We explain what karma is and how it is understood in Indian religions. Its relationship with reincarnation and anantarika-karma.
What is Karma?
Karma is a central concept of Indian religions and philosophy Designates the influence of actions carried out by an individual in the past on their future lives or reincarnations.
The term karma It comes from Sanskrit and means 'action'. Originally it referred to ritual actions and sacrifices. Later, it acquired an ethical meaning, when a link was established between actions and their causes and consequences. Karma then came to be understood as a universal law of behavior: the law of karma. According to this law, the good and bad events experienced in the present are the result of the accumulated effects of actions taken in previous lives. This explains the different gifts or talents that people are born with and their luck in life.
According to the doctrine of karma, Each individual goes through a series of cycles of birth, death and reincarnation (or rebirth), called samsara. Throughout each cycle, the individual can perfect himself through good actions and also through good desires and thoughts, since intentions are part of each person's karma. The ultimate goal is to achieve liberation from samsara and, with it, the end of karma and its effects, what is known as moksha or nirvana. Karma thus constitutes a motivation to do good and a guide for existence.
See also: Mantra
Karma in Indian religions
The concept of karma has its origin in the Vedic religion (between the 11th and 8th centuries BC). From there he moved on to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Although the concept has basically the same meaning in all three religions, it differs in some aspects in each religion.
- In Hinduism karma is understood in terms of a law of action and reaction: each action corresponds to another equal one. At the end of each incarnation, Iamarash, the god of death, judges the individual according to his intentions and the actions he has taken and, based on them, receives corresponding reactions in response. Both the punishment for bad actions and the reward for good actions can be received in the same life or in future lives.
- in Buddhism karma is not linked to a system of rewards and punishments as in Hinduism; rather, karma is understood as the law of gravity or the law of inertia. This means that karma is a natural consequence, derived from the decisions made.
- in jainism karma is conceived as a subtle matter made of particles, which permeates the universe. This matter enters the soul and affects its original and pure qualities.
Karma and reincarnation
In most Indian religious currents, reincarnation plays a central role in the doctrine of karma. Reincarnation is understood as the migration of a person's essence to another body after death to start a new life. This process is interpreted in two ways:
- For Hindus and Jains the essence that migrates is the soul. This is reincarnated in different beings (animals, plants, people of various conditions), depending on the quantity and quality of the karma that has accumulated in each life.
- For Buddhists unlike Hindus and Jains, deny the existence of an individual soul that can be reincarnated. They consider that it is the actions and intentions of an individual – that is, his karma – that lead to the emergence of a new existence after death. For this reason, in Buddhism we speak of Renaissance instead of reincarnation.
The notion of reincarnation is closely linked to that of samsara, the cycle of births, deaths and incarnations to which existence is subjected.
Karma is part of this cycle and is what sustains it. Liberation from samsara (moksha or nirvana) implies the end of karma. In this sense, successive reincarnations are learning opportunities for human beings, through which they can purify their karma.
Karma and the existence of evil
From a philosophical point of view, The concept of karma offers an explanation about the existence of evil in the world: not only moral evil (bad actions and human desires), but also physical evil (pain and illness).
According to the law of karma, there is no such thing as chance: everything happens for a reason; If bad things happen to someone good, it is due to the bad karma that these people bring from their past lives and that they must purify. This idea is summarized in Buddha's apothegm: “Everyone reaps what they sow”.
Furthermore, and because karma (that is, the result of our actions) accumulates from incarnation to incarnation, it is necessary to pay it in many “installments.” The good and the bad will be collected in different lives because it would be impossible to see all the results, good and bad, in a single life.
Anantarika-karma
According to Buddhism, among the actions that form an individual's karma, there are some particularly serious ones. Each of these actions are a anantarika-karma ('action leading to immediate retribution') or five cardinal sins and they are the maximum Buddhist offenses, which directly lead the person who commits them to be reborn in hell (naraka). These actions are:
- patricide (murder of the father);
- matricide (murder of the mother);
- the murder of an enlightened being (an Arhat);
- shedding the blood of a buddha priest;
- cause a division among the community of Buddhist monks.
Whoever, after having committed anantarika-karma, is reborn in hell, remains there until his negative karma is exhausted. Then, you can be reborn in a higher world.
Continue with: Namaste
References
- “Karma”, in World History Encyclopedia.
- “Karma”, in Encyclopedia Britannica.
- “Karma”, in Encyclopedic Dictionary of Bible and Theology.
- “The Theory of Karma”, on Buddhanet.
