According to Vedantic philosophy - and all other similar Indian ideologies:
Supreme Lord neither rewards nor punishes.
Bhagavad Geeta says:
Nadattay kasya chitt paapam, Na chaiva sukritam Vibhuh
Agnanen aavrutam gnanam, tena muhyanti jantavah*
(Bhagavad Gita 5 /15)
Vibhuh - The Omnipresent Supreme God certainly does not keep records of Paapam (sinful) and Sukritam (virtuous deeds) of anyone.
Jantavah - the living beings are deluded because their Gyana - their knowledge is deceived by ignorance.
God is not responsible for virtuous deeds or sinful actions of anyone.
Individual souls have the freedom to perform good or bad actions by exercising their own free will.
Some living beings are deluded and deceived by ignorance.
They believe they do not have any Free will.
They think everything happens according to the will of God.
They ask - how can a soul have any free will?
Because the soul is a part of the Supreme Soul.
Therefore it also possesses some qualities of the Supreme Soul.
Since Almighty God is entirely free and supremely independent.
Therefore, we - the soul, as a part of the absolutely-independent Supreme soul, also possess some independence.
If we believe that God has created us in His own image -
then we must have some Free-will too.
We have been provided with Free-will to utilize our faculties - our senses, mind, and intellect -
and to choose our actions as well.
The exercise of our free-will results in our good and bad deeds -
so we must not blame God for our deeds and their outcomes - and destiny.
In ignorance, some people do not admit they possess the freedom to choose their actions.
They think God is responsible for all their deeds - for their mistakes and destiny.
According to the Bhagavad Geeta - it's our Karma - our actions that bring the outcome, not some higher power sitting somewhere up in the sky and randomly deciding our fate.
Our own Karma or actions are responsible for the good or bad consequences.
"As you sow, so shall you reap" is the basic principle of the Karma theory.
Guru Nanak also promoted the same ideology:
"Punni Papi aakhan nahin
kar kar karnaa likh lai jaahu
Aapay beej Aapay hee khahu
Nanak Hukmi aavoh jaahu"
"Mere declarations do not make vicious or virtuous
It is the actions that get recorded.
Thus what we sow is what we reap.
By the order, Nanak (says) we come and go (move and act)
(Japuji Sahib - Pauri 20)
Hukam is the 'Order' - the principle.
The principle of Cause and Effect.
Some people translate Hukami as "will of God.
In that case, the first part (Aapay beej aapay....) would not make much sense.
Aapay beej aapay hi khahu' means what we sow is what we reap.
This is a very clear message about the Karma theory.
The same as what is illustrated by Lord Krishn in Bhagavad Geeta.
Therefore, instead of blaming the Supreme Lord for everything, we should pay attention to our Karma -
our actions - our deeds.
'Rajan Sachdeva '
(भगवद गीता 5/ 15)
What about the notion ‘is Ke hukam bina patta bhi nahin Jill sakta’. Vivek Shauq Ji is quoted often saying ‘…….. (above lines) to phir bomb apne aap chal jate hain’.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in the previous blog - Hukam means System, Order - not desire - ot the order you place in a restaurant - it means the order of nature - and the order or system is cause and effect
DeleteThanks
An excellent explanation for karma theory🙏🙏
ReplyDelete🙏 Very True Jì
ReplyDeleteVery well explained. Thank you ji 🙏 😊
ReplyDeleteVery true Guruji. Which is why good deeds, charity, donations etc shouldn’t be done thinking that ‘I will receive the benefits of these good deeds now’ otherwise the deeds become impure and egoic and doesn’t become good karma.
ReplyDelete-Priyal
Really an eye opening and true explanation of Theory of Karmas...
ReplyDelete