Karma (redirected from Kammas)

karma or karman (kär`mə, kär`mən), [Skt.,=action, work, or ritual], basic concept common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The doctrine of karma states that one's state in this life is a result of actions (both physical and mental) in past incarnations, and action in this life can determine one's destiny in future incarnations. Karma is a natural, impersonal law of moral cause and effect and has no connection with the idea of a supreme power that decrees punishment or forgiveness of sins. Karmic law is universally applicable, and only those who have attained liberation from rebirth, called mukti (or moksha) or nirvana, can transcend it. Karma yoga (see yoga), the spiritual discipline of detachment from the results of action, is a famous teaching of the Bhagavad-Gita.

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karma

In Indian philosophy, the influence of an individual's past actions on his future lives or reincarnations. It is based on the conviction that the present life is only one in a chain of lives (see samsara). The accumulated moral energy of a person's life determines his or her character, class status, and disposition in the next life. The process is automatic, and no interference by the gods is possible. In the course of a chain of lives, people can perfect themselves and reach the level of Brahma, or they can degrade themselves to the extent that they return to life as animals. The concept of karma, basic to Hinduism, was also incorporated into Buddhism and Jainism.

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karma

1. Hinduism Buddhism the principle of retributive justice determining a person's state of life and the state of his reincarnations as the effect of his past deeds

2. Theosophy the doctrine of inevitable consequence

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karma

one’s every action brings inevitable results. [Buddhist and Hindu Trad.: EB (1963), 13: 283; Pop. Culture: Misc.]

See : Fate

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Karma

one of the central concepts of Indian philosophy, supplementing the doctrine of reincarnation.

The concept of karma already existed when the Vedas were being written and subsequently was incorporated into nearly all the Indian religious and philosophical systems; it is an essential part of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. In a broad sense, karma is the total sum of the actions performed by any living creature and the consequences of these actions, which together determine the character of the creature’s new birth, that is, his later existence. In the narrow sense, karma generally refers to the influence of the accomplished actions on the character of the creature’s present and subsequent existence. In both cases, karma appears as an invisible force: the general principle of its operation is held to be clear but its internal mechanism remains perfectly concealed. Karma not only determines the favorable or unfavorable conditions of existence (health or illness, wealth or poverty, happiness or unhappiness) and the sex, length of life, and social status of the individual but also the ultimate progress or regression in relation to the main goal of man: freedom from the ties of “profane” existence and subordination to the law of cause and effect. Karma differs from the concept of fate in its ethical coloring, since the determination of present and future existence has the character of retribution or recompense for accomplished acts and is not under the influence of inevitable divine or cosmic forces.

REFERENCES

Radhakrishnan, S. Indiiskaia filosofiia, vol. 1. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from English.)
Rutter, O. The Scales of Karma. London, 1940.
Humphreys, S. Karma and Rebirth. London, 1943.

V. P. LUCHINA