"It's karma." People say this as if it were punishment, destiny, or fate. None of that. The law of karma is something far more precise and far less mystical than imagined.
What Is the Law of Karma
Karma means action. The law of karma simply says: every action produces a result. Not sometimes. Always.
This includes physical, verbal, and mental actions. And results can come immediately, after some time, or at a completely different moment.
How It Works
The Vedic tradition uses the metaphor of the archer. Three types of arrows:
Sañcita karma: All the arrows in the quiver -- accumulated karma that has not yet borne fruit. An enormous stock of pending results.
Prārabdha karma: The arrow already released -- the karma that determined this birth, this body, these circumstances. Cannot be altered. Must be lived through.
Āgāmi karma: The arrow being prepared now -- actions you are doing right now, which will produce future results.
Who Administers Karma
Karma does not operate on its own. In Vedānta, the one who administers the law of karma is Īśvara -- the intelligence that governs the entire order of the universe. Not a judge punishing or rewarding. It is natural order, like gravity.
Karma and Freedom
If everything is the result of karma, where is freedom? Here is the subtle point: prārabdha (what is already in motion) cannot be changed. But āgāmi (what you do now) is in your hands.
Karma yoga teaches: do your best now, offering the action to Īśvara. The result? Accept it as prasāda. That is freedom in action.
And total freedom (mokṣa)? It comes from knowing that you are not the doer. Ātman does not perform karma. The body-mind does.
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