Question:
Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows.
India is renowned for its diversity. Dissimilitude abounds in every sphere, from the physical elements of its land and people to the intangible workings of its beliefs and practices. Indeed, given this variety, India itself appears to be not a single entity but an amalgamation, a "construct" arising from the conjoining of innumerable, discrete parts. Modern scholarship has, quite properly, tended to explore these elements in isolation. (In part, this trend represents the conscious reversal of the stance taken by an earlier generation of scholars whose work reified India into a monolithic entity, a critical element in the much maligned "Orientalist" enterprise.) Nonetheless, the representation of India as a singular "Whole" is not an entirely capricious enterprise, for India is an identifiable entity, united by, if not born out of, certain deep and pervasive structures. Thus, for example, the Hindu tradition has long maintained a body of mythology that weaves the disparate temples, gods, even geographic landscapes that exist throughout the subcontinent into a unified, albeit syncretic, whole.
In the realm of thought, there is no more pervasive, unifying structure than karma. It is the "doctrine" or "law" that ties actions to results and creates a determinant link between an individual's status in this life and his or her fate in future lives. Following what is considered to be its appearance in the Upanishads, the doctrine reaches into nearly every corner of Hindu thought. Indeed, its dominance is such in the Hindu world view that karma encompasses, at the same time, life-affirming and life-negating functions, for just as it defines the world in terms of the "positive" function of laying out a doctrine of rewards and punishments, it also defines the world through its "negative" picture of action as an all but inescapable trap, an unremitting cycle of death and rebirth.
Despite, or perhaps because of, karma's ubiquity, the doctrine is not easily defined. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty reports of a scholarly conference devoted to the study of karma where, although the participants admitted to a general sense of the doctrine's parameters, considerable time was spent in a "lively but ultimately vain attempt to define...karma and rebirth". The base meaning of the term "karma" (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem form, karman, a neuter noun) is "action". As a doctrine, karma covers a number of quasi-independent concepts: rebirth (punarjanam), consequence (phala, literally "fruit," a word that suggests the "ripening" of actions into consequences), and the valuation or "ethic-ization" of acts, which marks them as either "good" (punya or sukarman) or "bad" (papam or duskarman).
In a general way, however, for at least the past two thousand years, the following passage (from the well known text, the Bhagavata Purana) has held true as a statement of the main elements of the karma doctrine: "The same person enjoys the fruit of the same sinful or meritorious act in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent, according to the manner and extent to which that (sinful or meritorious) act has been done by him in this world." Even so, depending on the context in which the doctrine appears, ranging from its use across a wide range of literary sources to its use at the popular level, not all these elements may be present, though in a general way they may still be implied.
Question: Which of the following, if true, would be required for the concept of karma, as defined in the Bhagavata Purana, to be made equally valid across different space-time combinations?
Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows.
India is renowned for its diversity. Dissimilitude abounds in every sphere, from the physical elements of its land and people to the intangible workings of its beliefs and practices. Indeed, given this variety, India itself appears to be not a single entity but an amalgamation, a "construct" arising from the conjoining of innumerable, discrete parts. Modern scholarship has, quite properly, tended to explore these elements in isolation. (In part, this trend represents the conscious reversal of the stance taken by an earlier generation of scholars whose work reified India into a monolithic entity, a critical element in the much maligned "Orientalist" enterprise.) Nonetheless, the representation of India as a singular "Whole" is not an entirely capricious enterprise, for India is an identifiable entity, united by, if not born out of, certain deep and pervasive structures. Thus, for example, the Hindu tradition has long maintained a body of mythology that weaves the disparate temples, gods, even geographic landscapes that exist throughout the subcontinent into a unified, albeit syncretic, whole.
In the realm of thought, there is no more pervasive, unifying structure than karma. It is the "doctrine" or "law" that ties actions to results and creates a determinant link between an individual's status in this life and his or her fate in future lives. Following what is considered to be its appearance in the Upanishads, the doctrine reaches into nearly every corner of Hindu thought. Indeed, its dominance is such in the Hindu world view that karma encompasses, at the same time, life-affirming and life-negating functions, for just as it defines the world in terms of the "positive" function of laying out a doctrine of rewards and punishments, it also defines the world through its "negative" picture of action as an all but inescapable trap, an unremitting cycle of death and rebirth.
Despite, or perhaps because of, karma's ubiquity, the doctrine is not easily defined. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty reports of a scholarly conference devoted to the study of karma where, although the participants admitted to a general sense of the doctrine's parameters, considerable time was spent in a "lively but ultimately vain attempt to define...karma and rebirth". The base meaning of the term "karma" (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem form, karman, a neuter noun) is "action". As a doctrine, karma covers a number of quasi-independent concepts: rebirth (punarjanam), consequence (phala, literally "fruit," a word that suggests the "ripening" of actions into consequences), and the valuation or "ethic-ization" of acts, which marks them as either "good" (punya or sukarman) or "bad" (papam or duskarman).
In a general way, however, for at least the past two thousand years, the following passage (from the well known text, the Bhagavata Purana) has held true as a statement of the main elements of the karma doctrine: "The same person enjoys the fruit of the same sinful or meritorious act in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent, according to the manner and extent to which that (sinful or meritorious) act has been done by him in this world." Even so, depending on the context in which the doctrine appears, ranging from its use across a wide range of literary sources to its use at the popular level, not all these elements may be present, though in a general way they may still be implied.
Question: Which of the following, if true, would be required for the concept of karma, as defined in the Bhagavata Purana, to be made equally valid across different space-time combinations?
