I think the traditional model of Karma is extremely flawed. It is not about the past/next life. There is only THIS LIFE. Karma is like the Butterfly Effect. Karma is every single thought, intent, or action creates an impression in your subconscious mind which then ripples out into the universe in your current life. The universe is like a flowing stream, ever changing, so what you put it you get out. A minor habit formed today alters a decision you make next month, which completely changes the trajectory of your life next year.
It is not a Cosmic Ledger. Hitler doesn't come back as a quadriplegic. This is incredibly cruel and does nothing to fix the Problem of Evil. It causes inaction. Hitler's soul coming back as a child solider in Uganda, places the blame on the victim and causes more "bad karmic debt" as the cycle of negativity would continue. If Hitler reincarnated, with no memory of his previous life, his suffering as an abused African child wouldn't have any meaning because he had no memory. Saying "the soul remembers" also doesn't track because not all suffering equals growth. Instead, it creates a passive, cruel society like we see in India today. People complain about "their lot in life" while doing nothing to change it. Or if a family member dies, people say "it is their karma" or if multiple family members die they call it "collective karma". Instead of having empathy for a family with many misfortunes, they say "they are cursed". This is wrong. This is how society has weaponized Hinduism against itself.
Settling past karmic debts, doesn't make sense. Doing good just because you want a "good life" or when people say "you suffered in this life so the next life will be good" that is bullshit. That is passive living and victim blaming. It is the opposite of Seva. Instead of seeing the Dalit cleaning the sewer and helping him, you are saying "that is his karma". You have blamed him and abused the circumstances of his birth to make yourself feel better. Karma is not about past lives. It is about the current life. Think about those random interactions you have with society. That one compliment a person gave you that is stuck in your head 7 years later, or momentary bonding with a passerby as you wait for the bus, that is Karma; the little things.
Karma is not the classic, "I must've done something in a previous life to deserve this suffering" that would be cruel and unusual punishment. Are you telling me victims of the Holocaust "deserved it" or a child with cancer has "bad karma"? This is why this interpretation of karma is flawed. Karma is similar to Newton's Law of "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". There is no morality to it. Don't tie the caste system to Karma. Karma is current and ever changing; Your mindset is how you see the world. You are drop in the Ocean. Karma is the threads of connection and we as humans can control it through love, service, kindness. There is no fate or destiny. We choose how to shape our lives.
Reincarnation or rebirth is not literal but spiritual/psychological. Like when someone says "I've changed" or "I am a new man". Or when they say you will change and grow from high school to college as a person. We are not static beings in any stage of life. Reincarnation is a metaphor for the continual rebirth of ego rather than the literal soul. The ego isn't a fixed, permanent entity but a constantly changing stream of consciousness. By letting go of outdated attachments in daily life, the ego "dies" and is repeatedly reborn as a more mindful, present version of yourself aka when you change and grow as a person.
The Universe is Energy or Consciousness and everything within is Energy. When you die, you become Energy. Your Soul becomes One with Truth or the Universe. God is Formless and there are many ways to worship and express this (Krishna, Kali, Shiva, Jesus, Allah, etc). God is the fabric of existence. We are part of that tapestry. God is neutral like a mirror. We are a part of God and God is within the Self. See What is God? (Hinduism)
Karma is viewed not as a cosmic ledger tracking you across lifetimes, but as the immediate psychological consequences of your actions (e.g., kindness breeds peace of mind; cruelty breeds anxiety).
Righteous living (Dharma) is pursued to create a just and harmonious society for current and future generations, rather than to secure a better next life.
Evil is caused by human free will. If we view karma as a "butterfly effect" or natural causality, evil is not a theological problem because there is no personal God to blame. The universe operates on the laws of physics, cause, and effect. Fire burns a saint just as easily as it burns a criminal. What we call "evil" is simply humans causing destructive actions, which ripple out into social suffering. Just as a hurricane or a falling rock isn't "evil", human suffering is the natural culmination of past interconnected actions, not a punishment from a deity.
Death and Disease is a natural part of the world, war is a human made evil, genetics is natural, medicine is a human made good.
God is pure light of consciousness. Whether a human uses their life to heal people or to harm people, the moral consequences belong entirely to the human ego. You do not look to heaven for God; you look into your own heart, your own consciousness, and there you find the same infinite Energy that holds the galaxies together. Your morality is not rooted in fear of punishment, but in the recognition that harming another is harming yourself, because we are all threads of the same divine fabric. Your spiritual practice is not about appeasing a distant deity, but about awakening to the truth that you have never been separate from God and that the ultimate justice, healing, and liberation are not gifts given by an external being, but the natural, inevitable unfolding of the universe itself, which is Love.
Bhakti-Advaita confronts the Problem of Evil with honesty and compassion. It does not claim that suffering is an illusion to be dismissed, nor does it blame the victim. The tradition teaches that evil and suffering arise from three sources: human free will, the mechanical laws of nature, and the chaos inherent in a world of change. God does not cause evil. A rapist is using his free will to commit an atrocity; God does not stop him because to do so would destroy the very possibility of human freedom and moral growth.
Suffering is not a punishment from God, nor is it a "test" designed by a manipulative deity. It is the tragic byproduct of a world where free beings can choose cruelty, where nature operates through impersonal laws, and where impermanence guarantees loss. The appropriate response to suffering is not theological explanation but active compassion—we are called to be God's hands in this world, fighting injustice and heal wounds.
The universe operates on natural, mechanical laws—including the law of free will. When Hitler chose to commit genocide, he set in motion a chain of cause and effect that God does not arbitrarily override. To do so would be to destroy the fabric of the cosmos.
If God stopped every genocide, He would also have to stop every car accident, every disease, every natural disaster—because why draw the line at human evil? Where does divine intervention begin and end? The moment God becomes a cosmic "fixer," He becomes arbitrary. Why save one child and not another? Why stop one rapist and not the next?
Non-intervention is not indifference; it is the structural price of a world where love, courage, and moral consequences are real. Because a world without the possibility of evil is a world without the possibility of genuine love, freedom, or spiritual evolution. If God created a world where no one could ever hurt anyone, He would have to remove human free will entirely. You would be a robot—safe, but incapable of love, compassion, or moral choice. Courage is only meaningful if danger is real. Forgiveness is only meaningful if betrayal happened. Love is only meaningful if it is chosen.
My favorite book: Why I Am a Hindu: Tharoor, Shashi: 9781947534551: Amazon.com: Books