If our actions unintentionally hurt others will we get the reaction?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
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If one commits some unintentional karma which harms someone else, will that harm the person as per the law of karma? Will that harm the doer as per the law of karma? The principle of law of karma or the purpose of the law of karma is not retribution. It is reformation. Retribution means taking revenge.
You did this, so you have to be punished for this. The point is not primal retribution. The point is reformation.
So sometimes we do some things with our best intelligence, but we find out, no, this has not worked out. This had this consequence. I didn’t realize this.
I did not come to know about it. So we focus on doing what is in our power. And if some things work out to be negative despite our best efforts, sometimes a doctor, based on a particular assessment of a particular patient, prescribes a particular medicine.
But sometimes the case becomes complicated. Now, could it be that the doctor could have done more investigations, and based on those more investigations, the doctor could have found out, oh, this complication was there, this patient has this case history. Well, if the doctor had not done the necessary checkup, then the doctor is culpable.
But if the doctor had done some necessary checkups, but there was some unknown factor which came into a complicated thing, the doctor won’t be held culpable. So we shouldn’t think of the law of karma as some kind of cosmic fault-finding mechanism. It’s not that, you know, you made this mistake, now we’re going to punish you.
It’s not that there is someone out there waiting to catch us do wrong. That’s not the point. Krishna’s purpose is not to catch us when we do wrong.
Krishna’s purpose is to catch us when we fall. And when we fall, he’s there to help us rise, to come back on the right track. That’s why we use our God-given good intention, good intelligence, and try to do things the best we can.
If some things have not worked out well, somebody has been hurt by that, then we can sincerely apologize, we can try to make amends for that, as much as is possible, we can try to make sure what we can learn, so that we don’t repeat it in future. So, if we do this, apologize, we amend, and we learn. Then, we don’t have to be too paranoid about the law of karma.
If we are reforming, if we are learning, the ultimate purpose of the law of karma is being served. And especially if you are practicing bhakti, then Krishna says, I will protect you from all sinful reactions. aham tvam sarva-pavitam bhokshe shyam ma shucham The law of karma, it is meant to make sure that, when we know, we make right choices.
If we don’t know, and we make wrong choices, then we come to know, and we start making better choices thereafter. So, the purpose is not retributional, the purpose is reformational.