KARMA

The law of karma underpins the process of transmigration of the soul. Karma literally means “action,” but more often refers to the accumulated reactions to activities. Thus we talk of “good karma” and “bad karma,” which are stored reactions that gradually unfold to determine our unique destiny.

- Exodus 21: 23-25

"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

The word 'karma' literally means action. It is 'doing', not thinking. However, when we talk about karma, we normally allude to the Law of Karma, the Law of Action and Reaction. According to this law, every action of ours is recorded and rewarded either through the good, or evil that our action has caused.

The passage explains the concept of karma, which means that for every action a person takes, there is an equal or opposite reaction in their future. It is a universal causal law by which good or bad actions determine the future modes of an individual's existence.

The self-determination and accountability of the individual soul rests on its capacity for free choice. This is exercised only in the human form. Whilst in lower species, the atman (soul) takes no moral decisions but is instead bound by instinct. Therefore, although all species of life are subject to the reactions of past activities, such karma is generated only while in the human form. Human life alone is a life of responsibility.

BRAHMA KNOWLEDGE - Part I

Chapter XX - KARMA

§ 20. Karma.—The propelling force which conducts the Soul with its potential functions through endless incarnations as man, god, beast, or vegetable, is the karmāśraya, the substrate of its karma or works. By "work" is understood not only every act of will, and of body in obedience to will, but also every act of ideation in which the subject of thought posits a non-self in opposition to itself, for in this false duality begins the Will, desire, attachment of the soul to its fetters of finitude, and therewith moral blindness. Every such act transforms itself into a positive force acting upon the soul, and demanding a corresponding requital of good for good and evil for evil in future experiences; and the sum of these forces at the end of each life determines the form of birth in the next incarnation