Karma in Hinduism

Karma is a concept in Hinduism which explains causality through a system where beneficial effects are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful effects from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a soul's (Atman's) reincarnated lives forming a cycle of rebirth. The causality is said to be applicable not only to the material world but also to our thoughts, words, actions and actions that others do under our instructions.

The earliest appearance of the word karman is found in the Rigveda. The term karman also appears significantly in the Atharva Veda. According to the Shatapatha Brahmana, "a man is born to the world he has made" and one is placed in a balance in the other world for an estimate of one's good and evil deed. It also declares that as a man is 'constituted' by his desires, he is born in the other world with reference to these. Scholars have generally agreed that the earliest formulation of the Karma doctrine occurs in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, which is the earliest of the Upanisads. The doctrine occurs here in the context of a discussion of the fate of the individual after death.

The doctrine of transmigration of the soul, with respect to fateful retribution for acts committed, does not appear in the Rig Veda. The belief in rebirth is, suggests Radhakrishnan, evident in the Brahmanas, where words like punar-mrtyu(re-death), punar-asu (coming to life again) and punarajati (rebirth) are used to denote it. Radhakrishnan acknowledges that other scholars interpret certain punar-mrtyu verses of Rigveda to be discussing "repeated deaths"; however, he suggests that it might also be re-interpreted to imply rebirth, as in "come home once again".

The concept of karma first appears strongly in the Bhagavad Gita. The topic of karma is mentioned in the Puranas.

"Karma" literally means "deed" or "act", and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, which Hindus believe governs all consciousness. Karma is not fate, for we act with what can be described as a conditioned free will creating our own destinies. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determine our future. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate reaction. Not all karmas rebound immediately. Some accumulate and return unexpectedly in this or other lifetimes. Human beings are said to produce karma in four ways:

...
Wikipedia