India is renowned for its diversity. Dissimilitude abounds in every sphere, from the physical elements of its land and people to the intangible workings of its beliefs and practices. Indeed, given this variety, India itself appears to be not a single entity but an amalgamation, a "construct" arising from the conjoining of innumerable, discrete parts. Modern scholarship has, quite properly, tended to explore these elements in isolation. (In part, this trend represents the conscious reversal of the stance taken by an earlier generation of scholars whose work reified India into a monolithic entity, a critical element in the much maligned "Orientalist" enterprise.) Nonetheless, the representation of India as a singular "Whole" is not an entirely capricious enterprise, for India is an identifiable entity, united by, if not born out of, certain deep and pervasive structures. Thus, for example, the Hindu tradition has long maintained a body of mythology that weaves the disparate temples, gods, even geographic landscapes that exist throughout the subcontinent into a unified, albeit syncretic, whole.
In the realm of thought, there is no more pervasive, unifying structure than karma. It is the "doctrine" or "law" that ties actions to results and creates a determinant link between an individual's status in this life and his or her fate in future lives. Following what is considered to be its appearance in the Upanishads, the doctrine reaches into nearly every corner of Hindu thought. Indeed, its dominance is such in the Hindu world view that karma encompasses, at the same time, life-affirming and life-negating functions, for just as it defines the world in terms of the "positive" function of laying out a doctrine of rewards and punishments, it also defines the world through its "negative" picture of action as an all but inescapable trap, an unremitting cycle of death and rebirth.
Despite, or perhaps because of, karma's ubiquity, the doctrine is not easily defined. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty reports of a scholarly conference devoted to the study of karma where, although the participants admitted to a general sense of the doctrine's parameters, considerable time was spent in a "lively but ultimately vain attempt to define...karma and rebirth". The base meaning of the term "karma" (or, more precisely, in its Sanskrit stem form, karman, a neuter noun) is "action". As a doctrine, karma covers a number of quasi-independent concepts: rebirth (punarjanam), consequence (phala, literally "fruit," a word that suggests the "ripening" of actions into consequences), and the valuation or "ethic-ization" of acts, which marks them as either "good" (punya or sukarman) or "bad" (papam or duskarman).
In a general way, however, for at least the past two thousand years, the following passage (from the well known text, the Bhagavata Purana) has held true as a statement of the main elements of the karma doctrine: "The same person enjoys the fruit of the same sinful or meritorious act in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent, according to the manner and extent to which that (sinful or meritorious) act has been done by him in this world." Even so, depending on the context in which the doctrine appears, ranging from its use across a wide range of literary sources to its use at the popular level, not all these elements may be present, though in a general way they may still be implied.
Question: Which of the following, if true, would be required for the concept of karma, as defined in the Bhagavata Purana, to be made equally valid across different space-time combinations?
Show Hint
Ask what must travel with a person across different worlds and times for the same act to always produce a matching result.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
- Karma is judged based on the observers' perception, and hence the observer is a necessary condition for its validity.
- Karma is an orientalist concept limited to oriental countries.
- Each epoch will have its own understanding of karma and therefore there can not be uniform validity of the concept of karma.
- The information of the past actions and the righteousness of each action would be embodied in the individual.
Show Solution
Verified By Collegedunia
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Recall what the Bhagavata Purana passage says.
It says the same person enjoys the fruit of a sinful or meritorious act "in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent" as the act was done "in this world".
Step 2: Work out what this claim needs in order to hold across different times and places.
For the exact same act, done in one world, to fairly produce a matching consequence in a completely different world, there has to be some way of carrying the record of that act, and how righteous or sinful it was, forward with the person.
In other words, the information about the past act must travel with the individual rather than depend on the world it happened in.
Step 3: Test the options against this requirement.
Option A makes karma depend on an outside observer's perception, but the passage never mentions an observer judging the act, it only talks about the person and the act itself, so this adds an unsupported requirement.
Option B calls karma an orientalist idea limited to oriental countries, which contradicts the passage's point that karma is meant to apply generally, so this is wrong.
Option C says each era has its own understanding of karma so there cannot be uniform validity, but this argues against the very idea the question is asking us to make valid, so it does not answer the question.
Option D says the record of past actions and their righteousness would be carried, or embodied, in the individual, which is exactly the mechanism needed to transfer consequences from one world or era to another.
Option E introduces different norms and expert panels for each space-time combination, which would make the standard of judgment vary, working against equal validity rather than supporting it.
Final Answer:
For karma to hold equally across space and time, the record of past actions and their righteousness must be embodied in the individual, so the correct option is D.
It says the same person enjoys the fruit of a sinful or meritorious act "in the next world, in the same manner and to the same extent" as the act was done "in this world".
Step 2: Work out what this claim needs in order to hold across different times and places.
For the exact same act, done in one world, to fairly produce a matching consequence in a completely different world, there has to be some way of carrying the record of that act, and how righteous or sinful it was, forward with the person.
In other words, the information about the past act must travel with the individual rather than depend on the world it happened in.
Step 3: Test the options against this requirement.
Option A makes karma depend on an outside observer's perception, but the passage never mentions an observer judging the act, it only talks about the person and the act itself, so this adds an unsupported requirement.
Option B calls karma an orientalist idea limited to oriental countries, which contradicts the passage's point that karma is meant to apply generally, so this is wrong.
Option C says each era has its own understanding of karma so there cannot be uniform validity, but this argues against the very idea the question is asking us to make valid, so it does not answer the question.
Option D says the record of past actions and their righteousness would be carried, or embodied, in the individual, which is exactly the mechanism needed to transfer consequences from one world or era to another.
Option E introduces different norms and expert panels for each space-time combination, which would make the standard of judgment vary, working against equal validity rather than supporting it.
Final Answer:
For karma to hold equally across space and time, the record of past actions and their righteousness must be embodied in the individual, so the correct option is D.
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