Karma and Rebirth

Author(s): T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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T. G. Kalghatgi
of animal experience, but for human life the end to be attained is nothing short of perfection. His efforts are to be directed to the attainment of this highest end. The universe is, in the words of Tennyson, 'a vale of soulmaking and not a pleasure garden.
7 (a). Objections have been raised against the theory of Karma on the basis of the theistic conception of God and the dispensation of justice by him. It is said that if God as a creator is omnipotent, must be partial and cruel as he makes some people suffer and some enjoy pleasures in this life. Śarkara in his commentary to Brahmasūtra replies that God cannot be considered as partial and cruel because he acts with reference to Karma of every individuals. If he were to act without taking into consideration the Karma, he would be thought of as being partial and cruel. But God should be looked upon as the rain. The rain is the common cause for the growth of rice and wheat etc. Similarly, regarding the inequalities among men in their status and enjoyment, the specific Karma of each individual is the cause. We get a similar argument in the BỊhadāran yaka Upanişad (3.2.13) which states that a man becomes meritorious by his good actions and sinful by his bad actions.
(b) It is objected that prior to creation there was no Karma, so how can it lead to differentiation ? But it has been stated that the saṁsāra is anadi (beginningless). Like the seed and the sprout the cycle of life and action goes on. Just as in the case of a seed with its potentialities for becoming a tree, there is the need of rain, so also has God to depend on the Karma for determining the status of an individual in this life.
Rāmānuja shows that the inequality of creation depends on the Karma of a particular individual. He quotes references from Brhadaranyaka Upan. işad mentioned above and Vişnu Purāna.
(c) It has also been objected that prior to the creation there were no beings at all. So there can be no Karma, then how can we account for the inequality ? But it is stated that the individual souls and their deeds form the eternal stream. Prior to the creation souls abide in subtle condition. Nimbārka adds that Karma done by the beings in the earlier creation have, again, their antecedents. Similarly, Vallabhācārya follows the same line of argument. All the jīvas merge into the Brahman along with their Karma in minute form and when creation starts they are born with their Karma.
Our happiness and suffering in this life are determined by our actions in the earlier life and those of that life are determined by the actions of still earlier life. So the chain goes on endlessly. However, it is beyond the power of individual mind to know how a particular soul started living. In this sense Karma is called anādi.