KARMA OR VINAI
Many happenings in life do not have reasons or find acceptable explanations. Though born and bread in the same environment, we find one enjoying life with all benefits and another falling into unfold mysery. Sickness, poverty, death etc., are occuring unexpectedly. Unable to find any reason we call it as karma. The theory of karma explains such occurences.
Karma means action, or vinai in Tamil. In philosophical term it means action, its fruits and the law governing it.
Cause and Relationship
There are religions which do not believe in God. But almost all religions believe in karma. 'One has to experience the fruits of his own karma' is the karmic law. Proverbs like 'you reap what you sow', 'what is done in the morning take shape in the evening' etc., explain this concept.
Pleasure and pain are respectively the result of good and evil actions. A verse in Sangam literature, the early Tamil works, say 'Good and evil are not obtained from others'
Karma or action cannot take place by itself. It has to involve some materials. My act of writing involves pen, paper, my hand, etc., These are products of the subtle entity called maya. Thus karma involves maya. Karma and maya help the soul to get release from the grib of anavam. This necessarily involves the association of them with anavam.
Because of their association with anavam, karma and maya are also said to be malams. Like anavam they also exist from time immemorial. Anavam is called sakaya malam. Sakayam means 'born with (the soul)'. Because anavam directly binds the soul, it is called prathi pandham. Karma came to usage because of anavam's association with the soul. Hence karma is called anupandham. As maya's usage is in connection with karma, it is called sambandham.
Three Kinds
Thoughts, words and deeds are vinai or karma. The action or karma we do is called agamiyam. Even after the action is over, its fruit does not end. The good and bad actions leave their imprints as punniyam and pavam respectively. They follow the related soul from birth to birth.
The karma we do in various births are thus following us in large quantity. This quantity of karma is called sanchitham. From this quantity of sanchitha karma a portion comes to soul's experience in its new birth. This karma is called prarabdham. Balance karma will come to experience in future births.
A body suitable to experience the karma is given by God from maya. When and how the karma is to be experienced is decided by God himself.
According to Jainism and Buddhism, karma on its own goes and joins the Soul and come to experience. No external Being like God is necessary for it. Like a calf, among a large number of cow, going and finding its mother for feeding the milk, karma also finds the related person and come to experience.
This explanation has its flaw. Unlike the calf, karma is an unintelligent entity. It cannot go and find out the related person by itself. An intelligent Being with perfect wisdom and power is necessary to make karma to join the related person. This Being is God Siva as explained by Saiva religion.
The Tamil word for prarabdha karma is ul or ulvinai, as found in Thirukkural and other literatures. Since the time and place for it to come to experience is determined by God, it is also called vithi.
Karma and its Fruits
All the karma performed in a particular birth does not come to experience in the same birth. They come to experience in the subsequent births. All the seeds sown in the same place at the same time do not germinate at the same time. Some germinate earlier and some later. Karma coming to experience is similar to this.
For the past karma to come to experience, we have to do karma again. By this new karma, the past karma comes to a happy or sorrowful experience and gets exhausted. But this new karma becomes agamiyam, then as sanchitham and again as prarabdham.
Thus one karma coming to experience and getting exhausted gives rise to a new karma. It is like a river, the water at one place moving away while another taking its place. It is a continuous process of one karma, going out and another coming in. The question, therefore, arises, 'Is there no end to this continuing process?' How can the soul get liberated from this?
Saiva religion shows the way for liberation. We should develop positive qualities and attitudes in life. Showing love to all living beings with malice to none and engaging in good deeds will help to develop divine qualities. Our action of karma should be in the way of Siva who, according to St. Thirumoolar, is not different from love.
We gain experience from karma, and knowledge through experience. The grib of anavam gradually get loosened. We become matured to understand our own nature and our relationship to God. We develop an equipoise of mind to take up happiness and sorrow, the fruits of good and evil karma, alike. God's Grace then descends to us. Our actions will then be not motivated by our senses, prompted by anava malam. They become His actions and the karma will not follow us to come to experience