Karma

Another important word to understand before one goes on to understand Mahabharat is Karma.

The literal meaning of the word is Deeds or Action. This words doubles as both a verb and also a philosophy in Hinduism. The west already interprets Karma as “What goes around, comes around.” While this is quite close to how we see it, yet the word Karma holds far more depth in Hinduism.

In Hinduism it is a widely held belief that everything is connected with everything else in the Universe. That a universal consciousness binds us all. Therefore what we do (or don’t do) has consequences not just for us but also for the world around us. Another way to understand this therefore is to think of it as Butterfly Effect or a cycle of cause and effects.

Although the earliest text in Hinduism concentrates only Karma and its effects in the manifested world, the later text seems to have incorporated the theory of re-incarnation in the theory of Karma. Essentially it meant that if one has done bad deeds in one life time he may have to pay for it in the next life time. That their Karma or their deeds will eventually catch up with them. This Karmic debt is played out in the form of boons and curses in Mahabharat. This explains why some people have to live through pain and misery or why fate is unkind to them. The most prominent example that comes to mind is Bhishma.

The human condition according to Mahabharat is the result of one’s actions and also Fate. Fate could be things beyond our control and also the Karma / actions of others. Any crop, for example, is the result of both the efforts of the farmer (Karma) and the possibility of rains (fate). Karna best exemplifies this situation. His life long struggle to be recognized is due to the actions of his mother Kunti, who abandons him at birth. His mother’s abandonment therefore becomes Karna’s fate. Kunti, of course, pays for her negative Karma later on.

Then there are the plain cases of “you shall reap what you sow.” Duryodhana and Dhritrashtra best exemplify this type of Karma. We know they are doomed from the beginning because they can’t control their own ambitions and no low is too low for them to stoop to as long as it serves their purpose. Flashes of guilt notwithstanding, Dhritrashtra, sows the seeds of ambition that results in Duryodhana.  

The need to be mindful of one’s actions is a recurrent theme in Mahabharat. Krishna often poses the question “What did you do?” to the characters to bring them face with their own actions AND inactions and the effects of these deeds. I am reminded of the words of Edmund Burke “All evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” So true. When Arjun refuses to fight against his loved ones, this is the strongest argument used by Krishna.

The epic also explores the nature of our own understanding of our actions. Can we ever be sure of the results of what we are doing? Whatever we believe to be a good deed today, will it play out to be so in future? And will it be good for every one? We will revisit these themes when we look at the choices made by Bhishma, Gandhari, Kunti and other minor characters like Yuyutsu and Vikarna.