Talk:Objections to the Doctrine of Karma and Responses:Karma and Retribution

By Vishal Agarwal

Question: A person who makes a mistake needs to be corrected. He needs help. Punishing him for his mistakes does not necessarily make him a better person. Instead, an evil doer should be encouraged to change his behavior through proper instruction. Punishing an evil doer with sorrows does not serve any useful purpose. Therefore, the entire theory of Karma, which is based on the justice of retribution, seems to be cruel and pointless.

Response: A system of justice that does not include retribution is toothless and no such system exists in the world. Wherever blanket assumptions have been made assuming that criminals act solely due to ignorance and because they have no agency, it encourages rampant crime. It is incorrect to assume that evil doers commit evil acts purely out of ignorance and not due to any wrong intent or with full knowledge. As explained above in Sections 2.6-2.10, the Law of Karma does take into account the agency, degree of freewill, ability, faith, intent and knowledge of the doer. Let us consider the converse of the objection raised. A Law of Karma that caters solely to educating evil doers will necessarily take for granted those who are habitually virtuous and do only good.