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== Agent of Karma ==
== Agent of Karma ==
No one can escape Karma, not even the Trimurtis, as expressed in the Garuda Purana shloka <blockquote>ब्रह्मा येन कुलालवन्नियमितो ब्रह्माण्डभाण्डोदरे विष्णुर्येन दशावतारगहने क्षिप्तो महासङ्कटे ।
रुद्रोयेन कपालपाणिपुटके भिक्षाटनं कारितः सूर्यो भ्राम्यति नित्यमेव गगने तरमै नमः कर्मणे ॥ १,११३.१५ ॥</blockquote>Meaning: Salutations to that Karma, which forces Brahma to work like a potter in the bowls of the cosmos, by which Vishnu was thrown into distress in the depths of the ten avataras, which made Rudra beg for alms with a skull in his hand, and which makes the sun ever go round and round in the sky.<ref name=":9">''Garuda Purana, Part 1.'' (1957 First Edition) Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. (Pages 346-348)</ref>
Most schools of Indian thought agree with the perspective that the agent of Karma is Jiva or the embodied Atma. As per Advaita Vedanta, Jiva or the individual Atma along with the Buddhi (mind) are the agents of Karma.
Most schools of Indian thought agree with the perspective that the agent of Karma is Jiva or the embodied Atma. As per Advaita Vedanta, Jiva or the individual Atma along with the Buddhi (mind) are the agents of Karma.
Sankhya school, however, states that Jiva is only the enjoyer (bhokta), agency lies with buddhi present in the Jiva. Owing to non-discrimination between Jiva and intellect, Jiva is mistaken to be the agent. However, there does not exist agency in the Jiva.
Sankhya school, however, states that Jiva is only the enjoyer (bhokta), agency lies with buddhi present in the Jiva. Owing to non-discrimination between Jiva and intellect, Jiva is mistaken to be the agent. Hence, there does not exist agency in the Jiva.<ref name=":6" />
== Karmaphala or Result of Karma ==
* Karma transcends place - gives its karmaphala at the specified place
Just as wind blows away a boat, Karma drags a man irrespective of his wish, even from far away country, to the place where he has to reap the fruits.
A few important concepts from Garuda Purana about karmaphala may be summarized as follows<ref name=":10">Garuda Purana (Acharakand, [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%83/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%A7%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%83_%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A9 Adhyaya 113])</ref><ref name=":9" />
* Karma transcends time - gives its karmaphala irrespective of the age
<blockquote>बालो युवा च वृद्धश्च यः करोति शुभाशुभम् । तस्यान्तस्यामवस्थायां भुङ्क्ते जन्मनिजन्मनि ॥ १,११३.३० ॥</blockquote>Birth after birth, a man reaps (eats) the fruits of his deeds, whether auspicious or inauspicious, in the respective ages of infancy, youth or old age at which the actions had been performed.
