Karma (Kharma) versus Karma

Recently my friend was dropping me home. I don’t even remember what we were talking about. But I remember her saying- ‘It’s her good karma that is catching up.’ I thought about this for a while and realised there are 2 meanings of Karma today- the eastern definition and the western definition which also manifests in the dictionaries . In the eastern definition karma means the sum of people’s actions in his/ her current and previous states of existence which decides their state in the future existences. The westernised definition is a lot more immediate and loosely translates to good or bad luck resulting from one’s actions. Now on a cursory glance, these appear to be the same. However on deeper analysis one realises there is significant difference between the two.

In the westernised definition, there is a lot more finiteness to the word karma and this comes the fact most of western literatures and philosophies believes that we live once and we die once so whatever should happen ought to happen in this one life. So the underlying belief is good actions will eventually be rewarded in a finite period of time. 

The oriental definition is also similar except for its underlying philosophy that states that one can have multiple lives your karma is an accumulation of your actions in all the lives before you which in turn is the compass for what lies ahead. It translates to you may or may not see the repercussions of your good or bad deeds immediately but continue doing good anyway. A lot therefore is left to faith.

In the modern world where immediate return on investments are sought and valued, the western definition of karma sits better with the people. The eastern philosophy sounds a lot more uncertain and distant because of the infinite nature of the definition. Having said that though, if you retrospect, you would be able to think of many good deeds that got unnoticed. At those junctures you might have had a feeling of being let down and that’s natural. This where the eastern philosophy of karma comes which stands on the foundation of faith. It pushes you to do good anyway .This sounds difficult and which is where faith comes in. 

One of the most famous shlokas in Bhagwad Gita which also is instrumental in popularising Karma starts like this

Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana

In the Indian epic Mahabharata, through these lines Krishna urges Arjuna to fight the war irrespective of the consequences because it is his duty to fight the war. This is after Arjuna refuses to fight against his own family and said he did not want to commit a sin by killing them. Arjuna preferred being killed by them instead of killing them. You are entitled to do your duty and action, but never to the results of your actions. This selfless act of detachment from the results of your actions is what ‘Karma’ in the eastern philosophy is.

Most of modern day business runs on the wheels of capitalism where the account books are of paramount importance and business decisions are based on immediate results and therefore sometimes doing the right thing could seem counter productive. But as Oprah Winfrey says, Excellence too is about making those tough choices and doing the right thing. Do it anyway and good karma will catch up!