Abstract
Several scholars have discussed various versions of the theory of karman as offering a convincing solution to the problem of evil. Arthur Herman even thinks that the theory of karman is the ultimate theodicy (1976). Such scholars tend to imagine that a unitary theory of karman can be reconstructed as the backbone of most of Sanskrit philosophy of religion and ethics. In this article, I discuss the role of the theory of karman and the problem of evil in one of the schools of Sanskrit philosophy which is still alive and thriving, namely Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. Is karman really the central key to theodicy in this school? Additionally, does the school’s theory of karman correspond to what Herman, Chadha, Trakakis, Sharma and others discuss?
Highlights
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It will first question the idea that there is a single theory of karman and look at a case in which the problem of theodicy is dealt with, and in which the theory of karman does not represent the single solution for the problem of evil
Theistic schools like Visis.t.advaita Vedanta did not reason like Herman, Bilimoria, Chadha and Trakakis, etc., and did not consider their version of the theory of karman as the single solution of the whole problem of evil
Summary
The problem of the existence of evil has been frequently discussed and debated in Anglo-European theology and philosophy of religion. Chadha and Trakakis’ re-reading of the theory of karman interprets it as a rational explanation of the problem of suffering, stressing this aspect more than Sanskrit sources do If this moral dimension is the case, why should one suffer in this life the consequences of some wrongdoing carried out in a past life, of which one bears no memory? Theistic schools like Visis.t.advaita Vedanta did not reason like Herman, Bilimoria, Chadha and Trakakis, etc., and did not consider their version of the theory of karman as the single solution of the whole problem of evil. Rather, they consider it part of the solution
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