The results of the various causes of nature can be classified as good, evil and mixed. That which fulfils our interest and is beneficial to us under certain conditions is called '''good or Punya (पुण्यम्)'''; and that which injures us in any way, is called '''evil or Papa (पापम्)'''. The mixed results are those which are partly beneficial or helpful and partly injurious. These three kinds of results determine the nature of actions or causes. “ If the result is good or, in other words, if we see any action producing an effect which is either beneficial to oneself or to one’s neighbour's physically, morally spiritually without injuring any living creature mentally or physically or in any other manner, it is called good; while that action is evil which destroys the interest of oneself or of one’s neighbours and brings suffering, sorrow,' misery, to the individual worker or to other members of the society.<ref name=":11">Swami Abhedananda. (1947 Third Edition) ''Doctrine of Karma, A Study in the Philosophy and Practice of Work.'' Calcutta: Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. (Pages 7-11)</ref>
The '''mixed results''' are those which serve the interest of some, bringing happiness to one or many, but at the same time they produce evil in some other quarters. In short, action which produce good at the expense of the interest or rights of others, are called the causes of mixed results.<ref name=":11" />
== Karma and Bondage ==
One can never dust off the Karma done by him, it remains bound and gives far reaching consequences even across life times. According to Garuda Purana,<blockquote>न चान्तरिक्षे न समुद्रमध्ये न पर्वतानां विवरप्रवेशे । न मातृमूर्ध्नि प्रधृतस्तथाङ्के त्यक्तुं क्षमः कर्म कृतं नरो हि ॥ १,११३.२० ॥ (Garu. Pura. 1.113.20)<ref name=":10" /></blockquote>A man can never forsake the action done by him far into the sky, or deep into the ocean or high on a mountain; whether held by the mother on her head or in her lap.<ref name=":9" />
Karma neither comes to us as a hereditary possession nor does it leave us after death. It's effects can be reduced but never completely removed.<blockquote>न पितुः कर्मणा पुत्रः पिता वा पुत्रकर्मणा । स्वयं कृतेन गच्छन्ति स्वयं बद्धाः स्वकर्मणा ॥ १,११३.२७ ॥
कर्मजन्यशरीरेषु रोगाः शरीरमानसाः । शरा इव पतन्तीह विमुक्ता दृढधन्विभिः ॥ १,११३.२८ ॥ (Garu. Pura. 1.113.27-28)<ref name=":10" /></blockquote>Meaning: Neither the son (through Shraddha and other rites) nor the father with various rites for the welfare of the son, can ward off the effects of Karma. It's consequences invariably follow one who performs the deeds and one is bound by his own karma (not by other's). In the physical body born as a result of Karma, different kinds of illnesses, physical or mental fall in quick succession like the arrows discharged by a skillful archer.<ref name=":9" />
== Karma and Punarjanma ==
== Karma and Punarjanma ==
Karma carries the belief that differences in the fortunes and the misfortunes of individual lives, to the extent they are not adequately explicable by known circumstances in this life, must be due to unknown (adrsta) causes which can only be actions done in their former lives. These two concepts of karma and rebirth are interlinked and together form a complex structure.<ref name=":0" />
Under the sway of this all-pervading law of Karma, there is no room left for a chance or accident. What we call happening by chance or accident is in reality the product of some definite causes which we may not know or cannot trace on account of our limited knowledge. The causes might be on the moral or spiritual planes, but we seek results only on the physical plane. So these so-called chance-events are just as much governed by the law of causation or Karma just as any ordinary result of some known cause in the present life.<ref name=":11" />
A careful study of nature reveals to us that the phenomena of the world are linked together in the universal chain of cause and effect. No event can occur without having a definite cause behind it. Whatever we see, hear or perceive with our senses is but the effect of some cause whether known or unknown. The Law of Causation, Karma, is one law that governs all phenomenon, however gross or subtle they may be. All the forces of nature whether physical or mental obey this law and can never transcend it. From the vibrations of electrons to the revolution of the earth around the sun, from the falling of an apple on the ground to the raising of an arm by the will-power, every event is the effect of some invisible force working in harmony with the law of causation. Every action of our body or mind is the result of some force or power which is its cause, but at the same time the effect that comes out of this Karma, is in turn the cause of a new set of events.<ref name=":11" /> According to Garuda Purana<blockquote>येनयेन यथा यद्वत्पुरा कर्म सुनिश्चितम् । तत्तदेवान्तरा भुङ्क्ते स्वयमाहितमात्मना ॥ १,११३.१८ ॥ (Garu. Pura. 1.113.18)<ref name=":10" /></blockquote>Meaning: Man enjoys only the fruits of his previous actions; whatever he has done in the previous births has its reaction.<ref name=":9" />
Karma carries the belief that differences in the fortunes and the misfortunes of individual lives, to the extent they are not adequately explicable by known circumstances in this life, must be due to unknown (adrsta) causes which can only be actions done in their former lives. These two concepts of karma and rebirth are thus interlinked and together form a complex structure.<ref name=":0" />
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