1. What is the basic meaning of the Law of Karma in Hindu thought?
Every action has consequences: good actions tend to bring good results and bad actions tend to bring bad results.
Karma means that nothing we do matters because everything is already written.
Karma is another name for performing rituals at temples only.
Only priests can decide if an action is good or bad and give rewards or punishments.
Explanation:
The Law of Karma teaches moral cause and effect: actions influence future outcomes, rather than being decided only by priests or being totally predetermined.
2. Which statement best describes how karma relates to rebirth (samsara)?
Rebirth happens randomly and has nothing to do with a person's actions.
Everyone is reborn in the same kind of life regardless of what they do.
Rebirth ends automatically after one lifetime, regardless of actions.
Karma influences future births by creating results that can bind the soul to new lives until those effects are resolved.
Explanation:
In Hindu teaching, accumulated karma affects the conditions of future births; it is the moral account that helps determine the nature of rebirth.
3. Which are the traditional three types of karma described in Hindu philosophy?
Good karma, average karma, and extreme karma only.
Sanchita (accumulated), Prarabdha (ripening now), and Agami or Kriyamana (actions being created now).
Ritual karma, temple karma, and prayer karma only.
Past karma, present karma, and guaranteed karma that cannot change.
Explanation:
Classical texts divide karma into sanchita (total accumulated), prarabdha (portion manifesting in this life), and agami/kriyamana (new actions that will bear fruit).
4. What does Prarabdha karma refer to?
Only the bad actions a person has done in childhood.
Karma that is always good and cannot be changed by current actions.
Rituals performed by ancestors that have no effect on the present life.
The portion of past karma that is responsible for the circumstances we are experiencing in this present life.
Explanation:
Prarabdha is the slice of stored karma that has come to fruition and shapes the present life’s situations and experiences.
5. What is Agami (or Kriyamana) karma?
Karma that disappears automatically when you go to a temple.
Karma that guarantees immediate wealth and success.
Karma that was created only by our ancestors and cannot be influenced.
Karma produced by actions we perform now, which will bear fruit in the future.
Explanation:
Agami or kriyamana are the consequences of present actions that will add to one’s karmic account and affect future experiences.
6. How does intention (the mind behind an action) affect karmic results?
Karma depends only on social recognition, not personal intention.
Intention matters: actions done with harmful intention create heavier negative karma than similar actions done accidentally.
Only the physical outcome matters; intention has no effect on karma.
Intention cancels karma completely regardless of the action.
Explanation:
Hindu teachings emphasize that moral weight depends on intention; deliberate harmful actions carry more karmic consequence than accidental ones.
7. What is the role of dharma in relation to karma?
Dharma means performing sacrifice only, which has no connection to karma.
Following one’s dharma (duty and right conduct) helps reduce the creation of bad karma and leads to a more orderly life.
Dharma is only about following laws of the state, not moral actions.
Dharma allows a person to act selfishly without consequences.
Explanation:
Dharma guides people to act rightly and responsibly; living according to duty and ethics reduces harmful actions and their karmic results.
8. What is the difference between punya and papa?
Punya always means wealth, and papa always means poverty without moral dimension.
Punya and papa are names of two gods who judge actions.
Punya refers to meritorious (good) deeds and their positive results; papa refers to sinful (bad) deeds and their negative results.
Punya is a type of festival and papa is a form of prayer.
Explanation:
Punya and papa are moral categories in Hindu ethics: punya yields beneficial consequences, while papa yields harmful consequences.
9. Can some karma be experienced or exhausted within a single lifetime?
No. All karma lasts forever and never affects the present life.
Yes. Prarabdha karma is experienced in the current life while other karma may remain for future lives.
No. Karma is only a modern idea and not part of traditional belief.
Yes, but only if someone performs certain secret rituals preserved in temples.
Explanation:
Prarabdha represents the part of accumulated karma that ripens now; other parts (sanchita) can remain unmanifested or affect later lives.
10. Which of the following is a realistic way to lessen the effect of bad karma?
Sincere repentance, making amends, right actions (seva), and spiritual practices like prayer or meditation.
Believing that only expensive offerings at big temples can erase karma immediately.
Hiding from people so nobody knows what you did.
Blaming other people and refusing to change behaviour.
Explanation:
Hindu teachings encourage ethical correction, service, devotion and inner change as ways to reduce or neutralize negative karmic effects.
11. What does the idea of collective or social karma mean?
Only individuals create karma; groups can never influence outcomes.
Collective karma means everyone must perform the same ritual together every day.
Actions by a community or group can create shared consequences that affect many people, not just one individual.
Social karma is a modern political term unrelated to religion.
Explanation:
Communal behaviour—like pollution, crime, or generosity—can lead to collective results affecting families, communities or nations.
12. What key teaching about action and attachment does the Bhagavad Gita give that relates to karma?
One should act selfishly to ensure the best results for oneself.
One should perform one’s duty without attachment to the fruits of action (nishkama karma).
Only rituals and pilgrimage count as true action in spiritual life.
One must never act and should wait for destiny to decide everything.
Explanation:
The Bhagavad Gita advises acting according to duty without clinging to results, which helps prevent new binding karma produced by attachment.
13. How is the Law of Karma different from a country’s legal system?
Karma is a moral law of cause and effect guiding spiritual consequences, while the legal system deals with social rules and punishments enforced by the state.
Karma only applies to people of one religion while laws apply to everyone.
Karma is enforced by police in temples, while laws are enforced in courts.
Karma and legal systems are the same and use the same punishments.
Explanation:
Karma concerns ethical consequences that may span lifetimes, whereas state law addresses immediate social order and legal penalties.
