[Advaita-l] Why karma phala-s are not instantaneous

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

praNAm prabhujis
Hare Krishna

This is a question asked by my friend.  I request help from learned members
of this group.

why one has to *wait* to reap the fruit of his karma no
matter it is good or bad!!!  For example, if someone cuts another's hand,
he should be punished *immediately* according to karma phala nyAya.  One
should not wait many janmAs or many years to reap the fruit of his *pApa /
puNya
kArya-s*.  If the karma phala is immediate, my friend thinks there will be
no
crimes, no cheating in the world due to *fear* of instant *shocks* &
*returns* from the karma being carried out.  In addition, why one has to
carry prarabda karma & suffer coz. of it in subsequent janma-s, when swarga
& naraka are there to exhaust our punya/paapa karya phala.

I tried to answer him through prarabda karma, sanchita karma theories etc.
I've given him example that even a plant takes its own time to grow, we
cannot expect result immediately etc. Since he is not an atheist, finally I
had to take shelter under bhagavad iccha / leela etc.  I could not answer
his questions convincingly from his level of understanding.  I donot want
to drag him to the advaita zone with loukika & pAramArtika views :-))

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar