Law of Karma

Author(s): Nirmala Jha
Publisher: Capital Pubishing House Delhi

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INTRODUCTION
The entire ancient Indian philosophical thought, right from the Vedas to the modern Vedanta of Sankara, has 'the Law of Karma' as its basic foundation. If this presupposition is negated or is shown to have no logical or scientific basis for its acceptance, all Indian philosophical systems become redundant. The Law of Karma is not only the foundation of India's philosophy but also guides all social actions of the people of this country. Indian religion has a moral base and morality is related to practice. The Indian moral ideals have evolved from the Vedic traditions and the Law of Karma is one of the central principles on which Vedic philosophy rests. This being so, the Law of Karma has greatly influenced the life and actions of the people of this country in the past.
With the establishment of British Raj, there were three types of Indian reactions to the British influence. There were a few orthodox Pandits who scoffed at everything British or foreign. Some thought foreign alone to be of ever-lasting value. Then there were some moderates, who tried to blend the good in the foreign as well as in the ancient Indian culture and religion. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, etc. are the thinkers of the last category. Here an attempt has been made to find out how far these thinkers have been influenced by the Indian philosophical ideas and its basic doctrine, 'the Law of Karma'.
The present study focuses attention on the ideas of some of the eminent modern Indian thinkers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo, Vivekananda and Radhakrishnan regarding the Law of Karma. The work has been divided into five chapters. Chapters 1 to 4 deal with the Law of Karma, as perceived by Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan respectively and the concluding Chapter 5 contains valuable conclusions on this doctrine and analyses the impact of the traditional views on the contemporary thinkers.