LAW OF RETRIBUTION | KARMA

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LAW OF RETRIBUTION

A wise man moves about among the objects of senses free from love and hatred keeping the tranquil state of mind absolutely controlled by his true Self.

—Bhagavad Gītā, Ch. IV, 14.

As every good act brings its own reward by the law of compensation, so every crime or wrong act brings its own punishment by the law of retribution, whether it is found in this life or in the next.

When a robber robs another, he robs himself first. He who cheats another is in reality cheating himself. No one can do wrong without suffering evil effect in the end. Wicked act and its result or reaction which we call punishment, grow on the same stem. The former is like the flower and the latter is the fruit.

The law of retribution is the inexor­able necessity in nature. Every action re­acts and brings its own reward or punish­ment first in the inner nature or soul, and then in the external circumstances in the form of gain or loss, prosperity or adversity, health or disease.

The soul perceives the causal retribution, but the people call the change of external circum­stances as retribution which comes after sometime.

This law manifests itself in the soul long before the external changes appear.

We have to pay the penalty for wrong doing, but not for good deeds. Virtue, wisdom, truth and love are real good; they proceed from God and there­fore no one pays penalty for practising them. They are spiritual qualities; the more we practise them, the more they increase. He who seeks material good must pay taxes, but there is no tax on spiritual good.

The law of Karma teaches that the virtuous reward themselves and the sin­ners punish themselves by their own thoughts and deeds.

Emerson says:

“Every act rewards itself first in our own soul then in circumstance. People call the circumstance retribution.,,

St. Bernard said:

“Nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain, I carry about with me and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault.'’

It is for this reason that the Hindus although do not believe in the hell-fire doctrine and do not fear the punishment of God, still they hesitate to commit wicked deeds and struggle hard to live virtuous lives simply fearing the eternal law of Karma.

The Buddhists who do not believe in a personal God and who deny the existence of the permanent entity of the soul, have founded their ethics and religion upon this universal law of Karma , or of cause and sequence.

The doctrine of Karma is the funda­mental principle of the philosophy and religion of Vedanta.

But there is a differ­ence between the Buddhist and Vedāntic interpretation of this doctrine:

The Bud­dhists deny the existence of a soul entity as doer, performer of acts, thinker, enjoyer or sufferer. They say, that there is no dua­lity of a doer and his doings, a thinker and his thoughts, an enjoyer and enjoyments. The words doer, thinker, enjoyer, sufferer are mere modes of speech.

The realities of our soul-life, according to Buddhism, con­sist in doings, thoughts, sufferings, enjoy­ments and aspirations. These actions are called Karma, out of these a man is made, but he has no permanent soul.

These Karmas constitute one’s personality which is preserved beyond death. The Buddhists maintain that the eye sees, the ear hears, and thoughts think, that all mental and physical actions of an indivi­dual produce Saṁskāras or subtle forms such as deed-forms, thought-forms etc., which continue to exist even after his death and reproduce similar actions through another body in future, being guided by the law of causation (Karma).

Vedanta, on the contrary, admits the existence of a soul entity. The same intelligent and conscious self is called doer, thinker, enjoyer or sufferer. There is neither intelli­gence nor consciousness in the nature of physical or mental actions. As actions they are insentient.

Vedanta refutes the Buddhist interpretation by pointing out its fallacy that if there be no permanent soul entity the doer of an action or the sower of a seed will not be the reaper of its fruit.

If there be no identity of the doer and the reaper, there will be a great confusion in the world of actions. It will be like one person eating the food and another getting the effect and not the eater, which is perfectly absurd.

More­over, it will be against the ‘law of action and reaction’ which teaches that all reac­tion comes back to the source from where the action started or proceeded.

Other­wise, a sinner after committing sinful acts will reap the result of the virtuous deeds of another man. There is nothing to prevent this anomaly.

Therefore, Vedanta says that the law of Karma necessitates the identity of the thinker or doer and enjoyer or sufferer.

As this chain of Karma is beginningless and endless the soul entity which is the source of all thoughts and ac­tions is therefore, beginningless and endless. It existed before the present birth. The results of the previous actions, each indi­vidual soul is reaping now and at the same time sowing the seeds of future results by performing good and bad deeds.

The Karma that is stored is called Sam- chitta.

Prārabdha Karma is that which has been the cause of the present birth, body and character. Kriyam ā na Karma is what we are sowing now; and Ag ā mi Karma are future actions.

The same idea was conveyed by St. Paul when he wrote in the 6th Chapter of his epistle to the Galatians, ( verse 7th):

‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ ‘And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not’ ( verse 9th).

Perhaps, Christ also referred to the law of Karma when he answered the question of his disciples:

  • ‘Who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?’

Jesus answered:

  • ‘Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents.’

Of course a man who was born blind could not sin in that incarnation and when it was not the result of his parent's sin, where was the cause of his blindness?

Heredity cannot explain it. The theologians say, it was the will of God because they believe in the theory of predestination which as I have already said makes God partial and unjust.

The only rational explanation that can be found is through the doctrine of Karma, that is, the previous actions of the same man were the cause of his blindness.

Applying the law of Karma, Vedanta will explain that he was reaping the result of his evil action which he did in his previous incarnation. There cannot be any other satisfactory and scientific explanation of such cases.

Thus, if the law of Karma is so universal as to govern all phenomena of the world as well as of our thoughts and deeds, if it is so inexorable as to make every individual soul reap the results of actions either in this life or in the next, and if it be true that every reaction, being similar in nature as the action itself, is bound to return to the centre of action or in other words, to react upon the actor making him or her happy or miserable, how important it is for every one of us to remember this law at every moment of our life;

and how necessary it is for every one of us to be extremely cautious in performing the duties of daily life so that we shall not sow the seeds which will bear unpleasant and disagreeable fruit and which will make us unhappy and miserable either in this life or hereafter.

The doctrine of Karma alone, can explain the mysterious problem of good and evil and reconcile man to the terrible and apparent injustice of life.

Those who believe in this noble doctrine are never disturbed in their minds at the sight of the inequalities of birth and fortune or of intellect and capacities around them.

The knowledge of this universal truth prevents them from cursing life or human beings or from blaming their supposed Creator when they see fools and profligates are honoured in society, when they find their neighbours possessing neither intellect nor any of the noble virtues are prosperous and enjoying all the comforts and pleasures of life on account of their births in wealthy families.

The doctrine of Karma tells us the reason why people suffer although they might not have done any wrong in this life, although they apparently seem not to deserve any kind of suffering. It is the law of compensation.

The law of Karma eternal as it is, predestines nothing and no one; but on the contrary, making every one free agent for action, shows the way out of the world of misery, through good thoughts and good deeds. Karma creates nothing, nor does it plan or design anything.

We create by our actions the causes of good and evil and receive reward or punishment as the reactions of our thoughts and deeds by the law of compensation .

The poor and suffering classes will find no consolation anywhere but in this one doctrine of Karma . It is for this reason there is so much of contentment among the poverty-stricken people of India who can hardly earn enough to keep their body and soul together.

If this noble doctrine be preached among the innumerable discontented and wretched people in Christendom, they would find a ray of hope for their future, they would try to live better lives, they would be more moral, more virtuous and more spiritual than they are today. They would be able to bear the burden of misery upon their shoulders with more calmness, with more patience, contentment and peace.