What is karma?
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means “action”. In Hindu teaching it also names the link between what a person does and what comes back from it, in this life or in a later birth. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that as a person acts, so that person becomes. The Bhagavad Gita (2.47) asks people to do their work without making its result their motive. Many teachers say that karma is not fixed fate, because each present choice is a new action; the Mahabharata compares past deeds to the seed and present effort to the soil, and says that without effort “Destiny is of no avail”. The schools agree that actions bear fruit. They differ on how the fruit arrives and on how a person becomes free of karma.
Written for Pujadeep and checked against the sources listed.
What the schools say
Purva Mimamsa (Jaimini)
The Mimamsa school studies the rites of the Veda. It holds that an action brings about its own fruit. A rite leaves behind an unseen force, called apurva, and this force later gives the result, such as heaven. On this view no separate giver of fruits is needed. The Brahma Sutras record this as the view of Jaimini (3.2.40), and in the next sutra give Badarayana's answer, that the Lord gives the fruits (3.2.41).
Sources for this reading
- Brahma Sutras 3.2.38–41 with Shankara's commentary, in George Thibaut (tr.), The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary by Sankarâkârya, Part II (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 38, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896). Thibaut died 1914: public domain in the US, India and the UK. Summarised in our words. (pp. 180–183 (leaves n191–n194; sutra 3.2.38 begins on p. 180), checked on the page images)
- F. Max Müller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy (London and New York: Longmans, Green, 1899), chapter on the Purva-Mimamsa. Müller died 1900: public domain. (pp. 261–268)
Advaita (Shankara)
Shankara agrees with Badarayana that the Lord gives each person the fruit their deeds have earned. But all action, even good action, keeps a person inside samsara, the round of birth and death. Work done without desire for its fruit makes the mind pure and ready. Liberation comes from knowledge alone: the knowledge that the self is Brahman, and that the self was never the doer.
Sources for this reading
- The Bhagavad-Gita, with the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, translated by A. Mahadeva Sastri (2nd ed., Mysore: G. T. A. Printing Works, 1901) (Introduction (“Jnana-Yoga is the means to the Supreme Bliss” and “How Karma-Yoga is a means to the Supreme Bliss”), pp. 5–6 (leaves n32–n33); commentary on 2.19, pp. 33–34 (leaves n60–n61): the Self is not the agent of action; checked on the page images)
- Brahma Sutras 3.2.38–41 and 4.1.14, Shankara's commentary, Thibaut (tr.), Sacred Books of the East, vol. 38 (1896): the Lord gives the fruits (3.2.41); good as well as evil works are “both causes of bondage” (4.1.14). Public domain. (pp. 180–183 and 357 (leaves n191–n194, n368), checked on the page images)
- Sangeetha Menon, “Advaita Vedanta”, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Cited, not copied.
Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja)
Ramanuja reads karma yoga as a form of worship. A person does the duties of their place in life, gives up the sense of being the one who acts, and offers the fruit to the Lord. Such work leads to knowledge of the self and grows into devotion (bhakti). Release from bondage comes through the grace of the Lord, who is pleased by the devotion of the worshipper.
Sources for this reading
- Sri Bhagavad-Gita with Sri Ramanujacharya's Visishtadvaita commentary, translated by A. Govindacharya (Madras, 1898) (commentary on 2.47, pp. 69–70: works done without desire for fruit, as worship of the Lord, become a means to moksha; proem to Lecture III, pp. 87–88: such work leads to knowledge of the self (jnana-yoga), the step before bhakti; commentary on 18.66, pp. 563–565: the fruit, the sense of ownership and the sense of being the doer are given up to the Lord)
- George Thibaut (tr.), The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary of Râmânuja (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 48, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904), on Brahma Sutra 1.1.1: release is obtained “only through the grace of the highest Self pleased by the devout meditation of the worshipper”. Thibaut died 1914: public domain. Read in the Motilal Banarsidass photographic reprint on archive.org. (commentary on 1.1.1, p. 145)
- Shyam Ranganathan, “Rāmānuja (c. 1017 – c. 1137)”, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Cited, not copied.
Dvaita (Madhva)
Madhva teaches that Vishnu alone is independent, and every soul depends on him. Even so, the soul truly acts and bears responsibility for its deeds. Karma carries each soul toward the end that fits its own nature. Deeds alone do not free a soul: liberation comes by Vishnu's grace, to souls who know him and serve him with devotion.
Sources for this reading
- S. Subba Rau (tr.), The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sri Madhwacharya (Madras: Thompson and Co., 1904), introduction: the scheme of independent and dependent reality, and the summary of Brahma Sutra 2.3.33–43 (the soul, though wholly dependent on Brahman, is an active agent and bears responsibility for its acts). Summarised, not quoted. Public domain in the US (published 1904). India and UK status not confirmed: the translator's death year has not been found. (introduction, pp. x–xi (the scheme of independent and dependent reality, with souls classed by their final state), xii–xiv (release through the Lord's grace, to one who knows him and meditates on him) and xxxviii–xxxix (summary of adhyaya 2, pada 3))
- Valerie Stoker, “Madhva (1238—1317)”, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Cited, not copied.
Sources
- Bhagavad Gita, 2.47
- Bhagavad Gita, 2.48
- The Upanishads, Part II, translated by F. Max Müller (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. XV; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884) (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5, p. 176 (leaf n233): “Now as a man is like this or like that, according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be”)
- Ganguli (tr.), The Mahabharata, Project Gutenberg transcription, vol. 4, Anusasana Parva: “without individual Exertion, Destiny is of no avail. One's own acts are like the soil, and Destiny (or the sum of one's acts in previous births) is compared to the seed.” Public domain in the US; India status not yet confirmed. Quoted verbatim. (Anusasana Parva, section VI, in the Gutenberg numbering)
- The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated into English prose (K. M. Ganguli), published by Protap Chandra Roy: Anusasana Parva (Calcutta: Bharata Press, 1893) (Section VI, p. 22 (leaf n37), checked on the page image; the printed text has the same words (it prints “births,)” where the Gutenberg text has “births)”))
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- Written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against them. Free to quote with credit.
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- Checked against the sources listed, October 16, 2026.