Karma, Grace and Mercy
Dharma vs Karma
The difference between Dharma and Karma is that dharma is based on birth whereas Karma are deeds of human life. Both of them lead to the path of salvation.
Indian mythology has several beliefs like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.. Although every religion and belief advocates a few core principles for the human society which will lead to a path towards divinity.
According to every belief, there is a way to reach the divine. There set of duties and responsibilities following which eternity can be reached.
Spirituality is not confined to Hinduism. Few principles of life are fundamental to all religions and beliefs.
The human life cycle is fundamentally based on two principles – Dharma and Karma.
When a person is born there are set of some duties and responsibilities that are assigned by society as fundamental cosmic law which is supposed to be accepted. And as an individual, every person has some deeds and accord.
Comparison Table Between Dharma and Karma (in Tabular Form)
| Parameters of Comparison | Dharma | Karma |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Has different definitions in different beliefs | Universal(one meaning for all) |
| Fruit | Based on the present life | Sometimes based on past life |
| Rules | There are specified rules | There are no specified rules |
| Division | Based on birth | Based on actions |
| Impacts on | Affects society | Confined to individual |
What is Dharma?
Dharma is considered as a set of duties and responsibilities creating the right way of living and proper functioning of life.
Different beliefs have a different definition of dharma, such as:-
Hinduism- acceptance of natural order for the proper functioning of life.
- Jainism – believes non harming and nonviolent principles are a major part of dharma.
- Sikhism- being on the path of righteousness is dharma.
- Buddhism- preserving spiritual teachings and liberation is dharma.
The conception of dharma may differ from religion to religion or from person to person. Sometimes, what is dharma for one community or a person could be considered as Adharma for another community or person.
For example eating flesh, for one person or community it is dharma to eat the flesh of other animals to maintain balance in the food chain, but it could be considered Adharma for another person or community as animals are killed which is against humanity.
Highest dharma is to achieve spiritual understanding. Dharma can be understood as a path towards the divine.
Dharma has some boundaries within which humans are supposed to work, going beyond or against those boundaries is considered ‘adharma’.
It is considered that dharma is important functioning as it gives meaning to life.
There are mentionings of dharma and its principles in Hindu holy books. Lord Krishna is considered as one the best preachers of dharma as showcased in the epic of Mahabharata.
The ultimate goal of dharma is to reach the divine. The one who follows the path of dharma is considered a pure soul.
Dharma is simply based on humanitarian grounds of non-violence, generosity, truthfulness with the essence of spirituality which will make the person an asset for society.
Dharma is sometimes misinterpreted and creates divisions of society, although the path gets different the destination is one, that is to be a good human and to become a pure soul so that divinity can be reached.
In kalyug, dharma seems to be more associated with spirituality than humanitarian values.
What is Karma?
Karma is considered as the action or result of the action of any person. karma is bound by the present as well as a past life.
Karma has no rules, there is no specific path to follow karma as it counts everything. There is no teacher to teach karma.
Karma is the actual reason for continuing the cycle of birth and death. Until the soul becomes pure and settles all scores of good and bad karma, liberation cannot be achieved.
Every pain and pleasure is the result of karma somewhere. Karma is not confined to bad deeds.
Liberation (moksha ) can only be achieved when all karmas are diminished.
There are no specific principles for karma. It is solely dependent on the deeds of humans during their life.
Fruit of Karma is not punishment but consequences of inner intentions. Karma is not only what you do but also the intentions behind doing good or bad deeds.
Human behaviour is not confined to other humans but also towards animals and other living beings.
Karma is a vicious cycle of human life. There are few people who achieve liberation soon, otherwise, the birth and death cycle continued for thousands of years.
According to Hindu mythology, a person can ask for forgiveness for their karma by getting attached to god.
Karma has one meaning regardless of any religion or belief. Therefore, there are less or no misinterpretations in the concept of karma.
Main Differences Between Dharma and Karma
- Dharma is completely based on present life whereas karma has impacts from a past life as well.
- Dharma can divide people among societies but karma is unbiased to all.
- Dharma is connected to spirituality, but karma is universal and has impacts irrespective of any raise.
- Dharma has no specified fruit, whereas karma mentions the theory of “what goes around, comes around”.
- There are rules in dharma but karma has no boundaries.
- Dharma can be preached by any teacher, but karma itself is a life lesson.
- Dharma is often misunderstood as a concept but there are no misinterpretations in the concept of karma.
Conclusion
Dharma and karma both are important principles of human life. Without both of these, no one can attain salvation. They are intertwined and thus dependent on each other.
A person is required to do karma while staying within the boundaries of dharma.
Although there are differences of theory. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal is to reach the divine.
Both of them advocate generosity, humanity, truth and non-violence.
By following the dharma and having a good score of karma, the gates of paradise can be opened.
Without dharma and karma, there is no meaning of human life.
Word Cloud for Difference Between Dharma and Karma
The following is a collection of the most used terms in this article on Dharma and Karma. This should help in recalling related terms as used in this article at a later stage for you.
