an important source, as well as a dedication to benevolence, applied spirituality, and religious activism The topic of karma is mentioned in the Puranas.
Definitions
Everything that we have ever thought, spoken, done or caused is karma, as is also that which we think, speak or do this very moment. Hindu scriptures divide karma into three kinds:
Sanchita is the accumulated karma. It would be impossible to experience and endure all karma in one lifetime. From this stock of Sanchita karma, a handful is taken out to serve one lifetime and this handful of actions, which have begun to bear fruit and which will be exhausted only on their fruit being enjoyed and not otherwise, is known as Prarabdha karma. Prarabdha is a collection of past Sanchita karmas that are selected to be experienced through the present body.Prarabdha Karma Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India, by Hart Defouw, Hart De Fouw, Robert Svoboda. Published by Lotus Press, 2003. . Page 27. Kriyamana is everything that we produce in our current life. All kriyamana karmas flow into Sanchita karma and consequently shape our future. Only in human life, we can change our future destiny. After death, we lose Kriya Shakti (ability to act) and Kriyamana (do) karma until we are born again in another human body.
Essentially in simple English, they can be categorized broadly as Fate and Free Will.
Intertwined Fate and Free Will:
The first 2 Karmas, namely Sanchita and Prarabdha are Fated and the next 2 karmas Kriyamana and Agama are free will. The 2 components are called Dridha and Adridha. Dridha is fixed and Adridha is non-fixed.
Fated Ones:
The Fated ones are an accumulation of all our past lives actions, for which one would experience his or her consequences in the current life and future lives. Consequences can be perceived as positive, negative and/or neutral. In simple essence, they will be experiences one has to undertake.
The Dridha aspects of Sanchita and Prarabdha Karmas will be experienced, as and when the time (Kala) arises and cannot be influenced, changed or altered.
The Free will ones are the thinking (agama Karma) and execution of actions (kriyamana Karma) that an individual can undertake freely in his or her current life, and can help influence, change or alter, the Adridha (non-fixed) aspects of the Fated ones in this current life, and can/will also accumulate karmic credits into his or her Sanchita and Prarabdha accounts, which will be experienced in the future.
Overall, The Hindu Sanathana Dharma shows that one with his or her free will, if pursuing a life of proper dharma, can alter his or her current life and also influence the future destiny of their life, as well as future lives and essentially attain nirvana, or a state of no more births, where they essentially merge with the Universe/GOD/Almighty/Infinity.
Some believe that only human beings who can distinguish right from wrong can do (Kriyamana) karma.Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, The hidden power in humans, Ibera Verlag, page 22., Therefore, animals and young children are considered incapable of creating new karma (and thus cannot affect their future destinies) as they are incapable of discriminating between right and wrong.Chandrasekhara Bharathi Mahaswamigal, Dialogues with the Guru.
Tulsidas, a Hindu saint, said: "Our destiny was shaped long before the body came into being." As long as the stock of Sanchita Karma lasts, a part of it continues to be taken out as Prarabdha Karma for being enjoyed in one lifetime, leading to the cycle of birth and death. A Jiva cannot attain moksha (liberation) from the cycle of birth and death, until the accumulated Sanchita karmas are completely exhausted.Goyandaka J, The Secret of Karmayoga, Gita Press, Gorakhpur
Unkindness yields spoiled fruits, called pāpa, and good deeds bring forth sweet fruits, called punya. As one acts, so does one become: one becomes virtuous by virtuous action, and evil by evil action.Subramuniyaswami, Satguru Sivaya. Dancing with Siva.
The role of Isvara (God) Several different views exist in Hinduism, some extant today and some historical, regarding the role of divine beings in controlling the effects of karma or the lack thereof.
Markandeya Purana According to the Markandeya Purana, Shani (Saturn) is described as the son of the Sun god, Surya, and his wife Chhaya (shadow). Saturn is characterized as cold and dry due to its internal core structure made of ice. Internally, he is considered pure. The Purana also states that Shani was entrusted with the role of the Lord of Karma and Justice by the Trimurti.
In Vedanta In Vedanta philosophy, the creator Ishvara rules over the world through the law of karma. The various schools of Vedanta hold that karma cannot function independently on its own. Instead they think that God (Isvara) is the dispenser of the fruit (phala) of karma. This idea is defended in the Brahmasutras, a major scriptural source for Vedanta.Francis X Clooney (1993), Theology After Vedanta: An Experiment in Comparative Theology, State University of New York Press, , pages 68-71
The Brahmasutras (3.2.38) state:The fruits of action (phalam) come from Him (The Lord, Isvara), since this is reasonable (upapatteḥ).
In the Advaita system of Śaṅkara In the non-dualistic (Advaita) school of Vedanta, the creator God (Ishvara) is not the ultimate reality, instead the formless Brahman is the supreme truth. As such, the teaching of karma is part of Maya, or the relative and ultimately illusory reality. Nevertheless, Advaita also shares the general concepts of karma and rebirth with other Indian religions, with some differences.
In a commentary to Brahma Sutras (III, 2, 38, and 41), a Vedantic text, Adi Sankara, an Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta, argues that the original karmic actions themselves cannot bring about the proper results at some future time; neither can super sensuous, non-intelligent qualities like adrsta—an unseen force being the metaphysical link between work and its result—by themselves mediate the appropriate, justly deserved pleasure and pain. The fruits, according to him, then, must be administered through the action of a conscious agent, namely, a supreme being (Ishvara).
Shankara (8th century) comments as follows:Karma is insentient and short-lived, and cannot therefore be expected to bestow the fruits of actions at a future time according to one’s deserts. We do not see any insentient thing bestow fruits on those who worship it. Therefore it is only from the Lord, who is worshipped through actions, that their results proceed.A human's karmic acts result in merits and demerits. Since unconscious things generally do not move except when caused by an agent (for example, the axe moves only when swung by an agent), and since the law of karma is an unintelligent and unconscious law, Sankara argues there must be a conscious God who knows the merits and demerits which persons have earned by their actions, and who functions as an instrumental cause [a "judge and police-force" working for "the law"] in helping individuals reap their appropriate fruits.
Thus, God affects the person's environment, even to its atoms, and for those souls who reincarnate, produces the appropriate rebirth body, all in order that the person might have the karmically appropriate experiences. Since a data-system (or computer) is needed to discern different "just" consequences for actions, there is suggested to be a sentient theistic administrator or supervisor for karma (Ishvara).
In the Vishishtadvaita of Rāmāṉuja Ramanuja of the Vishishtadvaita school, another sub-school of Vedanta, addresses the problem of evil by attributing all evil things in life to the accumulation of evil karma of jivas (souls in bondage to a corporeal form) and maintains that God is "amala," or without any stain of evil.Tapasyananda, Swami. Bhakti Schools of Vedanta. In his Sri Bhasya, Ramanuja's interpretation of the Brahma sutras from a Vaishnavite theistic view, Brahman, whom he conceives as Vishnu, arranges the diversity of creation in accordance with the different karma of individual souls.