The statement of this Law of Karma and Reincarnation is not a startling one, either. It does not require any special effort to be understood or accepted. Even now, this law is being recognized and accepted in deep conviction by great scientists and has been defined in terms which have been made familiar to everyone. According to their interpretation of the law, restricted to the plane of physical matter, every action has a corresponding reaction and every cause has an inevitable effect. Every chemist, every physicist, believes that this law operates in the external universe governing physical matter. This is the same law that was revealed to the seers of India long ago in the moral, ethical and spiritual planes. Just as in the world around us we see that every cause has its inevitable effect, and that every action brings about a certain reaction, so in the moral and ethical realm, every cause brings about a certain effect; every seed sown bears a particular fruit or yields a certain harvest. The simplest statement of the law of Karma is: “As you sow, so shall you reap”. Interpreted by scientists and applied to physical matter, the law is: “Every cause has an effect, and every action has a corresponding reaction”. To this we have to add that every cause brings about an effect which, in its nature, tends to be similar to the nature of the cause which produced it. This is a highly logical postulate. In India there is a saying that the behaviour of the individual accords with the mind and, conversely, the nature of the mind accords with the deeds he has done in the past.

This great law of Karma holds many practical implications for the life of the human being and a great many misconceptions have arisen about these implications. One of these misconceptions is that, since the law goes on operating in man’s life, the necessity of guiding his own actions is obviated. Since whatever happens will happen in accordance with the law and is all inevitable, how can man act at all?

Now, as one sows, so shall he reap. The very statement of the law recognizes the agency of the human being. As it is man who sows in the field of action, so it is he who reaps the harvest of fresh seeds which carry him forward into further action. If man is not a free doer, then the very law of Karma becomes absurd. This is a very vital point which we have to understand. The Law of Karma does not make man just a puppet, helpless under the law.

The Hindus say that man suffers or enjoys under the law according to his Karma, and that neither suffering nor enjoyment can be escaped. How can this idea be reconciled with the idea that man has freedom? We have to understand the law in this way. There are dual factors working in each man’s life. One is the experience that the individual has to undergo, the pains and pleasures that come to him, the misfortunes that he has to suffer, the losses that he has to endure. These experiences are inevitable; they cannot be escaped; one has to undergo them all. But there is another factor, and that pertains to the actions the individual engages in. These actions are based upon the will of the particular individual.

Whereas he has no choice in the experiences he undergoes, he has choice in the doing of deeds. To this extent, he is a free agent. He may not be entirely free because of the many restrictions raised on this earth-plane, viz., social restrictions, tradition, etiquette, etc. It is unnecessary to enter any metaphysics at all to prove that man is not a totally free agent and that the Law of Karma also is there. Man cannot do anything he wants, but he can exercise his will; and in this exercise, man has freedom. He had no freedom, no choice, no alternative regarding life’s experiences, but he has choice, he has freedom to a certain extent regarding his will to act.