What Is Karma? Beyond Cause and Effect

In popular culture, the word karma is often reduced to a kind of cosmic cause-and-effect: the idea that “what goes around comes around,” or, in biblical terms, “you reap what you sow.” While this captures a sliver of its meaning, the concept of karma in Indian philosophy—especially in texts like the Bhagavad Gita—is far more nuanced and spiritually profound.

The Sanskrit word karma literally means “action.” In its broadest sense, it refers to any physical, mental, or verbal act. However, within spiritual and scriptural contexts, karma carries a deeper implication. It often refers to ritual action—specifically, an action offered to the divine. In the Bhagavad Gita, karma is closely tied to the idea of yajna, or sacrifice, suggesting that the highest form of action is one performed selflessly, as an offering, without attachment to its fruits. Such action purifies the mind and leads to spiritual evolution.

Karma is also the engine of samsara, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Every action—whether motivated by desire, aversion, or ignorance—leaves an imprint on the individual, shaping their future experiences. This accumulation of karmic impressions determines not only the conditions of one’s current life but also the form and circumstances of future rebirths. In this sense, karma is not simply moral bookkeeping; it is a metaphysical law that governs the unfolding of life across lifetimes.

According to karma theory, good actions performed with clarity and selflessness generate puṇya, or merit, while selfish or harmful actions generate papa, or demerit. The consequences of both may manifest in this life or in future lives. One may be born into favorable circumstances—such as a loving family, a strong body, or a spiritual environment—because of virtuous actions in past lives. Conversely, a person born into hardship may be working through the consequences of prior negative karma. This does not justify suffering, but rather offers a framework in which suffering can be understood and ultimately transcended.

Classical Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita describe three interrelated kinds of karma that together account for the unfolding of an individual’s life:

• Sanchita Karma – the accumulated stockpile of all past actions from countless lifetimes, lying dormant until the right conditions for their fruition arise.

• Prarabdha Karma – the small but potent slice of sanchita that has “ripened” and is now bearing fruit in the circumstances of this life—your birth, body, family, and certain unavoidable experiences.

• Agami Karma – the fresh karma generated by your current actions, which will bear fruit in the future and be added to the storehouse of sanchita.

These three work in concert: prarabdha sets the stage you are born into, agami is being written in the present moment, and sanchita holds the rest of the unmanifest backlog. Spiritual practice—especially karma yoga—is aimed at exhausting prarabdha, avoiding the creation of binding agami, and ultimately burning away the sanchita through Self-knowledge.

Importantly, karma is not fate. Human beings are not passive recipients of their past actions; they are active participants in shaping their destiny. The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes karma yoga—the yoga of action—as a path to liberation. By acting without attachment to outcomes, and by dedicating one’s work to something greater than the ego, one gradually transcends the binding effects of karma. This is the beginning of freedom.

Ultimately, karma is not only about reward and punishment. It is a mirror reflecting the quality of our intentions and the clarity of our awareness. If one lives a life driven by greed, anger, and delusion, their actions will reinforce those tendencies and, according to karmic theory, they may be reborn in a form that reflects those unresolved impulses. But if one strives toward self-mastery, compassion, and truth, the karmic momentum will support a path toward spiritual realization.

Thus, karma is not a cosmic vending machine, nor is it merely a moral rule. It is a profound teaching about responsibility, growth, and the deep interconnectedness of all actions—seen and unseen. It is both the chain that binds and the key that frees.

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Root & Meaning

karma (from kr, “to do, act, make”) = action, deed, work; also the law of cause and effect applied to moral and spiritual contexts. In Vedanta, it refers both to:

1. Any action performed by body, speech, or mind.

2. The results (phala) of past actions that shape present circumstances.

Scriptural References

• Bhagavad Gita (2.47) – “Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits…” – foundational verse on acting without attachment, the essence of karma yoga.

• Bhagavad Gita (3.9) – Actions performed as yajna (sacrifice) do not bind; those done otherwise cause bondage.

• Bhagavad Gita (4.17) – Krishna distinguishes between karma (action), vikarma (wrong action), and akarma (inaction born of knowledge).

• Bhagavad Gita (4.18) – The wise see inaction in action and action in inaction, pointing to the deeper understanding of karma beyond mere physical movement.

• Bhagavad Gita (5.14–15) – Declares that the Self neither acts nor causes others to act; karma belongs to the gunas of nature, not to the Self.

• Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (4.4.5) – “A man turns into something good by good action and into something bad by bad action” – linking karma with ethical causation across lives.

• Chandogya Upanishad (5.10.7) – Describes how one’s actions determine the form and quality of future births.

• Mundaka Upanishad (1.2.1–2) – Distinguishes lower knowledge (apara vidya), including ritual action, from higher knowledge (para vidya), showing karma’s role as preparatory to liberation.

• Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2.12–2.14) – Explains the karmashaya (storehouse of karmic seeds) and how past actions bear fruit in present and future experiences.

• Brahma Sutra (3.2.38) – Discusses how the effects of karma extend into future births until exhausted by experience or neutralized by knowledge.

Traditional View

Karma is the universal law that every action, physical or mental, produces a result. In the human context, karma determines one’s experiences in this life and future births. Actions in harmony with dharma lead toward purification; actions in violation of dharma reinforce bondage. Karma is classified into:

1. Sanchita karma — accumulated results of countless past lives, stored in potential form.

2. Prarabdha karma — that portion of sanchita already “begun” and manifesting as the present body and life circumstances.

3. Agami karma — new karma created by current actions, which will bear fruit in the future.

Vedantic Analysis

From the standpoint of absolute reality (paramartha), the Self is akarta (non-doer) and abhokta (non-experiencer) — untouched by karma. Karma operates only in mithya (empirical reality), affecting the jiva identified with body and mind. Karma yoga — the performance of duties with the right attitude — purifies the mind (chitta-shuddhi), making it fit for Self-knowledge. Knowledge of the Self as non-doer burns agami and sanchita karma; prarabdha continues until the death of the body.

Common Misunderstandings

• “Karma is fate.” (Vedanta: karma is cause and effect; free will still operates within its field.)

• “Self-realization erases all karma instantly.” (Vedanta: prarabdha continues until the current embodiment ends.)

• “Good karma ensures liberation.” (Vedanta: good karma may bring a better rebirth, but only Self-knowledge ends rebirth.)

Vedantic Resolution

Karma binds only as long as one identifies with the doer. The jnani recognizes “I am the actionless Self” — in whose light actions arise and fall without affecting the witness. From this vision, the cycle of cause and effect loses its binding force, and the Self stands free of samsara.