Karma can be described as simply as cause and effect, an individual will be responsible for his/her actions and their effects. Bhagwan (God) rewards, or punishes according to the deeds committed. We are always performing Karma's either it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. Everything that happens on this planet has a reason, nothing is coincidental. Any deed that you perform good or bad has a consequence to it, you will either experience the pay back as soon as your deed, in the same life, or any of your next lives. An individuals past actions have an effect on the present, and the present has an effect on the future. Every person to a certain degree is the creator of their own destiny because of the deeds that they perform.
All of our karmas are performed in one of two ways. The first way is called nishkãm karma, when actions are performed without any expectation of material gain, ego, or material desires. Nishkãm karmas are only performed to fulfill one’s duties and please God. The second way is called sakãm karma, when actions are performed with an expectation of material desire or purpose. Bhagwan Swaminarayan taught the ideal of performing one’s karmas without the expectation of material gain. He stressed the need for an aspirant to have one desire – to please God even while performing nishkãm karma.
In Hindu Dharma there are 3 types of karmas:
- Kriyamãn karma are karmas being acquired every moment. The fruits of these karmas can be attained in this life, the next, or after many births.
- Sanchit karma is an accumulation of karmas containing the sum total of all a person’s karmas from one or many past lives. The fruits of these karmas are being experienced or have yet to be experienced.
- Prãrabdha karma is a part of one’s sanchit karma that is being experienced in this birth. For example, the attributes and conditions of one’s physical body and mental capacities are due to one’s prãrabdha karmas.
Bhagwan Swãminãrãyan has explained in His discourses that God has given every person the freedom of action, and therefore, he or she is responsible for performing karmas that either result in punya (merits) or pãp (sins). Furthermore, Bhagwan is the giver of the fruits of one’s good and bad karmas when He determines the consequences of one’s karmas. No karma by itself can produce or give results, but when Bhagwan so decides, only then can one experience its good or bad effects. The karma principle is not a self-operating system in which karmas automatically bring or give one results. This is because karmas by themselves are inanimate.