The Law of Karma – Action, and Reactions (Karma & Destiny)

As per the law of Karma, everyone is doing some action at every moment and every action has its reaction accordingly.
This is a universal law created by God which says that whatever actions (Karma) we perform will have its consequences (Destiny).
The Law of Karma states that whatever situations come to us in the form of happiness or distress, victory or defeat, profit or loss, reward or punishment, are the consequences of the choices we made in the past.
It is the law of karma that confirms and proves the concept of reincarnation. Because if a baby is born blind and question – what action did I do to be born blind? We can only validate this with the concept of reincarnation along with the law of karma. The baby is carrying his karma from endless past lives.
The Nyaya darshan gives it (Law of Karma) as proof of God without him who can keep such an amazing account of Karma.
The law of karma states, that every action performed in life creates another reaction which in turn produces a new counteraction. Thus, an endless chain of actions and reactions continues which further binds us in the cycle of birth and death.
Actions are performed at three levels – Body (Physical actions), Mind (Mental actions), Speech (Verbal actions). Actions performed at any level will have their consequences.
The consequences of any action may arrive immediately, or later in the current life or in the next birth cycle. It is karma operating through the law of cause and effect, action and reaction, that governs all life and binds the atman (the Self) to the wheel of saṃsāra (birth and death).
God does not impose karma on us, we choose to act with free will, and further creating our own destinies. What choices we will make depends on our intellect (buddhi), which further depends on the modes of nature we associate with. And it is the samskara (past tendencies), which decides our association with the modes of nature, and Samskara is formed of Karma. Therefore, we see it is a cyclic process and indeed nearly impossible to overcome this cycle.

Three Types of Action:

Karma:

The actions that are performed in terms of one’s prescribed duties, as mentioned in the revealed scriptures, are called karma or Niyat Karma (prescribed duties).

Akarma:

The actions that are performed as a sense of duty without expecting the results, which frees one from the cycle of birth and death are called Akarma, also called Nishkaam Karma.

Vikarma:

The actions that are performed by the misuse of one’s freedom and are not prescribed in the Vedic scriptures are called Vikarma (sinful actions). Ex. – intoxication, meat-eating, gambling, and illicit sex, etc.

Generally, actions performed against the instruction of God lead to Paap (sins), and actions that are in accordance with the scriptures lead to Punya (virtues). As one acts, so does he become: one becomes virtuous by virtuous action, and evil by evil action.

Three Stages of Action:

In the absence of Spiritual knowledge (knowledge of the spirit soul), ignorance (Avidya) covers Jiva (soul), due to which one identifies himself with the body (matter) develops a desire (Kaam) to enjoy matter, this desire turns into an action (Karma) which creates a further reaction that is called Destiny (Prarabdha).

Sanchit Karma:

The Sanchit karma is the sum of all karma we have done in endless past lives. Sanchit karma decides our present and future situations and attributes. Vedic analogy – The bowman has already released an arrow and it has left his hands. He is about to shoot another arrow. The bundle of arrows in the quiver on his back is the Sanchit karma; the arrow he has already shot is Prarabdha karma, and the arrow which he is about to shoot from his bow is Kriyamaan karma. The whole set of Sanchit Karma can be destroyed by attaining Knowledge of the self and supreme lord.

Prarabdha Karma:

God sends us into the world to continue our journey, he takes one portion from the Sanchit Karma and gives this portion to us. That portion of the Sanchit Karma which influences human life in the present birth is called Prarabdha. There is an element of destiny in everybody’s life. We did not choose the place where we would be born, the intellect, our parents, our physical attributes, tendencies etc. The effect of Prarabdha totally depends on the grace of the supreme lord.

Kriyamaan Karma:

Though destiny is determined, at every moment we have a free well with which we can make choices. Kriyamaan Karma is the karma we are currently creating through the body, mind, and speech for the future by using our free will. While some Kriyamaan karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored in Sanchit karma. Non-attachment to the fruits of action, along with devotional service to God, stops the accumulation of Kriyamaan

Complete Freedom from Karma (actions & reactions)

The process of performing actions (Akarma or Nishkaam Karma), as a service to God without expecting any material gain is called Bhakti (Devotional service), which brings complete freedom from karmic entanglement (cycle of birth and death). The process of performing action keeping God as a center bestows few benedictions:

The ability to distinguish right from wrong. When we practice devotional service, God as the Super soul in our heart grants us the knowledge to make the right choices.
Devotional services empower us with the determination to do our prescribed duties selflessly, and, gradually overcome the desires to commit wrong actions.
The lessening of sinful reactions. Certain reactions are destined to come to us from the past. But devotional service reduces the intensity of those reactions. The more we are spiritually advanced, the less is the impact of material miseries.

In any case, all types of sinful actions & reactions are vanquished simply by engaging in the devotional service of the supreme lord.