Doctrine Of Karma

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

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LAW OF RETRIBUTION
St. Bernard said: "Nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain, I carry about with me and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault." It is for this reason that the Hindus although do not believe in the hell-fire doctrine and do not fear the punishment of God, still they hesitate to commit wicked deeds and struggle hard to live virtuous lives simply fearing the eternal law of Karma. The Buddhists who do not believe in a personal God and who deny the existence of the permanent entity of the soul, have founded their ethics and religion upon this universal law of Karma, or of cause and sequence. The doctrine of Karma is the fundamental principle of the philosophy and religion of Vedanta. But there is a difference between the Buddhistic and Vedantic wierpretation of this doctrinc. The Buddhists deny the existence of a soul entity as doer, performer of acts, thinker, enjoyer
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