Karma
कर्म (karma)
Action - and the way every action leaves a residue that shapes what becomes easy or hard to do next. Read in English
कर्म — और हर कर्म का वह संस्कार जो आगे के करने को सहज या कठिन बना देता है।
Karma simply means action. The doctrine attached to it observes something verifiable in one lifetime, whatever one believes about others: every act leaves a trace in the actor. Repeat an action and it becomes a tendency; repeat a tendency and it becomes a character.
The popular use - karma as cosmic score-keeping that pays people back - misses the more sobering point. The payback is not administered later by the universe; it is deposited immediately in the nervous system. Speak harshly and the harshness is already yours.
The contemplative traditions are therefore less interested in earning good karma than in acting with enough attention that action stops accumulating residue at all - doing what the moment asks, completely, and then setting it down.