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Concepts
Key Points
Introduction
Karma
life.
Prakriti: Matter
Maya: Illusion
Moksha: Liberation
Ways
Understandings
Sanatana Dharma
Varnashrama Dharma
kinds of human actions: (1) Karma: those which elevate, (2) Vikarma: those which degrade and
(3) Akarma: those which create neither good nor bad reactions and thus lead to liberation.
Key Concepts
Core Values
Practice
Lifestyle
Tradition
Extras
Useful Analogies
Going on holiday/Going to prison
Attaining a heavenly destination is like going on holiday; a lower birth like going to prison.
By performing pious activities, one accrues good karmic credits and attains a higher birth in
which one can enjoy without any difficulties. However, when one's pious credits are
exhausted, one falls again to earth, just as one must return from holidays to the regular
routine of work when one's well-earned funds are exhausted.
The residents of heaven can perform sinful actions, but generally do not, as they have all
facilities of life.
For transgressing universal and God-given laws the soul is degraded to the lower
species.Then, through gradual purification (by suffering), he rises again to the human
platform. Once in the lower species the soul cannot exercise free will and is more or less
condemned to a "sentence." This is very much like a criminal who illegally tries to enjoy life
by circumventing the law rather than following it.
Related Stories
The Sadhu's Blessings (STO-105)
A story illustrating karma.
Quote
"Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust."
James Shirley
Related Practices
Pious activities such as charity, penance and pilgrimage,
especially when performed in anticipation of material
benefits, such as a higher standard of living on earth or an
elevated birth on the heavenly planets.
Avoidance of impious acts, considered to bring misfortune
and degradation. These includes the neglect or abuse of five
sections of society, namely women, children, animals
(especially cows), saintly people, and the elderly
Personal Reflection
Explore common notions of karma, for example, sayings such as, "He had it coming to him!"
and "What goes around comes around."
How much free will do we feel we have in life? What should we strive to change and what
should we be content to accept?
Common Misunderstandings
Hindus don't eat meat because they think that they will then be reborn as an
animal.
This statement suggests that Hindus perform pious activities largely out of fear and selfishness.
It neglects the finer sentiments behind vegetarianism, such as empathy for fellow living beings.
A good dog may become a human in the next life, whereas a bad dog may become a
bird or insect.
The soul passing through lower species doesn't create any new karma. He only works off the
karmic reactions generated whilst in the human form and gradually rises towards another
human birth.
Scriptural Passages
"In proportion to the extent of one's religious or irreligious actions in this life, one must enjoy or
suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next."
Bhagavat Purana 6.1.45
Free will and determinism: how much free will do we actually exercise?
Glossary Terms
Punya pious activities.
Papa sinful activities.
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"Heart of Hinduism" is Copyright: ISKCON Educational Services, 2004