Mahabharata-Kalaand Karma

MAHABHARATA - KALA AND KARMA

It is usually presumed that the Karma theory of life, namely the theory that our fortunes here are determined by our actions in a previous birth is fundamental to Hinduism and is as old as the Hindu Religion itself. A close study of the Mahabharata will show that there is a still older theory of life, namely the Kala Theory, the theory that time or fate or destiny or God is unaccountable and according to its own discretion or unfettered will, determines our fortunes.

In fact, the Kala theory is common both to the Greeks and to the ancient Aryans. The Homeric view of life is that the gods determine the good and evil that falls to our share, and dark, inscrutable destiny symbolised by the Fate is overriding the government of the world.

On any theory it is impossible to get a consistent view of the Mahabharata treatment of life. The ultimate cause of the Great War is the desire of Mother Earth to have her burden lightened. Mother Earth complains to God that the human population she has to bear is too much for her and that some relief should be given. And the Devas and the Danavas accordingly take birth in order to create a relief measure for her in the shape of a devastating war. Obviously, it is not the previous Karma or Humanity that brings about this war, but the necessities of Mother Earth. Bhishma, Drona and the Pandavas are emanations of God. They can’t have a Karma of their own to determine their lives. Towards the end, Arjuna is suddenly incapacitated and can’t defend the wives of Krishna from the onslaught of the bandits. This cannot be attributed either to the Karma of Arjuna or to the Karma of Divine Rukmini. And in reporting his discomfiture to his elder brother, Yudhistra, Arjuna says, “Such are the changes wrought by time. What can we say of Kala? Man is powerless in its presence. It rules everything in its own way”. Krishna is Vishnu. Balarama is Adi Sesha. What can be the previous Karma of these that can be regarded as an adequate explanation for the ups and downs in life that they enjoyed or suffered? And most of these heroes are in the end absorbed into the divinities of whom they are the earthly manifestations. It is obvious therefore that the fundamental view of human life as presented in the Mahabharata has nothing to do with the later theory of Karma but is rooted in the belief in an inscrutable destiny.

It may be asked what then is the origin and significance of the Karma theory? In one sense it has its origin in the Vedas. The Purva Mimamsa is often referred to as the Karma Kanda and its presumption is that if certain rites and rituals are performed, certain results are bound to ensue. It proceeds on the hypothesis that there is a natural law in the moral world and that in the moral world also there is an indissoluble connection between causes and effects just as in the physical world. The priestly classes as they did a monopoly of officiating at the vedic rites, naturally emphasised the Karma view in order to enhance their own importance. Karma as originally understood merely meant Vedic rites.

With the Upanishads and Buddhism, a wider and a more logical meaning was attached as covering the entire field of human will and action, and the conception of the natural law in the moral world was extended. The logical culmination of this view is atheism. For if there is an indissoluble relationship between action and result, between Karma and Phala, the intervention of God becomes impossible. And that was why one School of Purva Mimamsa, the School headed by Kumarila Bhatta, from whom Sankara derived so many of his views, and the still earlier school of Bhuddhists headed by Nagarjuna denied the necessity for God and His existence. According to Kumarila, the Vedic Mantras are eternal as Sabdha Brahma. The Rishis only acted like conductors and transmitted what they caught of the eternal Mantras to humanity. The Mantras are effective in their own nature. They are not dependent on any higher will. The Buddhists revolted against the Vedas and the Priests, but curiously enough, their ultimate logical basis is Nirishnava Vada and the hypothesis of the inevitable and inexorable Law of Dharma. The Buddhists’ prayer is “Dharmam Saranam Gachami”. “I take refuge in the Law”.

While the Karma Vadin naturally lands himself in atheism, the Kala Vadin naturally develops the theory of a personal God and Bhakti Marga or Salvation by the inscrutable Grace of the Almighty. Kala is not fettered by any law. God is not fettered by any Law. Kala comes in an inscrutable manner. So does God. Man is powerless before either. He can only depend on the Grace of Vishnu or Siva Or Parvati, as the case may be.

Bhakti Religions are a revolt against priest crafts and the Vedas. And in my opinion they are a big advance over the Vedic Religion. The Great Ramanuja made no distinction of caste, and regarded everyone as capable of obtaining Union with God, or Sayujya by his own Bhakti and the Grace of Vishnu without the intervention of the priest. The Bhakti Religions discarded Vedic rites. They held that Faith was more important than action, that man’s only resource is the Motherly or the Fatherly Love of God. In this way they gave a new dignity to man and his own powerlessness was made the secret of a spiritual power.