Action ( Karma)

Act one must Inaction or non-action is neither possible nor desirable. Our very existence (practical exigencies) demands that we must act. If someone prefer not to do anything at all and abstains from the necessary and obligatory actions, it would be deemed as a case of bad action rather non-action. A healthy individual and collective living, calls for right action on the part of the individuals.

ACTION AND EVENT

Action is different from Event. Event is casually determined, whereas , an Action is determined by the intention and will of the human agent. In other words an event is explained in terms of casual antecedents whereas the action is expalined in terms of reason, purpose of the doer. But both action and event can be treated on the same , in so far as their occurrence generate certain inevitable consequences. The truth that , Every action has its reaction, is not only true of natural events but also of human action. The sole difference between action and event consists in the fact that actions are caused by human agents whereas events have non-human factors, as their casual determinations.

ACTION AND BONDAGE

As every action has its inevitable consequestions. the doer of the action remains bound to its consequences. As you so , so you reap, is the time honoured maxim that expresses the law of Karma. Karma implies the karmic bindings. In other words, in performing the act, the agent enters into the action-reaction nexus and thereby, becomes bound to undergo the consequences of the action. The law of karma does not preclude the role of free-will. Agent is free to act as he wills, but the action having been performed, one is not free to prevent the consequences. That is to say , there is room for choice and freedom in performing an action. but strict determinism prevail in respect of the fact that the performance of an action brings in its wake certain inevitable consequences. It is significant that not only physical actions but also psychic actions have their corresponding reactions.  The agents intention to do the act does invariably precede the real action. Often the action does not take place either because the agent restrains himself from doing it or because of circumstantial constraints which prevent the action from taking place. The very thought of doing the sorrounding. One is therefore advised not to harm others even in thought. To harbour an evil thought against someone is to wound him/her in the psychic plain. Conversely , one's good wishes and blessings for another are said to contribute to his good fortune. The reason might be that to think is to generate certain thought-waves. As is the thought so are the psychic waves and so shall be the effects on the person to whom they are directed.

Thinking is a form of action , event though it does not involve any motor-operation. Thinking something or desiring something has its characteristic reactions. For example one may wish very much to be a singer but due to circumstantial handicaps one fails to fulfil these desires. In that case the reactions are stored in potential form in form of samskaras ( reactive momenta). The samskaras are nothing but the unrealised reactions awaiting the oppertunity to get themselves fructified. This explains the concept and phenomenon of rebirth. If the reactions of the actions, already performed, are not exhausted in one's life time , one has to be reborn to undergo consequences in the succeeding lives. Certain actions have their immediate reactions. For example, food poisoning might make one sick immediately. Certain actions have reactions after a fairly long interval. For instance smoking might cause cancer in the lungs after a long span. Similarly there are actions, the consequences of which are to accur after a pretty long time, say after fifty or hundred years. The exhaustion of the samskaras depends on the time place and person. In the above case where the reactions are to take place after , say , hundred years, the agent obviously does not remain there to undergo the consequences.Hence one has to suffer the consequences of the vile deeds in form of great physical deformity, ailment or psychic agony in later life. The person in the next birth might be leading an absolutely righteous life. In that case one wonders, how is it that such a pious soul has to court such ignoble consequences ? In fact the explanation of the apparent anomaly is to be found in the previous life which neither the individual remembers nor is perceived by the ordinary mortals. Thus the doctrine of Karma explains certain facts which are otherwise unexplainable by the natural , psychological and social laws.

ACTION TYPES

Actions are classified into three categories:-

 (a) Prarabdh :- The referring to actions which comes as a result of the reaction of the actions of the past life. 

(b) Kriyaman :- The actions , the reactions of which are exhausted in the same life. 

(c) Sanchit :- The actions , the reactions of which remain in potential form, awaiting their actualisation in the succeeding lives.

This explains the inexorable law of karma.No wicked action goes unpunished and no virtuous action remain unrewarded. The karmic effects cannot be avoidrd or neutralised by prayer or propitiatory rites. The actions good or bad have their appropriate reactions which are to be undergone separately. It is mistaken to think that the consequences of the evil deeds can be compensated or neutralised by the results of good deeds. If this is so hypothetically if the number of good deeds and bad deeds are equal ; one shall have nothing left to experience. But it is not the case. The reason is that every action has the backing of the mind. Mind acts under the sway of the vrittis ( propensities). Avrittis is nothing but the distortion of mind. It is vrittis that makes mind functional. The incentive for action is nothing but the urge to realise a vrittis. So each action indicates a distortion of the mind which is restored to its normal state only when reactions of the actions accrue. Therefore each action has its distinctive reason a characteristic way of putting the mind in its native state. This explains why one has to undergo the consequences of good and evil deeds separately. 

