God’s Personality and the Law of Karma

“The law of Karma,” explained Mohandas K. Gandhi, “is inexorable and impossible of evasion. There is thus hardly any need for God to interfere. He laid down the law and, as it were, retired.” Gandhi found this disturbing.

On the other hand, the resurrection promise reveals that God has a deep interest in his creation. To bring a dead one back to life on a paradise earth, God has to know and remember everything about that person. God indeed cares for each one of us.—1 Peter 5:6, 7.

It was in India, however, that belief in reincarnation came to full bloom. The Hindu sages were grappling with the universal problems of evil and of suffering among humans. ‘How can these be harmonized with the concept of a righteous Creator?’ they asked. They tried to resolve the conflict between God’s righteousness and the unforeseen calamities and inequalities in the world. In time, they devised “the law of karma,” the law of cause and effect—‘whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.’ They worked out a detailed ‘balance sheet’ whereby merits and demerits in one life are rewarded or punished in the next.

“Karma” simply means “action.” A Hindu is said to have good karma if he conforms to social and religious norms and bad karma if he does not. His action, or karma, determines his future in each successive rebirth. “All men are born with a blueprint of character, mainly prepared by their actions in previous lives, though their physical traits are determined by heredity,” says philosopher Nikhilananda. “A man is [thus] an architect of his own fate, the builder of his own destiny.” The ultimate goal, however, is to be liberated from this cycle of transmigration and be united with Brahman—the ultimate reality. This, it is believed, is achieved by striving for socially acceptable behavior and special Hindu knowledge.

The teaching of reincarnation thus uses as its foundation the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and builds on it using the law of karma. Let us see what God’s inspired Word, the Bible, has to say regarding these ideas.