What is karma?

Long ago, three pupils were getting tutored in the terrains of the Vedas under the tutelage of a gurukul teacher.

Once, these pupils, after much pondering, try placing before their guru a pertinent query, which would be persistently persecuting their mind - "Why is that when we see someone's life, being shrouded in surfeit happiness, someone else's is sated with sorrows?"

On hearing this, the guru stoically replies, "I shall expound on this later on. But before that, just fetch me some sylvan fruits. He hands over a hessian bag to each of them. The guys get on with their mission of getting their gunny bag glutted with good fruits.

The first one, possessing a philanthropic heart, tries painstakingly picking plethora of nice palatable fruits. The second one, ever scheming, thinks of doing something singularly nasty. So, he tries stuffing his bag with all inedible things such as pebbles, dry twigs, etc. The third pupil, in a pretty perfunctory way, tries picking fruits at random, without caring for quality.

When the three return, the guru says, "For a week, each one would be shut in a separate room, and his life sustenance strictly should be on what he has stuffed in his bag! After a week, the guru summons them and says, "I did come to know, by clairvoyance, what was crammed in the bags. And, the fruit-picking act just reflected each one's persona."

Looking at the first pupil, he says, "You always like ladling out the best things to everyone around. So, you got back the best, by way of savouring good fruits for a week. Even in life, you will always enjoy the great things". To the second pupil, he says, "Your diabolical mind finds dollops of delight in doing dastardly things. So, you picked all terrible things, thus traumatizing yourself without food for days. When one's deeds are despicable so too would be his life."

Finally, to the third one he says, "You picked middling quality fruits. Which means, you won't go out of your way to either help or harm anyone. So, your life would just go on without any tangible variations. Well, this is what is called as karma. What we'd give is what we'd get back", he concludes.