INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM - 3

THE previous segment, called "Introduction to Hinduism - 2," concerned itself with the ways to realize the one spiritual being in actual living experience, resulting in terminal fulfillment. It was about the third point in our working description of Hinduism. The fourth point in the description is about what we ought to do in life. It is about morality and moral life. The central point here is called the law of karma. The word karma means action, any action we engage in that affects others. The basic idea is that we are accountable for our actions. We are free to do as we choose, but once we choose to do something and actually do it, we must face and accept the moral consequences of that action.

COMMONLY we hear things like "as you sow, so do you reap," "what goes around comes around" or "you get what you deserve." These try to embody the moral principle involved in the law of karma. It is that of reciprocity. If I do good to someone, I deserve to have it come back to me in similar if not the same amount of happiness that I give. If I make someone so much happy through giving of myself in terms of time, energy or resources, I have a right to expect that much happiness returned to me. On the contrary, if I hurt someone without provocation and just in pursuit of my personal interest or, worse, out of malice, I deserve to experience similar if not the same amount of pain inflicted on me as the one I have caused in that person. This is a primary moral law or ethical rule that we intuitively invoke whenever we are at the receiving end of pain or at the point of giving of ourselves to someone else. As we accept the principle for ourselves, we are morally obliged to accept it universally. So extended, the principle of reciprocity is that causing happiness deserves happiness and causing unhappiness deserves unhappiness in proportion to what is caused.

THE law of karma in fact goes one step further. Not only that we deserve proportionate results of our actions. The law states that we actually get the results. Often enough we get the results of our good and bad, helpful and hurtful actions almost immediately. For example, if we hit someone, we should not be surprised to be hit back right away! But if we, for example, put down someone who works under us, the poor fellow cannot strike back right away but in due time will probably get even with us when the opportunity presents itself. Similarly, the law of karma says that whenever we do not get immediate results of our actions, the results are held in abeyance and will get to us eventually. The idea is that the world is based on moral justice and that justice is always done. There may be a delay but there is no denial of justice. For, otherwise, no one will do any good to others and will always get away with harming others. Fairness and justice are the rule of life and world. So, we have the incentive to do good to others and the disincentive to not do harm to others. It is no use doing harm to others, because the due and appropriate result will follow us eventually. In other words, we cannot escape our responsibility. Therefore, we should not shirk our responsibility. We should always be responsible because we are always accountable.

WHO administers the law of karma? For those who accept the one spiritual being as person, or God, God administers the law, showing that God is always just and does not show partiality or play favorites. For those who accept the one spiritual being as pure consciousness rather, the law of karma works as a principle of nature built into the structure of the world. Now, what if someone hurts you badly and dies before the result gets to him or her? Well, there is no escape from the law and so he or she will be born again and will eventually face the result in the next life. What is the proof of next life and karma results happening across many lives of the same person? The proof is in your heart. Think about an extremely cruel act done wantonly by someone out of sheer malice. If the perpetrator of the act dies before getting punished for it, can your heart accept that as a regular event in the course of life? Or does it revolt at the prospect of anyone just escaping responsibility without ever having to accept the due consequences of their actions? If the world is truly that indifferent to moral responsibility, why would we live to ever expect anything that seems morally due to anyone? What does responsibility mean if it may not be discharged at whim? Why should we enforce responsibility, as it is done in all civilized societies, if it does not matter that it is discharged? Is it really satisfactory to just say "tough luck" or "fat chance" when responsibility is not discharged?

ANOTHER way of looking at the law of karma is to explore alternatives to the law. One alternative we just looked at is to say that since there is no proof of the law actually working over a series of lives, it does not exist and that there is nothing like responsibility. This lives us uncomfortable in a world that is indifferent to morality and makes a mockery of whatever morality we actually practice or enforce as just our pointless lip service. We simply would never be in a position to ask for, expect or demand responsibility from anyone. If responsibility does not exist, why would anyone behave as if it exists? Absence of the law of karma would erase the difference between moral and immoral, responsible and irresponsible, good and evil. Why be moral at all if there is no moral accountability?
YET another and more well-known alternative to the law of karma is to say that we will get the due and just results of our actions done in this life with time spent in heaven or hell after death. Well, the point against the law of karma was there being no proof of another life. There is also no proof that there is a life in heaven or hell after this life. And, if the idea of moral accountability was good enough to support imagining a heaven and a hell, why not just accept the idea itself and follow it up, which would mean projecting another regular life where justice would eventually be done?

THE end result is that while the law of karma does not solve all the problems that we can throw at it, its alternatives are worse. Until we can find an alternative which has more advantages, the law of karma looks like our best hypothesis to account for our moral intuition that our heart just cannot accept immorality without consequences and morality without rewards. If we all become or really are morally insensitive or heartless, we can let go of the law of karma. Otherwise, the law will keep haunting our conscience.

