Karma

Karma is, in the religions of Indian origin, the principle of cause and effect according to which a person's actions, words and intentions generate consequences that shape their present life and, in many doctrines, their future existences.

The Sanskrit term karma literally means 'action' or 'deed', and derives from the root kri, 'to do'. In its philosophical use it designates both the act performed and the intention behind it, as well as the residue it leaves in the actor. Hindu traditions distinguish several kinds: the karma accumulated over many lifetimes, the portion that is already bearing fruit and determines the circumstances of the present, and the karma newly generated, which will yield results later. Although in the West it is often confused with destiny or fatalism, those ideas have their own term in Sanskrit, prarabdha.

The various schools do not fully agree on its definition. For some, karma and rebirth are inseparable; for others, karma explains the present without necessarily implying reincarnation. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism each develop their own doctrine. In devotional Hinduism retribution is attributed to a god; in Buddhism and Jainism there is no divinity administering it, but a natural law comparable to gravity.

For Indian thinkers, karma is both an ethical and an existential question. Good deeds bring favourable results and bad ones adverse effects; moreover, intention counts as much as the act. Some authors stress that karma is not a punishment imposed from outside, but the outcome of the habits and dispositions each person gradually forms.

A simple example helps: someone who gets used to lying becomes untrustworthy, and that reputation conditions their relationships and opportunities. According to the doctrine, this chain of causes and effects continues beyond the present life.

In current debate it is discussed whether karma is a theory, a model, a metaphor or a metaphysical stance, and to what extent it can be separated from rebirth. Outside India the concept has spread into popular culture, where it is often understood as a law of cosmic compensation, although not all its contemporary versions match the classical sources.