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The following article does not explain karma well from a Hindu point of view and readers are advised to consult Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's discussion of karma from his book, Dancing with Siva, available at source, [1]
Karma first came into being as a concept in Hinduism, largely based on the Vedas and Upanishads. One of the first and most dramatic illustrations of Karma can be found in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. The original Hindu concept of karma was later enhanced by several other movements within the religion, most notably Vedanta, Yoga, and Tantra.
The Bhagvad Gita says of karma : Brahman is the indestructible, the supreme; the Self is called the essential nature, and karma is the name of the creative power that causes beings to exist. ( pp 77 verse 3 translated by Eliot Deutsch university press of America, 1968 )
What is meant here, is an idea that is truly ineffable - no words will suffice to explain it properly - which is why "proper" explanations are not to be found in the works of scholars - as important as their work is. Those in the know recognize the spark of wisdom in others but admit to each other that words are not enough - that the very existence of words forms part of the problem. The best that one who has experienced the Lord ( or God or Brahma as Arjuna has )can do is use faint and poor methaphors and imagery in the hope of "hitting" some nerve in the reader - a nerve of recognition.
All humans ( all living beings really, but why start a fight ) are "separated from God" ( please forgive my christian imagery - it is the culture I grew up in ) not by any arbitrary rule or law ( dharma is often expressed as some sort of divine law ) but by the basic desire for distinction.
We all are so full of ego that we feel a need to be different from and separate from God. Each of us could, at any time, give up this need for ego ( separateness, individuality, personality, physical experience )and directly "translate" to co-mingling, joining, God. The ONLY thing that prevents this full and complete union with God is our desire to be different and separate from "him". This is, in fact, why some people seem to "just die" without any reason. They may have not had the "right reasons" but they did eventually get to that psychological state where they no longer "held onto" life.
One thing that the Bhudda saw ( that is missed by most christians - even the mystics ) was that this desire and the attendant process of eliminating this desire is not a struggle that is "decided", finally, at death. We can, if we are so "foolish" continue on through "the infinite universe and for all time". Ego is this strong.
In Buddhism, only intentional actions are karmic "acts of will". The 'Law of Karma' refers to "cause and effect", but Karma literally means "action" - often indicating intent or cause. Accompanying this usually is a separate tenet called Vipaka, meaning result or effect. The re-action or effect can itself also influence an action, and in this way, the chain of causation continues ad infinitum. When Buddhists talk about karma, they are normally referring to karma/action that is 'tainted' with ignorance - karma that continues to ensure that the being remains in the everlasting cycle of samsara.
This samsaric karma comes in two 'flavours' - 'good' karma, which leads to positive/pleasurable experiences, like high rebirth (as a deva, asura, or human), and bad karma which leads to suffering and low rebirth (as a hell-sufferer, as a preta , or as an animal).
There is also a completely different type of karma that is neither good nor bad, but liberating. This karma allows for the individual to break the uncontrolled cycle of rebirth which always implies suffering, and thereby leave samsara to permanently enter Nirvana.
The Buddhist sutras explain that in order to generate liberating karma, we must first develop incredibly powerful concentration, and proper insight into the (un)reality of samsara. This concentration is akin to the states of mind required to be reborn in the Deva realm, and in itself depends upon a very deep training in ethical self-discipline.
This differentiation between good karma and liberating karma has been used by some scholars to argue that the development of Tantra depended upon Buddhist ideas and philosophies.
Understanding the universal law of Karma provides order to a beginningless and endless universe. Alongside this view is the related notion of Buddhist rebirth - sometimes understood to be the same thing as reincarnation - which has its roots in the principle of Karma.
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