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Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo
It is generally believed that 'what we sow, so we reap'. If we perform good actions, we are happy and if we perform bad actions, we are unhappy. In other words, pleasure is the reward of virtue and pain is the punishment for vice. Philosophically, the Law of Karma is extended not only to the present human life but also to the life after death. There are three kinds of Karma : (a) Prārabdha Karma : this type of Karma is related with our past life. In the present life, we get the results of our actions, done in the past life. In other words, the result of such actions has begun; (b) Sanchit Karma : this type of Karma is also related with past life but the difference is that the result of it has not yet begun. That is to say, the effects are stored. These may affect us either in this life or in the future life; (c) Sanchīyamān Karma : this type of action is purely related with our present life, which will bear fruit in our future life. So we get the result of our own actions. We ourselves are the creator of our future.
Sri Aurobindo does not confine his view to the popular notion of the Law of Karma. The idea of petty rewards and punishments alone does not explain the rationale of the Law. According to Sri Aurobindo, not only the actions but even the thoughts and feelings have their corresponding results. Even the heredity and environment of a person are determined by the present and past actions of man. And, there is continuity between different births too. On the whole, it is the Doctrine of Karma, which is operative in life.
Fundamentally, the meaning of the Law of Karma is that all is a continuous chain in which every link is necessarily bound to the past numberless links. In other words, there is a fixed causal association of cause and effect. Present action is the result of past action and in the same way future actions will be the result of the present actions. In the words of Sri Aurobindo : "There is a law here which does so make itself felt and against which all our egoistic ignorance and self-will and violence dashes up in the end, as the great Greek poet said of the haughty isolence and prosperous pride of man ...there is the secret of an eternal factor, the base of the unchanging action of the just and truthful Gods, in the self-sufficient and impartial Law of Karima." Devānān dhruvāni bratāni,
