Talk:Objections to the Doctrine of Karma and Responses:Karma and Divine Partiality

By Vishal Agarwal

Objection: Some Hindu texts declare that we do good or bad Karma through Divine Providence, and therefore we cannot rule out predestination. For instance, an Upanishad says- He whom the Lord wishes to raise to higher worlds, he makes them do virtuous deeds. And whom He wishes to push down to lower worlds, He makes them do evil deeds. Rigveda, Kaushitaki Upanishad 3.8

Therefore, why do human beings have to suffer for doing deeds that they have been forced to do by Him?

Answer: Texts like these are not meant to be taken literally because their purpose is to emphasize that the Lord is not a slave of the doctrine of Karma. Secondly, we must not be proud of our good Karma and take heaven as our destination for granted because it is the Lord from whom we get the agency of Karma, and we ought to accept the fruit of our Karma as His grace. The Will of the Divine with regard to sending people up or down is not whimsical but consistent with their respective Karma. And it is for this reason, what we call ‘Fate’ is termed as ‘Daiva’ (‘from the Divine’) merely to emphasize the fact that it is the Lord who dispenses the fruit of our Karma. See Section 4.1 above for a more explanation.