THE REACTIVE MOMENTA (SAMSKARAS)

It is important to note that only by intuitional practice ( sadhana) one can either accelerate or slow down the duration and mode of exhausting the reactions (samskaras). The total quantum of the pleasure and sorrow remaining the same, only the time required for experiencing them can be either increased or decreased. It is as good as paying back the debt, either once or by several small installments. If one has to reap the reaction of an action by an accident,one may have to undergo it by a number of small incidents, causing physical pain or psychic agony. Those who do intensive sadhana are found to have uninterrupted suffering. It is so because , in their sustained attempt to attain emancipation, they exhaust their samskaras in quick succession. It is like going by train from one place to another. Of course one has the cross all the stations irrespective of the train one boards. But if one moves by a fast running train, one is sure to cross the stations in rapid succession. It is observed in the life of the Mahakaulas that they can absorb the samskaras of the lesser mortals. But in that case it is seen that they court suffering for the samskaras, which they have appropriated for themselves. 

BONDAGE AND LIBERATION

Now the moot question is , if to act is a must and actions have their inevitable bindings, one shall remain bound to the cycle of birth and rebirth, with hardly any possibility of emancipation. If one has to come again to live one's Prarabdh karma, one not only reaps the consequences of the past actions but also performs fresh actions that bind one to the next birth.This prima facie, suggests that , Karma is incompatible with Redemtion(mukti). But karma Yoga advocates that , it is only by karma that one can escape from the cycle of birth and rebirth and obtain liberation.To understand this  one has to cogitate upon the dynamics of action. There are three distinct components in every action, the Agent( the performer of the action), Action ( physical or psychic) and the Consequences. Action and reaction form a casual nexus. How is it that the agent remains bound to the consequence ? it is because the agent , in performing an action , becomes a part of the action. Divested of human factor, action is nothing but an event. In doing an action the agent has not only specific intension or goal to achieve, but also that , he considers the action to be his own in indending and doing the action, the individual obviously considers himself to be the agent and the action, to be his. This being so the consequences , good or bad, are appropriated by him, unto himself. Actions have their inevitable consequences. So in owning the action one owns the consequences also. As a result one remains bound to the dualities of happiness and sorrow, elation and disappointment, depending on whether the consequences are intentional. The desire to achieve something, promts one to act. So, there can hardly be a desireless action. Actions having been performed, their consequences can hardly be oviated. Action and reaction constitue the inexorable nexus. What makes the individual bound to the nexus is the sense of Agency ( kartabhava). Since the individual posits himself as the doer, the consequences become his. That is how the agent becomes an integral part of action and thereby, becomes inescapably bound o the consequences. After all the actions and the consequences are obviously , the two stages of the same phenomenon. So the only way to extricate oneself from the action-reaction nexus is to suspend the sense of agency or doer ship( kartutvabhiman tyag). When one realises the truth that the real self or the doer is none other than the Supreme subjectivity( Brahma) one considers the psycho-physical complex as a mere instrument that wills and acts at the behes of the Supreme-subjectivity. So the ultimate doer ship of all actions is attributed to a Lord or God who is the ultimate cognitive , conative and affective agent. He is not only doer but in the form of the immanent order, makes the reactions accrue to the actions. So having suspended the sense of doer ship, one has to consider oneself as mere instrument in the hands of the Lord to fulfil His desire. All that one ought to cherish is to make oneself an able instrument.

Since the actions are not one's own and Lord is verily the agent, one does not have the desire for the fruit of the action(phalakanksa tyag). The individual has to operate with the ideation that since he is not the agent, the consequences are not his. Hence , there is no room for happiness or disappointment. There is also another reason for relinquishing the desire for consequences. One has right to action not the consequences. The consequences necessarily follow the action. Since consequences come irrespective of our desire, or wish , there is no use rejoicing or brooding over the consequences. This eventually leads one to surrender all actions to Brahma( Lord).    

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