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

[Sundaram, Vaidya (MED)]

Namaskaram.

 Among the many things we have to thank the phaladata (God) for is that
His mercy allows us time to repent and change on our own without need
for punishment. Summary or instantaneous judgment is too much like "an
eye for an eye". This leads most likely to a world full of
blind/mute/deaf/lame people ... is that the alternative? What is the
concept of God if that concept is without grace and mercy??

 The concept of prarabdha, sanchita, agama karma etc. is sufficient in
my opinion to explain this: prarabdha is karma can be seen as punishment
because judgment has been made and the punishment is being carried out
now. There is nothing you can do to stop it. Sanchita karma can be seen
as if judgement has been made but not carried out or enforced yet -
there is a little wiggle room to mitigate it, but not much. Agami karma
is where the judgement is yet to be made. We have room to atone on our
own and escape so to speak ...

 And that the "punishment"  is delayed does not mean it is never going
to happen! If your friend is not an atheist, then he surely knows that
it is going to come - definitely. That is fear enough to not do a bad
thing.

 And as discussed on this list before, swarga and naraka need not be
other "lokas" that are not this present life! How about a punishment
where the individual is to be "roasted in boiling hot oil" - (a
favourite theme of many old legends and movies) - well, a fly that is
zipping thru the air suddenly falls into boiling hot oil that you are
using to cook! That is naraka and right here and now. 

just my 2 cents!
bhava shankara desikame sharaNam
Vaidya.

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Goode [mailto:goode at dpw.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 7:46 AM
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta;
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Why karma phala-s are not instantaneous


PraNAm,

Providing a satisfying answer to a question often depends on
ascertaining the hidden assumptions or objections behind the question.
Since I don't know either one in the case of your friend, I can suggest
this:

Reductio ad absurdum - if the fruits of the karma were instantaneous,
they would be absolutely simultaneous with the act itself.  And it would
make no sense that this were the fruit of the act.  That's incoherent.
Even one millisecond of lag time beyond the act, there's already *not*
instantaneity.  So what your friend is actually asking for is a
*shorter* time lag between the act and its fruit.  That's like asking
for more money.

Your friend's question also assumes that he is 100% successfully able to
pick out the particular fruits of a particular action.  That's quite
presumptuous, and sort of a slot-machine view of the workings of karma.
Is he willing to read more in the matter?

Hari OM!

--Greg 

At 01:07 PM 8/26/2003 +0100, bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com wrote:

>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
>
>
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