Karm Bandhan (कर्मबंधन)
Karma-Bandhana refers to the bondage created by karmic actions and their consequences. Through countless births, the jīva remains entangled in the cycle of action, reaction, and worldly suffering.
Karm Bandhan (कर्मबंधन) is the bondage created as reaction of one’s actions.
Understanding
Whenever the jeev takes birth in the human form, it performs actions (karma). Some actions are pāpa (sinful), while others are puṇya (virtuous). Both produce consequences that must eventually be experienced by the jīva.
At the same time, the vast store of accumulated karmas from countless past lives — known as sañchit karma — still remains unresolved. With each new birth, the jīva continues performing further actions, thereby adding new karmas to the existing accumulation.
In this way, the jīva becomes increasingly bound within the cycle of action and reaction. This state of entanglement is called karma-bandhana — the bondage of karma.
This is an ever-expanding entanglement as karmajāla (कर्मजाल) — the net of karmic actions.
The human form alone provides the opportunity to rise beyond this bondage through Divine Grace and bhakti.
Poetic Usage
Jagadguruttam Swami Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj frequently describes the helpless condition of the jīva wandering through countless births while bound by karmic reactions, desires, attachments, and ignorance.
The imagery of bondage, chains, nets, and repeated worldly wandering is often used to illustrate karma-bandhana.
