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Karma, Moksha & Samsara Promoting Human Dignity, Mutual Respect & Pluralism

What is Karma?

The Sanskrit word “ KARMA ” means ACTION or DEED Within Hindu philosophy, every action, or “ KARMA ” has a REACTION or OUTCOME When people follow their dharma by acting selflessly or righteously, they experience positive effects or rewards. If their actions are negative (lying, stealing, hurting, etc.), the results will be likewise.

The karma of one’s actions, Positive or negative, may be experienced immediately, sometime later in one’s present life, or possibly in a future life or lives A person’s karma is based on the choices they make and the thoughts, words, or actions that are the result.

What are the 3 types of Karma?

Kriyaman KARMA The karma a person produces and reaps in their daily lives. It is the most immediate form. Prarabdha KARMA This is karma whose effects have already begun. It takes longer to manifest, but occurs at some point in one’s present lifetime. Sanchita KARMA This is the accumulation of all past karma, and the results of this usually occur in a future lifetime.

What is Reincarnation?

According to Hinduism, every soul is attracted to circumstances that will help balance out one’s karmic needs and debts while advancing spiritually. This belief often leads to the respect that Hindus show for all forms of life, and is one of the reason that many Hindus may choose to be vegetarian. The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is called SAMSARA. KARMA generates circumstances, but not one’s response to them. Hinduism teaches that the free will exercised in one’s response to both good and bad circumstances must be informed by wisdom.

Some Hindus believe that people can even be reincarnated as other living things based on their previous actions, and what circumstances will best allow them to advance spiritually. The concept of karma acts as a positive motivator for leading a spiritual life, but samsara is, in many ways, a negative reinforcer – Hindus strive to be free of this cycle. Everyone’s birth is the result of his or her unique karmic circumstances.

What is Maya?

Many Hindus believe that SAMSARA is a feature of life based on MAYA or the deluded belief that one’s existence is independent of everything and everyone else. Under MAYA, the individual forgets not only their own Divine nature, but the presence of that same Divine nature in the rest of Existence. The mistaken belief in one’s own autonomy from the rest of existence is what drives one to act selfishly or in a fashion that generates KARMA. This karma keeps the individual tied to the cycle of SAMSARA.

Others define maya as the state of forgetfulness of the complete dependence of existence on the Divine. As a result, one forgets the need for all actions to be selfless. To overcome MAYA, one’s actions must also be in loving devotion to God in addition to being selfless. Selfish karma keeps the individual tied to the cycle of SAMSARA.

What is Moksha?

The ultimate goal in most schools of Hinduism is for the individual to work through their reservoir of karma, replacing the negative with the positive, until freedom from attachment to the fruit of all actions (consequences or rewards) is attained. This state is known as MOKSHA (“liberation”) and achieved through Self-realization (atma-jnana) or realization of one's true, divine nature.

For many Hindus, In this state, the soul stops creating the KARMA that binds it to the physical world, and finds liberation. MOKSHA is the result of self-realization. It manifests as the perfected ability to live in the present moment, and experience absolute peace and the awakening of pure compassion towards all.

Other Hindus believe that the depth of which is dependent on the innate nature of the individual soul and their KARMA. the path to MOKSHA is paved by loving devotion to God and selfless service. MOKSHA, in this view, can only be attained at physical death and is described as bliss and closeness to God,

Some believe moksha can be attained during while living while others believe it is only possible upon the death. Moksha also means union of the soul and God, though the extent of union is understood differently by the major schools of thought. Moksha is liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth (samsara).

What about Heaven and Hell?

Because Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation, the concept of heaven and hell as worlds of eternal glory or damnation do not exist for them. Hindus also do not ascribe to the concept of Satan or a devil that is in eternal opposition to God. Some Hindus may believe in what is described in Hindu scriptures as two planes of existence that can be likened to heaven and hell. These are respectively svarga and naraka. Neither svarga or naraka, are either permanent or eternal. Both are intermediary planes of existence in which the soul might exhaust a portion of its karmic debt or surplus before taking physical birth once again to strive for moksha.

TAKE AWAYS Samsara is the cycle of birth and rebirth Moksha is liberation from this cycle Maya can be forgetting one’s own Divine nature which is shared with the rest of Existence or forgetting the dependence of Existence on God Moksha is the perfected ability to live in the present moment and experience absolute peace and the awakening of pure compassion towards all

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