What is Karma, Samsara, Moksha: An Insight into Some Basic Hindu Concepts

You must be familiar with the word ‘karma’. It typically brings to mind the idea of ‘what goes around, comes around’. To a certain extent, this is correct but in Sanskrit, the term ‘karma’ simply means ‘deed’ or ‘action’. If you are looking for karma quotes, perhaps you should get a better understanding of the concept and its nuances first.

According to Hindu philosophy, every action (karma) leads to a reaction or outcome. When a person’s actions are positive or dharmic, that is selfless or righteous, they experience positive effects or rewards. On the other hand, if their actions are negative (like stealing, lying, hurting), they reap negative results. It is predominantly believed that the karma of a person’s actions, positive or negative, maybe experienced instantly, at a later point in their present life or possibly in a future life of lives. We must remember that a person’s karma is based on their thoughts, words, actions and choices.

There are essentially three types of karma:

· Kriyaman karma – this implies actions executed in the current life may produce results in the same or a subsequent life.

· Prarabdha karma – this implies karma whose effects have already begun to show in the current life; although it may take longer to manifest, it occurs at some point in a person’s current lifetime.

· Sanchita karma – this implies an accumulation of all past karma with the results occurring in a future lifetime.

What is Reincarnation?

According to Hindu teachings, each birth is the result of a person’s unique karmic circumstances. When a person or a living being passes away, their soul is drawn to circumstances that help balance out their karmic debt in order to evolve spiritually. Individuals may be born into circumstances where they suffer so they can reap the consequences of bad decisions from their present or past lives. Others might be born into situations where their suffering is insignificant as a reward for following their dharma well in the present or past lives.

Hindus also believe that individuals can be reborn as other living beings based on their previous karma. The presence of souls in all living beings and the process of reincarnation is the foundation for respect that Hindus are urged to show towards all people and forms of life. As per Hinduism, suffering is not necessarily physical; it can also refer to a person’s state of mind. For instance, a person may be born into a wealthy family but they may have a disposition that disallows them from enjoying their prosperity. On the other hand, another person who finds himself handicapped after an accident could remain caring, kind and helpful despite his physical limitations. Both these situations are understood to be the results of a person’s past and present karma. In simpler words, karmic debts can surface not only as a person’s life circumstances but also in the way in which they deal with them.

It is also widely said that the response to situations is always a choice; karma leads to outcomes but not the response to those outcomes. According to Hinduism, an individual’s response to suffering should be led by wisdom. A key component to spiritual advancement is acting in ways that lessen the suffering of other living beings.

What is Samsara?

Samsara refers to the cycle of reincarnation. While karma serves as a positive motivator for Hindus to lead a spiritual life, samsara acts as a negative reinforcer and Hindus try to break free of this cycle. The common belief is that samsara stems from a person’s deluded belief that their existence is unrelated to everyone and everything else. This delusion is referred to as maya, which compels the person to not only forget their own divinity but the presence of that same divinity in the rest of existence. This mistaken belief in a person’s autonomy from the rest drives them to act in a manner which generates karma that in turn keeps them tied to the cycle of samsara. Some define maya as a person forgetting the fact that all existence is dependent on the divine. As a result, they also forget the need for all actions to be selfless and in loving devotion of god.

What is Moksha?

Many Hindu philosophers believe that the end goal for a person is to work through their reservoir of karma and attain liberation. It is commonly thought that when a soul completely equalizes its karmic bank account by reaping the results of all actions, good and bad, it is ready to achieve moksha. The term simply implies liberation from samsara or the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. For most Hindus, this translates to the honed ability to live in the present moment in a detached manner and experience absolute peace as well as pure compassion towards all.

Moksha can be achieved in this lifetime as well through self-realization, which is the realization of a person’s own divine nature. In this state of being, the soul stops generating karma that binds it to the physical world and is, therefore, able to find the path to liberation. For some, the path to moksha is paved by their loving dedication to god and selfless service, where every act is viewed as an offering to the divine. In this view, moksha can only be achieved upon physical death. It has been described as a blissful closeness to god, the depth of which is linked to the innate nature of the individual soul and their karma.

Since Hindus believe in karma, samsara and moksha, the Abrahamic ideas of heaven and hell as places of permanent glory or damnation don’t exist for them. Some may believe in what is described in Hindu scriptures as svarga and naraka – two planes of existence – that are usually likened to heaven and hell respectively. But neither svarga or naraka are eternal; both serve as transitional planes of existence in which the soul may utilize a portion of its karmic debt or surplus before taking birth once again to try and attain moksha.