The law of karma (Re: sandhya etc.)

[Anand Hudli]

Sorry for the delayed response on this. For the benefit of everyone who
did not follow the original discussion, here is a recap of what I am
trying to address:

 HH Chandrasekhara Bharati says the following in his commentary on the
 vivekachUDAmaNi:

 yadi karmanirapexaH Ishvara eva kAMshchit prANinaH sukhinaH
 kAMshchidanyAdR^ishAMshcha sR^ijet.h vaiShamyanairghR^iNye
 bhajeta | tathAcheshvaratvaM hIyate |

 If Ishvara were to make some creatures happy and others unhappy
 independent of their karma then He would be unfair and cruel. And,
 Ishvaratva or Godhood itself would be lacking (in Him).

 Therefore Ishvara would necessarily have to award results based on
 karma, as HH concludes after quoting from the brahma sUtras, "iti
 sUtraiH Ishvarasya karmasApexatvam.h".

 But as Ravi pointed out sUtras like phalamata upapatteH do assert that
 the result (phala) of action is given out by an intelligent entity,
 God, not some insentient entity such as adR^iShTa.

 How do we reconcile the two points, namely, God must necessarily
 award results based on karma and He cannot be doing His job
 like an insentient machine!

 There is a problem in reconciling the two points only if we think
 of God as someone "out there." As the gIta says, "IshvaraH
 sarvabhUtAnaM hR^iddeshe .arjuna tiShThati", God is always present
 in the hearts of all beings. Since He is present in everyone, He
 instantly knows actions performed by everyone. For example, it is
 not possible to argue - " I could not have potentially known that
 this action is sinful. So God will excuse me for this." Only God will
 know whether or not we could have avoided a sinful act had we known
 it to be sinful. He will also certainly know if someone is incapable
 of knowing that some act is sinful.

 Anand