What is Karma ?

Actually, the meaning of the word Karma as the universal law of Cause and Effect, is often used in a simple way by most of us in daily life.  When we say, “As he sows so does he reap”, or “What goes around comes around”, it broadly defines the Law of Karma.   The writings below explain it in detail.

Karma “is the universal law of cause and effect in relation to human life.”

Swami Vivekananda explains:

“Every thought that we think, every deed that we do, after a certain time becomes subtle, goes into seed form, so to speak, and lives in the subtle body in a potential form and after a time it emerges again and bears its results.  These results condition the life of man.  Thus he molds his own life.  Man is not bound by any other except that which he makes for himself.  Out thoughts, our words, and deeds are the threads of the net which we throw round ourselves, for good or for evil.  Once we set in motion a certain power, we have to take the full consequences of it.  This is the law of karma.”  

The Law of Karma lays the whole responsibility on man. 

So says Swami Vivekananda:

“Each one of us is the maker of his own fate.  We, we and no one else, are responsible for what we suffer.  We are the effects, and we are the causes. If I am unhappy, it has been of my own making, and that very thing shows that I can be happy if I will it.  If I am impure, that is also of my own making, and that shows that I can be pure if I will it.  The human will stands beyond all circumstance.  Before it – the strong, gigantic, infinite will and freedom in man – all the powers, even of nature must bow down, succumb and become its servants.  This is the result of the law of karma.” 

But the freedom of man does not counter God’s existence as supreme ruler. … It is because of the rulership of the almighty Lord that all things and beings are held in their respective positions.  …  That the overlordship of God does not interfere with individual freedom can be elucidated by illustrations.  The Sun fosters the growth of vegetation. Without the sun nothing can grow.  Yet each plant grows according to its type and potency under the sun.  The sovereignty of God and man’s freedom of action go together…each individual has freedom in his limited sphere.  The Higher Power is there, yet each individual has the freedom to use the power in his own way.

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda