[Advaita-l] law of karma

[Praveen]

praNAm all,

Hari Om, Narayan-ji,

Let me attempt to express my understanding, though karma and
karmaphala themselves are complicated and involved topics.

On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 9:06 PM, narayan iyer <z1e1b1r1a at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> 1. Does the phala-sutras of many stotras, saharasnamams, stuties etc. exaggerate 100% that sins will be expunged if the stotras etc. recited with bhakti, when the fact is law of karma is inexorable.

i) It could be seen to mean removal of pravRtti to sin more.
ii) Even if sins are not expunged completely, the effect of sins are reduced.
iii) Even if the effects are not reduced completely, the development
of bhakti reduces the feel of the resultant phala.

>
> 2. Does Hindu dharma subscribe to retribution (because it is said that Ishwara will be otherwise partial towards some if he doesnt give the fruits of karma to sinngers)

Yeah, hence the need for parihAra, stotras, japA, etc.

>
> 3. Would it be in order to compare law of gravity to law of karma (as given in examples of immutablity of law) because (a) law of gravity works on physical objects (smoke from fire doesnt come down notwithstanding any gravitational pull) and the law of gravity gives instant results, unlike law of karma which may take eons to mature.

I think if thats the comparison, it may well be said that it depends
on the mass (of sins) on when the results accrue.

>
> 4. If retribution is necessary to punish sinners, why does Ishwara wait for eons to dish out the punishment?

It depends on the accrued sancita karma, a part of which has been used
up for the current body which is prArabdha. HH Chandrashekara Bharati
Swamiji says that that which is less in sancita produces phala
earlier.

Does that mean we can get out of the rut by good behaviour in future
and realising the earlier folly of sins and making necessary amends.
>

Some sins have parihAra, some don't; but necessary amends in behavior
can definitely change the future phala.

> 5. If law of karma is such a cut and dry propisition, why does Ishwara maintain that tattva exclusively in his hand (as stated in various hymns "punya-apunya phalaprada")
>

As you can see its not so dry either, so Ishvara individualizes the
phala being sarvadhI sAkshi bhUtam.

krishNArpaNamastu,
--praveen
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