Instances of belief in fate in South India

Authors

• Carl Diehl

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67011

Keywords:

Fate and fatalism -- Religious aspects -- Hinduism, Fate and fatalism -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism, India, Karma, Philosophy, Hindu, Philosophy, Buddhist

Abstract

Man's life is predetermined by Karma. The deeds of an earlier existence bear their fruits in the present life. That is why the poor man is poor and the rich is happy with his wealth and good fortune. One man is born a brahman and another spends his days as a pariah. The law of Karma has spread in the wake of Buddhism all over the Indian continent and far beyond, whereas its complement and presupposition Samsara for the most part appears as an intellectual conception with little foundation in popular belief. But Karma is not blind. On the contrary it is absolutely just, and for that very reason inescapable. This is, however, modified in so far as good deeds are both possible and profitable. The fatal consequences of the Karma of previous births end with this span of existence. Life hereafter will depend on the fruits of accumulated Karma here and now.