Karma And Samsara Essays - Shabda, Reincarnation, Indian Philosophy

Karma And Samsara The belief in Karma and Samsara form the basis for the Hindu's religious worldview. It has been central to Hinduism for thousands of years, and as a result forms a major part in the philosophical thinking of many Hindu's today. The ideas of Karma and Samsara are evident in almost all of the great Hindu scriptures, being touched on in the Veda's, but first properly introduced in the Upanishads. When the idea of Samsara was first introduced it led to a quest for liberation through the practice of austerity or meditation or both. To be released form this life the Hindu's needed to wipe out the effects of their past actions or Karma. It is this set of beliefs that formed the background of many of Hindu's religious movements and beliefs. Karma is the belief according to which a person's future life is determined by past and present actions. Every action, bodily, intellectual or ethical, good or bad, big or small will have its effect. Nothing other than the effects of earlier actions has determined the present state of affairs and nothing other than the present actions will determine the future circumstances. The law of Karma allows no room for chance or divine intervention as everything is inevitably determined by it. The Brhardaranyaka Upanisad simply sates ?By good actions one becomes good, by bad actions one becomes bad?(4.4.5) (Koller 1982: 59). Intertwined with belief in Karma is the idea of Samsara, which is the cycle of repeated births and deaths that subjects an individual not merely to one death but to innumerable deaths (Koller 1982:9). Hindu's believe that as a person dies the Atman (the unconscious, immaterial part of a human) carries the results of their good and bad actions (Karma) into their next existence. This previous Karma will determine what sort of position a Hindu will occupy in their new existence, for example, if a person in a low caste has been very good in their past existence they will be born into a higher caste in their next life. The ideas of Karma and Samsara have justified the unequal Caste system, which has been an integral part of Indian society for hundreds of years. At the time of the Rig Veda (the earliest Hindu scriptures around 1000 B.C.E) (Smart 1989: 60) the key concepts of Karma and Samsara had not actually been stated. However, it does mention that a person's conduct in this world determines his life after death. The brahmins (the religious leaders) stressed the importance of the sacred act of sacrificing which was supposed to have a bearing on man's fate in the next world, and consequently the Satapatha Brahmana 11.1.8,6, states that ?the Sacrifice becomes the self of the sacrificer in the next world?(Stutley 1985: 23). So, even at this early stage of Hinduism, the idea of Karma played an important role in the Hindu's worldview. It was not until the Upanishads (the principal ones dating from 800-400B.C.E) (Smart 1989:49) that we first meet with the doctrines of Karma and Samsara. The Upanishads are concerned essentially with the meaning of the sacrificial rites, and come to the conclusion that knowledge in the ?true reality' is the key rather than expertise in rituals like the Rig Veda's were. In the process they introduce profound metaphysical and religious ideas, such as Karma and Samsara. The Chandogya Upanisad sums up the ideas of Karma and Samsara ?those who are of pleasant conduct here the prospect is indeed that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Kshatriya or the womb of a Vaisya (high Indian Castes). But those who are of a striking conduct here the prospect is indeed, that, they will enter the womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast?(Lipner 1994: 45). The central concept in the Upanishads is that of Brahman. Brahman is the highest truth, the eternal being on which all other beings depend on. Brahman is the same as the atman, in other words, that ultimate being out there, is the same as that eternal something within you. The goal for many Hindus became at this time to gain Moksha (release from Samsara) which