Concepts
Record
Root
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कर्म
kar-man, karma
Sound change: ṛ → ar.
Literally: Something done.
Dimensions
What the usual translation loses
fate
"Fate" turns something you do into something done to you. Karma begins with your own action.
How the meaning grew
- Veda
The ritual act, done precisely so that it bears fruit.
- Upaniṣads
Any act shapes the one who does it; you become what you do.
- Bhagavad Gītā
karma-yoga, acting fully while releasing the claim on results.
- Later Vedānta
Three stores of karma: sañcita (accumulated), prārabdha (now ripening), āgāmi (being made now).
- Today in English
Flattened to “what goes around comes around”.
In the texts' own words
“Your right is to the action alone”
Gītā 2.47
“Yoga is skill in action”
Gītā 2.50
“One becomes good by good action”
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.2.13
Word family
kriyā · an act, a practicekartā · the doerkāraṇa · causekārya · effect, what is to be donesaṃskṛta · well madeprakṛti · nature, “the first making”akarma · non-actionniṣkāma karma · action without craving
Easily confused
- Karma is the act and its trace, not a judge handing out reward and punishment.
Pairs with
phala· fruitसंस्कारsaṃskāra· the impression an act leaves