LET us then assume the law and look at what it projects for us. If the law of karma is real, there will be another life to experience the consequences of all one’s actions that have not borne their just desserts before one’s death. And one can be expected to keep being reborn in another body as long as there is leftover karma or unrewarded action. As a corollary, there should be a previous life to explain things we actually experience here and now but cannot link them with anything we have yet done in this life. So, all of us have lived many lives before and will continue to live as many lives as we need to in order to exhaust our karma.

THE law of karma thus preserves the significance of morality that we intuitively know to be valid. It makes us to project past and future lives in accordance with the requirements of fairness and justice. It explains why we experience events in this life that we otherwise cannot explain. It assures us that justice is always done and will be done even if it apparently is not done in this life. It gives us incentives to be good and harmonious with others in our life with the hope and promise that our goodness will be reciprocated and will not be in vain. It gives us disincentives to not hurt others without reason, with the fear of just retributions that are sure to follow our evil deeds. Above all, the law of karma guarantees that all our efforts will beget their due rewards eventually. No other alternative does this much. Which should be enough in the matter.

WHAT else can we pick up from the law of karma that is relevant to the way we should live our life? For one thing, we understand that there is no free lunch! For, we always have to pay for what we get. It's no use trying to escape having to pay for something we seemingly have gotten free of charge. We should always try to reduce our moral, that is karmic, debts so that we are truly free and not just asking for freedom like a spoiled brat. Another thing we learn from the law is that life is meaningful. Life and world are not run by a robotic machine or a cruel despot that does not care for us. The law nurtures good citizenry. Like a good parent, the law encourages us to work for all that we get and takes care that none of our hard work will go unrewarded. The law lets us have good clean fun and does not spoil or pamper us like a bad parent would. Also, like a good parent, it never punishes us in a cruel and inhuman manner. We always get what we worked for, provided we do not hurt someone in the process. Karma is never against personal growth. In fact, it facilitates it and in the process keeps us withing the bounds of fairness and responsibility. It dissuades us from trying to get something for nothing.

THE law of karma thus is the essence of fairness and the heart of morality. Because fair is fair. Even as a child we say "But it ain't fair!" when someone takes away our toy. Very importantly, the law does not ask us to do something just to please a capricious authority. In fact it imposes a rule of fairness rather than a rule of authority. The law is not for a privileged few. It is equally valid for all and no one is spared from its fair dealing. Again, we are free to do anything, if we do not hurt others and take responsibility for the consequences. If we want to improve our lot, the law allows us to do good and accummulate good karma thereby. So, we can guide our own destiny without any hindrance from anyone. It has enough of carrot to keep us going and enough of stick to keep us in check. It does not tempt us with an empty promise of an unknown heaven. It does not threaten us with an eternal hell for any reason whatsoever. In sum, the law gives us all the freedom that we can digest with a good measure of responsibility. What is more fair than that?

JUST beyond fairness, the law of karma also helps us to go through hard times without losing our head. It also keeps us from getting a fllying success to our head. Keeps us on an even keel. If something great happens, like winning a lottery, it can tell us that we may have done something good in a previous life to deserve it and we now should use the money for a good cause so that we can restore our level of good karma rather than fritter it. Or, if we are hit by the death of a near one and dear one to a car accident, we can do all we can to assuage the situation and at the same time understand that karma works behind the scenes and accept our lot with good grace without whining about it or getting depressed over it The law has provided comfort and strength in distress to people over thousands of years and better than its alternatives.

A WORD of caution, however, before we run away with the law. Like any good thing, such as fire which can cook as well as burn, one can abuse it and end in trouble. We should understand that the law does is not meant to make us callous, lazy or fatalistic by engaging in idel speculation. Some have tended to abuse it to that effect. For instance, they may say to a victim of oppression, "You must have done bad karma to deserve your lot!" The law is the embodiment of fairness, responsibility and justice. To be unfair, urresoibsuvke and unjust in the name of the law itself is a blatant abuse of the law. Remember the one spiritual being? If we view it as God, all are God's children and we should love, help and nuture them rather than castigate them in a cruel manner and that too without any evidence. The law itself is not the evidence. We have not seen what karma a victim has done to deserve its suffering. Our own responsibililty is to help if we can and not to let anyone suffer needlessly. Alternatively, if we view the one spiritual being as the deepest self in all rather than a personal God, it is equally the same in all and therefore inspires us to help anyone that we can and not look down upon anyone with insentivity.

WE can't also say that we don't have to work hard to get anything because we will get it if we have good karma. For, karma does not just happen. It always has to be earned, with your own hands. And, even if you have good karma, you do not want to spend it away in a whimsical manner? Karma teaches us to be mature and responsible. It does not force us to work extra hard to get what we deserve. But nor does it teach us to slack off and not work hard enough to deserve anything that we desire. Of course there are critics who look at the law from particular dogmatic viewpoints rather than from an impartial moral perspective. No position on the issue is foolproof. We must insist on seeing their alternative which in all probability won't be stronger than the law of karma.
--Ramesh