An ancient Hindu text, the Manusmriti states that people with disability are suffering punishment for the crimes they allegedly committed in their previous lives. It also goes on to point out that these said individuals are to be excluded from religious activities as they can contaminate them by their presence. Furthermore, it advised the other participants to avoid contact with the disabled in order to maintain their own purity. 


Although written in the 2nd century BCE, many emerging from the rural establishments of Indian subcontinent, extend their beliefs to include the negative karma of the parents of the disabled as a contributing factor. As a result of this association, the disabled are often locked indoors as their presence affects the family's societal position.


The charitable model of disability is popular amongst the educated class. Although still bearing a belief in Karma, they have now begun to accumulate positive actions such as charity toward the disabled, in order to improve their own pre-existing karma. It is considered, in this class, a dharmic duty for all able-bodied people to care for the disabled. 


Unfortunately, some people still believe in the guidelines offered by Manusmriti which reference a form of Karma called Runanabandha, which is transported from one individual to another by contact. Hence, to avoid a disabled's karma from being imprinted upon a person, charity is often provided indirectly or for a short periods of time in order to prevent any transference.

Hinduism and attitudes towards the disability

Accumulated over lifetimes, the memory of one's actions is etched upon one's soul as one travels through the cyclical process of birth, death and rebirth. 

It defines the quality of life one leads in this birth, the difficulties one faces, one's survivability, one's success and failures, as well as defines the kind of energies to which one is exposed.

State University of New York at Buffalo

Karma is a philosophical concept where karma is the cumulative of all the actions one performs in a given timeframe. Its adherents view it as a universal causal law by which good or bad actions determine the future modes of one's existence. 

Just as your genetic code that is passed down as a memory for generations, codes for your phenotype, Karma is the memory of the sum of all the actions performed within a given timeframe that gets etched upon one's Aatma/Dravya/Aham.

Karma

Sadhguru (2021). Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Destiny. Goodreads. Penguin Ananda. Retrieved: April 27 2021. 

Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Destiny

Karma in Hinduism

Consider your Aatma/Dravya to be a balloon and the Karma, a weighted block attached to it. One's birth in Narak-lok (Hell), Bhu-lok (Earth), Swarg-lok (Heaven) or Siddha-lok (abode of Tirthankars, the gurus and philosophers) depends on the amount of weight attached to your Aatma. The lighter you are and devoid of karma, the higher the chances of one attaining Siddha-lok.

[Remember, in Jainism, loka/lok refers to the quality of life and the energies one faces in this birth, not the physical space. The quality improves drastically as one moves from Narak-lok to Siddha-lok. In fact, to reach Siddha-lok, one should be devoid of karma and have achieved Aatma-gyan or self-realization].



Karma in Jainism

The actions you partake in as well as emotions that have been invested, imprints itself upon one's Aham (concept of self). That is the basis of all suffering. When one stops feeding Aham, there is nothing tethering that person to this materialistic word. 


Karma in Buddhism

Dhyana’s earliest references can be found in the period between the Vedas (written 4000 years ago) and Puranas (2000 years ago).

In order to attain enlightenment, the two sides of the same coin, Dhyana (to close your eyes and look inwards) and Darshan (to open your eyes and observe the world), both are necessary for the sustenance of lifestyles that fall under the branch of Sanatana Dharma. 

In simplified terms, Dyana equates to Buddhism, an ascetic lifestyle and to look within oneself, while Darshan equates to Hinduism, a domestic lifestyle and acknowledging the society’s point of view. 

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