Difference Between Grace and Mercy (With Table)
Grace vs Mercy
While exclusively talking about grace and mercy, they are commonly understood to be attributes of love, in the words of the Christian faith. Both of these concepts are considered to be of utmost importance in the Bible, in Christianity and even in today’s world of evil and wrongdoings.
In understandable words, grace is the opposite of karma, where karma means getting all that one deserves and grace signifies getting what one doesn’t really deserve. It can also be explained as the unmerited favour of someone, especially God.
Mercy, on the other hand, can be explained with the words pity, compassion and forgiveness. It is a compassionate love to the weak and is believed to be the path of forgiveness.
Both of them are two sides of one coin and the coin is that of love. They are generally understood from the view of God or the Almighty having grace and mercy on the weak and unworthy humans.
Comparison Table Between Grace and Mercy (in Tabular Form)
| Parameters | Grace | Mercy |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Grace is actually the act of endowing favours which are unmerited or undeserved. | Mercy is the act of withholding punishment which is deserved by someone. |
| Related words | Grace can be explained through favour. | Mercy can be explained through pity or compassion or forgiveness. |
| Root words | Grace has a Greek root in the word ‘Charmis’ meaning favour. | Mercy also has a Greek root in the word ‘Eleos’ meaning pity or compassion. |
| Relates to | Grace, in the typical sense, relates to someone who is unworthy or undeserving. | Mercy, in the typical sense, relates to someone who is weak. |
| Leads to | It is generally believed that grace leads to reconciliation. | It is widely believed that mercy takes one to the path of forgiveness. |
What is Grace?
Grace comes from the Greek word ‘Charmis’, which means favour. In terms of God, He, in His grace, give us, the humans, a gift which we ideally do not deserve, i.e., heaven.
Grace is believed to be one of the most important concepts in the Bible, in Christianity and even in the world. It is an attribute of love just like the essence of the Bible is to love God and the people through Christ’s lens.
Grace is largely explained from the God’s perspective in the sense that the Almighty, even though the most powerful, has a marvellous love for the humans or his children which He demonstrates through grace and mercy.
Grace is an act, an act of bequeathing favour which we do not work for, i.e., unmerited or undeserved. In other words, grace is a generous and kind love to those who are unworthy, in the typical sense.
Owing to the entire concept of grace, deeply embedded in the Christian faith, there are numerous examples of grace in The Bible. Many people have described grace differently.
Some of them are: “a free sovereign favour to the ill-deserving”, “a love that cares and stoops and rescues” and “an unconditional love towards a person who does not deserve it”.
What is Mercy?
Mercy comes from the Greek word ‘Eleos’, which means pity or compassion. In terms of God, in His mercy, He does not give us the punishment that we deserve.
Mercy is the base of many of Jesus’ teachings. It is in the Gospel of Mathew that Jesus shares a story, the story of the ‘unmerciful servant’.
The servant has been called unmerciful because even though his debts have been rubbed off, he is not willing to forgive another servant who owed him an absolute tine amount of money.
This story is the idea behind mercy which teaches us how it is important to forgive others because we have also been forgiven.
Bible says that mercy is important because everyone needs forgiveness and compassion. However, it will not be wrong to say that mercy is of great importance also because it is something which can join and bring everyone together despite several differences.
Mercy is an act of withholding punishment to those who deserve it and forgive them, mainly because of the idea that we have also been forgiven for something in our life.
Mercy is a very deep concept and idea but starts with small acts of understanding each other and cultivating a habit of forgiving each other.
Main Differences Between Grace and Mercy
Grace and mercy are two sides of a coin, and the coin is that of love. In other words, grace and mercy are just two components of love, or of giving love. Even so, there are a few differences in the literal meaning of grace and mercy.
- While grace is concerned with the act of giving, mercy relates to the act of forgiving for a previous act.
- Grace is understood as bestowing somebody with a favour they might not deserve whereas mercy can be understood as portraying compassion towards somebody and forgiving them for some wrongdoing they might have knowingly or unknowingly done.
- A word to describe grace would be unmerited favour and a word to describe mercy would be forgiveness or compassion.
- Grace has to do with somebody who does not deserve something but is still given that thing, while mercy has to do with somebody who seeks forgiveness for an act performed.
- Lastly, grace is believed to lead to reconciliation and mercy is believed to lead to the path of forgiveness.
Conclusion
Grace and mercy are two beautiful attributes of love which have in them to make the world a better place to live in. Both of them are considered to be the qualities that God possesses and urges everyone to abide by them too.
Grace is the act of giving favours to somebody who might not deserve them while mercy is the act of forgiving somebody who might, knowingly or unknowingly, have done wrongdoing.
Grace and mercy, both form an evident part of The Bible and the Christian faith. They are believed to be things which are deep to understand but start with small acts of understanding and helping and forgiving each other, to achieve the greatest experiences of love in our lives.
Word Cloud for Difference Between Grace and Mercy
The following is a collection of the most used terms in this article on Grace and Mercy. This should help in recalling related terms as used in this article at a later stage for you.
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