Karma (Action and Its Fruit)
Every weighted deed bears fruit for the doer — the moral law that turns the wheel of rebirth.
Karma means 'action,' and as a doctrine it is the moral law that every weighted deed bears fruit for the one who does it — if not now, then later, even in a future life. It is not blind fate but a kind of cosmic accounting of cause and effect in the moral realm: our present condition reflects past action, and present action shapes what comes. Karma is the engine that keeps the round of rebirth turning until it is finally exhausted in liberation.
How it traveled
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150explains
- Yoga-sūtraKāśī (Varanasi) · 375explains
- UpadeśasāhasrīKālaḍi (Kaladi) · 710explains
- Aṣṭāvakra-gītāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(20)
Thus shalt thou be freed from the bondages of actions, bearing good and evil results: with the heart steadfast in the Yoga of renunciation, and liberated, thou shalt come unto Me.
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Fettered, O son of Kunti, by thy own Karma, born of thy own nature, what thou, from delusion, desirest not to do, thou shalt have to do in spite of thyself.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
'And here there is this verse: "To whatever object a man's own mind is attached, to that he goes strenuously together with his deed; and having obtained the end (the last results) of whatever deed he
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'Those whose conduct has been good, will quickly attain some good birth, the birth of a Brâhmana, or a Kshatriya, or a Vaisya. But those whose conduct has been evil, will quickly attain an evil birth,
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
But he who is endowed with qualities, and performs works that are to bear fruit, and enjoys the reward of whatever he has done, migrates through his own works, the lord of life, assuming all forms, le
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