14. When do karmic results appear?
Karmic results always appear exactly one year after an action.
Karmic results never appear; they are only symbolic stories.
Karmic results may appear immediately, later in life, or in a future life; timing varies according to many factors.
Karmic results appear only after a temple ceremony.
Explanation:
Karma does not follow a fixed timetable; effects can be subtle, delayed, or manifest in future existence depending on conditions.
15. What is the role of free will in the doctrine of karma?
Free will allows people to choose actions; those choices create new karma and shape future outcomes.
Free will instantly cancels all past karma without effort.
Free will does not exist; every action is forced by karma with no choice.
Free will only applies to rich people according to karma.
Explanation:
Karma includes responsibility: while past actions influence conditions, individuals still have freedom to act and thus create or avoid new karmic results.
16. Do good actions always bring an obvious reward right away?
Not always; good actions may bring subtle benefits, social respect, inner peace, or rewards that come later or in another life.
Yes, every good action immediately brings visible riches and success.
Good actions always cause harm to the doer but reward others only.
Good actions are meaningless unless announced publicly.
Explanation:
Karma’s effects are not always material or immediate; many benefits are internal or delayed and may appear later or in future lives.
17. Which of these creates karmic results besides physical actions?
Only wearing religious symbols creates karma.
Only being born into a certain family creates karma from birth onward.
Only physical actions count; thoughts and speech have no effect.
Thoughts and speech—intention, desires, and words also generate karma.
Explanation:
Hindu ethics teach that mental states and speech carry moral weight; cruel words or harmful thoughts can produce negative karma just like actions.
18. How is moksha (liberation) related to karma?
Moksha is only a ritual performed by priests for the community.
Moksha is freedom from the cycle of birth and death; it is achieved when one’s karma is exhausted and no new binding karma is created.
Moksha can be bought with money or land.
Moksha means receiving endless wealth in future lives.
Explanation:
Liberation occurs when the soul no longer accumulates karmic impressions and transcends the cycle of rebirth.
19. Which practice is least likely to remove bad karma by itself?
Doing a ritual mechanically without change of heart or behaviour.
Performing regular selfless service and ethical living.
Practising meditation and inner transformation.
Sincerely apologising and restoring what was harmed.
Explanation:
Rituals without genuine repentance or change do not address the root causes of bad karma; inner change and corrective action are needed.
20. Which everyday school action is an example of generating good karma?
Stealing a classmate’s notes to improve one’s own score.
Copying someone else’s homework to get a better grade.
Helping a classmate understand a lesson without expecting a reward.
Gossiping about a friend to feel popular.
Explanation:
Selfless help (seva) is a good deed that cultivates positive intentions and generates punya (good karma).
21. How can thinking about karma help a student make ethical decisions?
By suggesting that only adults face karmic consequences, not students.
By telling them to avoid studying because everything is already pre-determined.
By encouraging them to consider long-term consequences of actions and to act responsibly even when no one is watching.
By advising them to always seek shortcuts regardless of harm to others.
Explanation:
Karma fosters moral reflection: understanding consequences motivates responsible behaviour and care for others.
22. What is a helpful metaphor for explaining karma to classmates?
Karma is like wearing the same shoes every day with no effect.
Karma is like a secret code only priests can read.
Karma is like switching off the lights to make problems disappear.
Karma is like planting seeds: actions are seeds and later we harvest the fruits, good or bad.
Explanation:
The seed-and-harvest metaphor clearly shows how actions lead to future results, making the concept easy to understand for students.
23. Can forgiveness affect one’s karmic situation?
No; forgiveness has no effect on karma and is purely sentimental.
Yes; forgiving others and asking forgiveness reduces negative feelings and prevents the creation of further harmful karma.
No; only punishments can change karmic accounts.
Yes; forgiving someone transfers their bad karma to you automatically.
Explanation:
Forgiveness heals relationships and stops cycles of resentment that would create additional negative karmic results.
24. Which of the following statements is true about punishment and karma?
Karma ensures immediate public humiliation for every minor mistake.
Karma means people should never be helped if they do something wrong.
Karma always guarantees that every criminal will be punished by the government.
Karma is moral cause and effect and may lead to suffering or learning, but it is not the same as legal punishment enforced by courts.
Explanation:
Karma works as moral consequence across lifetimes, while legal systems provide socially enforced penalties in this life.
25. Which attitude best prevents the creation of new harmful karma?
Believing that only tradition and ritual matter and not behaviour.
Seeking revenge to make oneself feel powerful.
Acting with awareness, compassion and respect for others while taking responsibility for one’s behaviour.
Trying to hide mistakes and blame others for personal wrongs.
Explanation:
Mindful, compassionate conduct and accountability reduce harmful actions and therefore the creation of bad karmic results.
26. Why do Hindu teachings say that inner change is more important than outward show for clearing karma?
Because outer actions are invisible to the soul and have no effect.
Because genuine transformation prevents repeated harm; mere outward rituals without change do not stop harmful habits.
Because inner change automatically guarantees material wealth.
Because outward show is always forbidden in Hinduism.
Explanation:
True karmic improvement requires changed intention and behaviour; rituals alone do not address the inner causes of harmful actions.
27. How might a Kenyan student apply the idea of karma in daily life at school?
By copying answers to pass exams as quickly as possible.
By spending all free time on social media instead of schoolwork.
By studying honestly, helping classmates, respecting teachers and taking responsibility for mistakes.
By refusing to participate in school activities because karma decides everything.
Explanation:
These actions reflect dharma and create positive karma through honest effort, service, and responsibility—practical ways students can live the teaching.