Does the idea of karma justify suffering?

"It is important to note that karma is never punishment. Rather, it is the opportunity to repeat the needed lessons until you learn what you need to learn. In this most perfect schoolroom everyone eventually passes. There is no failure, just the need to review lessons until they are mastered. The courses are ungraded and you may take each class as many times as you wish.

When you think you've understood the lesson, the universe offers a quiz so you may verify the depth of that understanding. At times the final exams may seem rather tough, but ultimately, the material will be perfectly clear and the hardest exam will be passed with flying colors! After a brief rest, you resume classes. What is the next thing to be learned?"

The word karma means action. All actions, words, thoughts lead to karma. Some of it adheres and some is non-adhering. The difference lies in both the act itself and the intention behind the act. Karma may be thought of as the planting of a seed. Simply put, if you want sweet fruit, you must plant the seed for sweet fruit. If you plant the seed for sour fruit, all the nurturing and wishing you can give it will not induce that tree to produce sweet fruit. Only sour fruit will grow there.

Aaron - Barbara Brodsky

Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म[1] IPA: [ˈkarmə] ( listen); Pali: kamma) in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect (i.e., the cycle called saṃsāra). Originating from Bharata Khanda or Ancient India and originally used in "Sanātana Dharma" so it is used in the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh,[2] and Taoism.[3]

Karma is not punishment or retribution but simply an extended expression or consequence of natural acts. Karma means "deed" or "act" and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, that governs all life. The effects experienced are also able to be mitigated by actions and are not necessarily fated. That is to say, a particular action now is not binding to some particular, pre-determined future experience or reaction; it is not a simple, one-to-one correspondence of reward or punishment.

Karma is not fate, for humans act with free will creating their own destiny. According to the Vedas, if one sows goodness, one will reap goodness; if one sows evil, one will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate response.

One of the first and most dramatic illustrations of Karma can be found in the Bhagavad Gita. In this poem, Arjuna the protagonist is preparing for battle when he realizes that the enemy consists of members of his own family and decides not to fight. His charioteer, Krishna (an avatar of god), explains to Arjuna the concept of dharma (duty) among other things and makes him see that it is his duty to fight. The original Hindu concept of karma was later enhanced by several other movements within the religion, most notably Vedanta, and Tantra.

Another meaning of Karma as per Bhagwad Geeta is the action prescribed by Bhagwan Shri Krishna. All human beings have Aatma (soul) inside their heart. This Aatma is part of the Paramaatma (The Complete Supreme Reality or Divinity). The goal of the Human being is to unite the Aatma (soul) with the Paramaatma (The Complete Supreme Reality or Divinity). The unification of Aatma with Paramaatma happens inside one's heart that is one experiences, understands the true nature of Paramaatma and become one with it inside ones heart and not in the outside world. Bhagwan Shri Krishna prescribes a certain process of worship and meditation (to be done inside the mind) for unification of Aatma (soul) and Paramaatma (The Complete Supreme Reality or Divinity). This process is called as Yagya. Performing the Yagya as prescribed by Bhagwan Shri Krishna in Bhagwad Geeta is the real Karma. Any action other than Yagya are the worldly compulsions and not the Ordained Action indicated by Bhagwan Shri Krishna in the Bhagwad Geeta. The Karma is done to attain liberation (Moksha) from the cycle of the death and birth and free oneself from the great fear of being old and death. [33]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

Karma And Suffering

Sort of. It offers an explanation as to why we suffer.

My wife is Hindu and I have suffered a lot in the past few months, got fired from my job, had a head injury requiring surgery. My wife says I had some kind of debt to pay and now I've paid it.

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean about justification being distinguished from punishment. Why can't something be punishment and be justified at the same time?

Karma as a Hindu concept, is about the web of cause and effect across the cycle of ones life and rebirth. Suffering in this context in this life is rewarded in the next life, eventually allowing you to escape the tortuous cycle of birth and rebirth.

In Theravada Buddhism there can be no divine salvation or forgiveness for ones karma, since it is a purely impersonal process that is a part of the makeup of the universe. Other forms of Buddhism take a remarkably varied, but never the less different, view.

Hindus also believe in re-incarnation, which allows for the Caste system in India. They believe a person keeps re-incarnating, until they get it right and yes, suffering is all punishment due to being a terrible person in a previous life- therefor the pain people suffer in this life is justified and no one need help the suffering. ...Karma...

The idea is it has nothing to do with punishment. Karma is understood as cause and effect, like gravity. It has nothing to do with judgement or punishment. The basic idea is that what happens to you is a reflection of what you put into the world. Now I do believe the idea has been abused and in particular, used to justify the caste system in India, but I do think the basic idea makes sense: You forge your life by your actions day after day. You choose who you become and that affects what will happen to you.

But I also think Gautama was wise in instructing his followers not to attach too much importance to the idea and that one could not simply do an arithmetic where one's condition was to be understood as the result of one's actions.

Karma is a false idea. The Bible makes it clear that it is "appointed unto men ONCE to DIE, and after that the judgment." There is no reincarnation - this is the only life we have prior to judgment day when everyone will be judged and everyone will live forever in the Lake of Fire or on the New Earth spoken of in Revelation, chapter 21.

The real cause and effect teaching is sin, not karma. Repentant sinners inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ. Unrepentant sinners are eternally damned from the presence of God.

Not really.

Karma is pretty much "what goes around, comes around".

What you share and output will some day come back to you.

If there is a really big jerk face out there spreading hate, eventually he will be surrounded by hatred.

One day, someone might hate him enough to punch him in the face.

If you come from a village that is suffering. It could be because you have a weak community. One that does not share and support it's fellow people.

On the other hand, you may have someone loving who spreads happiness. They will almost always be surrounded by other happy people. Nice people will be attracted to them and they will have friends there for them in times of need.

I think justifying suffering (i.e. addressing the Problem of Evil) is pretty much why karma was invented.

Basically yes it tries to. Karma is the idea that if you're suffering then hey you probably deserved it.

The oldest form of victim blaming.