What does Karma mean, origins of the term and religious meaning in the various Eastern religions.
Definition of Karma
You frequently hear the word Karma, a word deriving from an ancient Indian language, Sanskrit, which in recent years has also spread widely among western populations.
Taken literally, the term karma has the meaning of action, intended as an act to be performed, a task to be performed or an obligation to do something.
In an ancient collection of sacred texts written in sancrita language, the see, the term Karma assumes the further meaning of a religious act or rite.
In religious thought and in the philosophy of India, this way of expressing oneself indicates an action aimed at achieving a pre-established goal, conceived as a practical evolution of the cause-effect principle, or the generation of something resulting from a concrete action.
With this meaning, Karma constitutes one of the main pillars of various Eastern religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, in close correlation with the principle of reincarnation.
It is not uncommon for the word Karma to be connected to a conception of life centered on the resignation that everything happens by fatalism.
In Buddhist religion, the concept of Karma tends to optimism, since according to its doctrinal rules this term encompasses the meaning of an action intended as a choice rather than as pure fatalism, in order to influence the future of those who exercise it.
However, there are many who believe that Karma represents a result that cannot be modified by man.
For Buddhism, good deeds will lead to good, while bad deeds will lead inexorably to evil.
This way of conceiving Karma therefore makes man fully responsible for his actions and decisions.
