Talk:Karma Mīmāmsa or the Science of Karma:The Law of Karma

By Vishal Agarwal

In simple terms, the Law of Karma states:

1. Every action has a consequence, bringing either happiness or sorrow. Good deeds lead to joy, while harmful actions result in suffering. This is the essence of Karma—a word that signifies both action and its outcome.
2. You harvest what you plant.
3. What goes around comes around.
4. You receive in proportion to what you give.
5. Life is like a mirror—what you reflect into the world is what you see reflected back at you.

This universal law reminds us that our choices shape our experiences.

We often see that our actions do not bear fruit in our entire lifetime. Therefore, Hindu Dharma considers Rebirth upon death as a natural corollary or a complement to the Law of Karma. Hindu scriptures declare:

He who is the doer of a karma, is also the enjoyer of the consequences of whatever he has done. Yajurveda, Shvetāshvatara Upanishad 5.7

Virtuous karma (punya) leads to virtuous world, and evil acts to a sinful world. Both of them (i.e., a mixture) lead to the world of men (i.e., to a human birth). Atharvaveda, Prashna Upanishad 3.7

He who performs binding karmas with his current body has to reap their results in a future birth. Just as one can infer the seed from its fruit, and the fruit from the seed. Charaka Samhitā, Sūtrasthāna 11.31

Performance of virtuous karma begets happiness, and of evil karma begets sorrow. In all cases, it is only one’s karma that brings forth results. Karma that has not been performed does not beget any fruit. Mahābhārata 13.6.10

He who practices Adharma, whose wealth is earned through falsehoods and who is ever engaged in violence against others will never attain happiness in this world. Manusmriti 4.170

As you sow, so you will reap. Never does a mango tree grow out from a neem seed. Brahma Purāṇa 136.20

In modern parlance, the Law of Karma and its relationship to the doctrine of Rebirth can be summarized in the following words:

“Every human action has consequences, and within the action both motive and act pronounce consequences that must be paid for or rewarded depending on their moral worth. Thus, if I help the older person to cross the street, I accumulate merit in the form of good karma. And if I were to have the heart attack and die after the completion of this good act, and if justice is to be done in the universe, then I must be rewarded. But if I am dead, then the reward must be done in my next life. If I am not rewarded in my next life, then the universe is not a just place. But it is a just place. Therefore, the reward must be done in my next life, I must be brought to suffer [= enjoy] the reward.”

“…..the law of karma describes or governs (depending on how one views the epistemological status of the law) how certain qualities of consequences, affecting the agent, arise from moral actions and how and to what degree they affect the agent in the current and subsequent lives. The qualities of the consequences are moral-resultant qualities, such as possessed merit and demerit, created dispositions or tendencies to desire, and character, as well as the pleasure and pain they eventually produce.”

Hindu traditions give numerous parables to illustrate the law of Karma. Below, we give one such story that explains it very simply:

The Story of Shveta:

One day, Rishi Agastya was doing Yoga on a lake. Suddenly he saw a shining chariot come down from the sky. From that chariot, a king came down, and he started eating garbage on the bank of the lake! Rishi Agastya was very surprised. He asked the king, “You live in heaven. You can get all kinds of tasty food there. Then why are you coming to earth to eat garbage?” King Shveta replied, “When I was a king on this earth, I did a lot of charity. I gave clothes. I gave toys. But I never gave any food to anyone. I loved to eat food. I wanted all the food for myself. When I died, Bhagavan Brahma took me to heaven because I had done a lot of charity. But Bhagavan said that I would not get anything to eat because I never gave any food in charity and finished all the delicious things to eat without sharing them. Bhagavan Brahma also said that as punishment, I will get to eat only garbage. Therefore, when I am hungry, I have to come back to the earth and there I have to eat garbage.”

The king then said to the Rishi – “Rishi Agastya, I have realized my mistake now. I have understood that we should not be stingy in sharing anything that we have with others. We should share with others whatever is dear to us. Please convey my message to everyone that whatever we share with others, the same things alone will be given to us after we die. If we do not share any particular thing with others, that very thing will not be given to us in the future.”

Sage Agastya blessed him for the wonderful teaching. With his powers, he freed the king of his curse. The king then ate the garbage for the one last time, and then flew back to heaven in his chariot. This story teaches us that whatever we don’t share with others, that very thing will be taken from us later.