Within Hindu thought, karma is understood as a moral law of cause and effect that pervades all aspects of existence. Every intentional thought, word, and deed generates consequences that shape one’s present and future experiences. The circumstances of birth, the family into which one is born, bodily conditions, and many of life’s major events are regarded as manifestations of past karma. Pleasant experiences such as health, prosperity, and harmonious relationships are linked with beneficial, dharmic actions, while suffering, obstacles, and conflict are associated with harmful or adharma-driven conduct. In this way, karma is not merely an abstract doctrine but a dynamic principle that continuously molds the texture of life.

Karma also operates on the level of character and inner disposition. Repeated actions leave subtle impressions that crystallize into habits and tendencies, inclining a person either toward virtue or toward further wrongdoing. These ingrained patterns influence how situations are perceived and how choices are made, thereby generating new karma in the present. This ongoing creation of karma, through current actions, thoughts, and intentions, sets the stage for future experiences in this life and in lives yet to come. Thus, karma functions both as the architect of outer circumstances and as the shaper of inner tendencies.

Traditional teachings distinguish between accumulated karma from past lives, the specific portion that ripens in the present life, and the new karma being formed now. The accumulated store determines the broad trajectory of an individual’s journey, while the portion currently bearing fruit governs the unavoidable framework of this lifetime—its key events and limitations. At the same time, every present choice produces fresh karma that will mature later, influencing future births, conditions of life, and the quality of one’s experiences. In this way, karma is intimately tied to saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death, with wholesome actions leading to more favorable circumstances and unwholesome actions leading to suffering and more constrained conditions.

Yet the same law that binds can also guide one toward liberation. When actions are performed in harmony with dharma and without attachment to personal gain, their binding force is gradually weakened. Selfless action, devotion, knowledge, and disciplined practice are said to purify past karma and prevent the accumulation of new, binding karma. As karmic debts are exhausted and ego-driven motives subside, the soul becomes free from the compulsion to take further birth. In that state of moksha, karma no longer dictates destiny, and the cycle of saṃsāra is transcended.