6. Conclusion (Karma, Rebirth and Freedom of Will)

The Gita, without a doubt, assumes the principle of transmigration of soul till the soul realizes its own nature and immortality of the soul. It also accepts freedom of the will which is, more aptly put, the freedom of the spirit. However, regarding the Law of Karma, it seems that the Gita allows the field of niskama karma to remain unaffected by this law. In other words, Law of Karma, though a presupposition of the Gita’s ethics does not hold good always. In fact, the Gita has to bring in a principle that will help man to transcend the cycle of rebirth or else the end it promises man as the goal of life will be meaningless.

Law of Karma refers to the principle of causality where intent and actions of individual influence the future of that individual. It is the principle of causality applied in the moral field. Every action must produce some effects. We cannot make any act without effect or result. An action once performed will bring some result. Man, once performs an action, has no control over the effect. Krishna says exactly this when he says to Arjuna that one’s right is only to the action, never to the fruits there of. So the fruit should not be an incentive to action, or rather the motive for its performance. We find Krishna here pointing out that, as effects of causes and results of actions cannot be stopped, one is to disconnect oneself from the fruit of action. In other words, we should not desire for any fruit, as it is out of our control and performed our duties without any attachment to the fruit.

karmany eva'dhikaras te ma phalesu kadacana
ma karmaphalahetur bhur ma te sango ‘stv akarmani (ii,47)

“To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction”

But at the same time, the Gita seems to giving us a religion by which the rule of karma, the natural order of deed and consequences, can be transcended. The Gita is a book that does not advocate inaction. However, if every action makes one bound to enjoy or suffer the fruit of action, the Gita cannot talk about moksa or liberation. We will always be stuck to the cycle of birth and death to get the fruit of action we performed. The Gita has to recognize a realm of reality where karma does not operate. The Gita says that causality does not work where one establishes one’s relations with action without attachment; here one is free in his deepest being. The chain of karma can be broken here and now, within the flux of the empirical world. We become master of karma by developing detachment which helps us to attain the ultimate goal of human life, that is, liberation (moksa). Niskama Karma is action without desire for fruit or result. Niskama Karma is the way to avoid creating new karma and also resolve earlier karma. Niskama Karma is the means for the realization of the true knowledge which is the final goal of all living beings. Niskama Karma is the ideal path to realize truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one’s mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and benefits of renouncing the work itself. Krishna points that with regard to Niskama Karma, there is no relation between action and the result. Niskama karma says if we execute action without attachment the natural order of karma can be transcended. Binding is as long as motives are there. What binds us to the chain of birth and death is not action as but actions performed with desire for their fruits.

Karma, Rebirth and Freedom of Will:

The dilemma of action pre-suppose three things. First it pre-supposes the Law of Karma and the belief that all action has results that are good or bad, right or wrong. Second, it pre-supposes that all men must act, and that none can cease from acting. Third, it pre-supposes that the final or ultimate goal for all being is to escape samsara, the round of birth and death, in which all creation has become entangled. The dilemma of action is simply the universalization of Arjuna’s dilemma previously mentioned, and being universalized, it applies to all men, everywhere and for all time.

The Brihadaranyaka Upanisad states elsewhere.

“Even as one acts, even as he behaves, so does he become. The doer of good become good, the doer of evil becomes evil. Whatever deed he perform, that he becomes (or attains)” (4.4.5).

The Gita does not rule out the logical possibility of human freedom within the domain of karma. According to it, we all can improve our life through conscious efforts and achieve moksa. But when the Gita says this, it does not mean that a man is not bound upto reap the results of his karma. Man is bound to reap the result of his Karma sooner or later and even the goods cannot prevent him from doing so because action and its results invariably related. They are logically distinguishable but are not conceivable without the other. This means, in other words, that there is no action without result and there is no result without action, no matter whether or not we know it. Our ignorance of the antecedent causal factors of karma does not imply in any way that the result of action occurs in the world of karma irregularly. The actions and the activities of man are as perpetual and inevitable as his existential status. For the Gita to exist is to be in some form of activity. (iii.5)

But according to the Gita all action are not binding. Only those actions which are motivated by the spirit of self-interest, desire and attachment are binding, Actions which are done in the spirit of niskama are not binding. The doctrine of niskama karma of the Gita does not teach us renunciation of karma (action). It teaches us renunciation in karma. And to say this is not to say that teaches us the philosophy of naiskarmya. The result of an action is said of threefold in nature. It gives the doer an appropriate award in terms of pleasure and pain in this life or life afterdeath. It affects the character of the doer. It leaves an impression or tendency in the doer in the form of samskara which in turn function as determinants of his future actions. From the maturation point of view, action is classified into three categories.

Sanchita karma accumulated impressions which have not yet started to bear the fruit. Prarabdha karma (fructifying impressions which have started to bear the fruit) and kriyamana karma (current impressions which are now being accumulated by the present deeds). Sanchita and prarabdha karma, thus, belong to the past life and kriyamana karma to the present life. The question of human freedom does not arise in the context of sanchita and prarabdha karma because according to the doctrine of karma man is bound to reap the results of his past accumulated impressions. But in the context of kriyamana karma human freedom is not only logically but also practically possible. We can refrain ourselves from the bondage of karma by doing right karma in a detached manner because doing of action is very much within our power. Man can choose what he thinks to be the best. Lord Krishna did not compel Arjuna to fight. He allowed him to exercise his freedom to choose and decide what he thinks to be the best. He only enlightened him with the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. So there is nothing in the doctrine of karma which according to the Gita rules out the logical possibility of human freedom, moral responsibility, self obligation and self-effort. The Gita clearly tells us that we have within us power to make ourselves free from the bondage of karma if we desire for moksa. We can refrain ourselves from doing bad actions. We can start doing good actions in detached spirit according to dharma and attain moksa.