Essay On Karma

Théophile Pascal, a French physician form XX century, in his publication titled “Reincarnation, A Study in Human Evolution” claimed the following: “But if we are the slaves of the past, if fate compels us to reap what we have sown, we yet have the future in our hands, for we can tear up the weeds, and in their place sow useful plants.” This short, yet carrying a quite powerful message, sentence describes the backbone of Karma, one of the most fundamental concepts of the dominant religion of the Indian subcontinent–Hinduism. Karma is a belief that deeds from our past lifetimes, whether good or bad, influenced our present lifetime, and that our current actions will determine our future reincarnations. Max Weber, who was a German sociologist, in his famous study of religion in India argued that this Hindu concept was a self-evident belief among the people from India. Since the idea of Karma suggests that everything in this realm is preordained, it should not come as a surprise that all of people's misfortune, hardship and inequalities among different groups of Hindus are ascribed to their accumulated Karma.

This notion shapes Hindus' worldview and defines mindsets in such a way that enduring current lifetime's struggles becomes a humble task, and leads one to believe that his actions influence the future lifetimes. The philosophy of reducing one's stack of Karma is quite equivocal and therefore results in many diversified methods and rituals that are meant to eliminate accumulated Karma or even help outwit the self-inflicted fate. The existence of Karma is an axiomatic fact among the followers of Hinduism, but there is no consensus about what practices reduce one's Karma, nor to what extent our past deeds shaped our current existenc...

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...arma, God and just world were strongly correlated with each other and with recovery beliefs for God, Karma, and self (citation needed). It showed that patients who had a strong belief in God and Karma, ascribed them to individual recoveries, or a lack thereof. It also suggested that “the more strongly a person believes in God or karma, the more he or she attributes to the power of karma.” Overall, the results of the study supported the thesis that the patients' beliefs had an influence on their physical and psychological recovery from Myocardial Infraction.

Another pilot qualitative study by Gavin Yamey (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, UK) and Richard Greenwood (Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Homerton University Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK) concluded that religious beliefs both “diverge from and resonate with the medical rehabilitation process.”