Friends Event: The Boomerang Effect: Karma, Causation, and Rebirth

A talk by Dr Ramesh Pattni of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

A major concept that distinguishes Indian philosophy from European philosophy is karma. Karma can be regarded as the application of the law of cause and effect – that all actions have consequences that will affect the doer of the action. So stated, it might seem that the law of karma is nothing other than the law of universal causation, according to which every action or event is caused. Clearly the two laws are related, though the precise nature of this relationship needs reflection. In this talk we look at this nature of karma and its relationship to ideas about causation from some of the Hindu philosophical systems. We also consider some implications of the law of karma and reincarnation in the spiritual context of the idea of liberation.