Q71. What is karma?

For every action you take, you will have to face a reaction. You are held responsible for all your actions. You must pay your own bills. As you sow, so shall you reap. Life is an intelligent design, nothing happens by chance. This is the law of nature called karma. Whatever activity we do, good or bad, brings us good or bad reactions. For every action you take, you will face a reaction in the future, which could be a few seconds away or 20 years away or your next incarnation. If you take good actions, you will face good reactions. This may come in the form of good health, wealth or birth on higher planets etc. If you take bad actions, you will face bad reactions in the future. The bad reactions come in the form of disease, poverty, or birth in a hellish place/country/planet. “Actions taken in the mode of goodness are purifying and result in piousness. Actions taken in the mode of passion result in misery, and actions taken in the mode of ignorance, result in degradation.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 14.16) If you treat people nicely then they will treat you nicely. If you treat people badly, you will also be treated badly eventually. If you cut the throat of others, including animals, your throat will also be cut one day. If you eat others, then others will also eat you. Life for life, tit for tat, this is the law of nature, Karma. One person is born on the street and another person is born in the home of a billionaire, this is not by chance. This is due to the actions taken by the persons in their past lives (karma). God does not make one happy for no reason nor does God make one suffer for no reason. Karma is infallible justice.