कर्म
Karma
karma
In simple words
Karma first means simply 'action'. It also names the idea that what we do, with what intention, leaves traces that shape what we later experience. Traditions agree karma matters but disagree strongly about how it works.
What is it?
In the Vedic ritual context, karma meant sacrificial action and its prescribed results. The Upanishads widened it into a moral principle tied to rebirth, and it became common ground for Hindu, Jain and Buddhist thought, each explaining it differently: as unseen potency, as intention, as physical karmic matter, or as governed by God. The Gita's distinctive move is to separate action from attachment to its fruits, so that action itself need not bind.
Scholar’s note
Mimamsa posits apurva, an unseen potency connecting ritual act and delayed result. Nyaya-Vaisheshika speak of adrishta (unseen merit and demerit) inhering in the self, directed by Ishvara. Vedanta distinguishes sanchita (accumulated), prarabdha (begun, now bearing fruit) and agami/kriyamana (being made now) karma. Buddhism defines karma as cetana (intention). Jainism gives the most elaborate taxonomy: eight types of karmic matter binding the soul.How its meaning differs
Karma is above all Vedic ritual duty; correctly performed rites produce results through an unseen potency (apurva), without need of a God to dispense them.
Action, however good, cannot produce liberation, because liberation is not a product; right action purifies the mind so that knowledge of the Self can arise.
Karma operates within God's will; action done as worship of the Lord, without selfish motive, becomes a means to devotion and liberation.
Karma is subtle matter that adheres to the soul when it acts with passion; it must be stopped (samvara) and shed (nirjara) through discipline and austerity.
Karma is intention (cetana) and the actions that flow from it; it conditions future experience without any permanent self to carry it.
Karma shapes the body one receives, but liberation comes by divine grace (nadar) through remembrance of the Name and living by the divine order (hukam).
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारSwamiji explains that no one can remain even for a moment without action, because as long as one identifies with prakriti its qualities make one act (3.5). Only the human birth is meant for doing new karma; animals, gods and beings in hell only experience the results of past karma (2.47). The same outward act becomes 'karma', 'akarma' or 'vikarma' according to the inner intent: done with desire it is karma; done without desire for fruit, 'mine' and attachment, purely for the good of others, it becomes akarma; done to harm someone it is vikarma (4.17). A person is not bound by action as such, but by action done for oneself (3.9). So giving up prescribed action is not the way out — action is better than inaction (3.8) — and it is to be done without attachment (3.19).
स्वामीजी बताते हैं कि प्रकृतिसे सम्बन्ध माननेवाला कोई भी मनुष्य क्षणमात्र भी कर्म किये बिना नहीं रह सकता (३।५)। नया कर्म करनेका अधिकार केवल मनुष्यको है; पशु-पक्षी, देवता और नारकीय जीव पुराने कर्मोंका फल भोगते हैं (२।४७)। एक ही क्रिया भावके अनुसार तीन तरहकी हो जाती है — सकामभावसे की गयी 'कर्म', फलेच्छा, ममता और आसक्तिसे रहित होकर केवल दूसरोंके हितके लिये की गयी 'अकर्म', और दूसरेका अहित करनेके भावसे की गयी 'विकर्म' (४।१७)। मनुष्य कर्म करनेसे नहीं, अपने लिये कर्म करनेसे बँधता है (३।९)। इसलिये कर्म छोड़ना उपाय नहीं है — कर्म न करनेसे कर्म करना श्रेष्ठ है (३।८), और उसे आसक्तिरहित होकर करना है (३।१९)।
सकामभावसे की गयी शास्त्रविहित क्रिया ‘कर्म’ बन जाती है। फलेच्छा, ममता और आसक्तिसे रहित होकर केवल दूसरोंके हितके लिये किया गया कर्म ‘अकर्म’ बन जाता है।Where it appears in the Gita
Your right is to the action — never to its fruit
कर्ममें ही अधिकार है, फलमें कभी नहीं
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
You are free in doing your duty, never in its fruit; do not become the cause of the fruit, nor be attached to inaction.
कर्तव्य-कर्म करनेमें ही तेरा अधिकार है, फलमें कभी नहीं; तू कर्मफलका हेतु मत बन और कर्म न करनेमें भी तेरी आसक्ति न हो।
3.5न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्।
कोई भी (मनुष्य) किसी भी अवस्थामें क्षणमात्र भी कर्म किये बिना नहीं रह सकता; क्योंकि (प्रकृतिके) परवश हुए सब प्राणियोंसे प्रकृतिजन्य गुण कर्म करवा लेते हैं।
3.8नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मण:।
तू शास्त्रविधिसे नियत किये हुए कर्तव्यकर्म कर; क्योंकि कर्म न करनेकी अपेक्षा कर्म करना श्रेष्ठ है तथा कर्म न करनेसे तेरा शरीर-निर्वाह भी सिद्ध नहीं होगा।
3.9Action done for others does not bind
यज्ञार्थ कर्म बाँधते नहीं
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धन:।
Actions done for oneself bind; actions done as yajna — duty for the good of others — free. So act, without attachment, for that.
अपने लिये किये कर्म बाँधते हैं; यज्ञ अर्थात् दूसरोंके हितके लिये किये कर्तव्य-कर्म मुक्त करते हैं। अत: आसक्तिरहित होकर उसीके लिये कर्म कर।
3.19Do your duty, always unattached
निरन्तर आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्तव्य कर
तस्मादसक्त: सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर।
Therefore, constantly free of attachment, do well the work that is your duty — by acting without attachment a person attains the Supreme.
इसलिये निरन्तर आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्तव्य-कर्मका भलीभाँति आचरण कर; आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्म करनेवाला मनुष्य परमात्माको प्राप्त हो जाता है।
4.17कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मण:।
कर्मोंका (तत्त्व) भी जानना चाहिये और अकर्मका (तत्त्व भी) जानना चाहिये तथा विकर्मका (तत्त्व भी) जानना चाहिये; क्योंकि कर्मोंकी गति गहन है अर्थात् समझनेमें बड़ी कठिन है।
4.18Seeing inaction in action
कर्ममें अकर्म, अकर्ममें कर्म
कर्मण्यकर्म य: पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म य:।
Seeing inaction in action and action in inaction — untouched whether acting or not — one is wise, a yogi, with nothing left to do.
जो कर्ममें अकर्म और अकर्ममें कर्म देखता है—करते हुए या न करते हुए निर्लिप्त रहता है—वह बुद्धिमान्, योगी और कृतकृत्य है।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Traditionपूर्व मीमांसाPurva MimamsaWhere karma starts: Vedic ritual action and its unseen results.
- 2Textबृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्Brihadaranyaka UpanishadAmong the earliest texts linking action and desire to rebirth.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 3.5No one can remain without action even for a moment.
- 4Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.47The Gita's key move: your concern is with the action, never its fruits.
- 5Traditionजैन दर्शनJain philosophyKarma as subtle matter clinging to the soul.
- 6Traditionबौद्ध दर्शनBuddhist philosophyKarma as intention, without a permanent self.
- 7Conceptनिष्काम कर्मNishkama karmaThe Gita's answer: action without desire for its fruit.
Explore related concepts
Continue exploring
Related concepts
Related texts
Different perspectives