Doctrine Of Karma

Author(s): Abhedananda Swami
Publisher: Ramkrishna Vedanta Math

Page 25

LAW OF CAUSATION
This universal law of causation is called in Sanskrit the law of Karma. The word Karma is now almost naturalized into English. It comes from the root Kri to act and means action, or deed. Any action, physical or mental is called Karma; and as every action is bound to produce its reaction or result it is also Karma. Moreover, secondarily as an action is both a cause and an effect at the same time, the word Karma includes both the cause and the effect. In this universal sense, motion, attraction, gravitation, repulsion, moving, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, thinking, willing and desiring nay, all the actions of body, mind and senses are all Karma. They produce results being governed by the irresistible law of causation. Under the sway of this all-pervading law, of Karma, there is no room left for a chance or accident. What we call happening by chance or accidental is in reality the product of some definite causes which we may not!