I don't believe in Karma. I've done plenty bad and received not a bit of Karma, and there are loads of people who've done plenty good and received not a bit of Karma. Do I have to believe in it? How will this affect me?
(And yes, I'm Hindu. I think Karma is a coping mechanism, like a revenge fantasy, made up for coping.)
No: There is no obligation to believe in Karma in the general sense. I thought Karma in Hunduism is not taught as comeuppance in this life, but affects how and where a life is reincarnated in the next.
The philosophy behind Karma, as I have learned, is that the good and bad of the current life/incarnation is (largely) a result of the good and bad acts you have performed in the previous life just as your current acts define your next life. It is a cycle of continually balancing the scales between yourself and the people around you.
Karma that gets locked into repeating cycles is sometimes referred to as karmic chains. Say one lifetime you steal something from another person. In a later life you have something similarly stolen. But, because you had something stolen then in the following life, you steal something again. Such a cycle has a potential to continue endlessly, but there are two ways to break it. Both involve one of the people involved finally becoming a better person; Either they recognize the karma behind the urge to steal and choose to not perpetuate the cycle, or the person being stolen from recognizes the karmic debt being paid and forgives the event.
Another facet behind Karma is the idea of evolving as a being. One is not born human. You begin as simpler, lesser beings and as lifetimes come and go you slowly enrich yourself, eventually evolving enough consciousness and moral awareness to live as a human. As you continue to grow and reach a state of dharma (Being free of karmic debt and living in essence within enlightenment and without 'sin') you then have the ability to move on to a still higher state of being, where incarnating at all becomes basically optional and you begin developing into an ascended master.
One can also progress backwards, devolving into lesser forms as a result of being immoral, heinous, selfish, and degenerate. Basically, build up enough of a selfish habit and you become lesser spiritually just as you do morally.
Now, I need to enter a bit of a caveat here, because my primary experience and information is from a much more new-age/westernised interpretation so my knowledge of the more traditional origins/philosophies I am trying to explain are probably incomplete. And my own interpretations of these ideas are... rather modified as well.
In the end, what this boils down to, though, is the same adage told and re-told through nearly every religious, spiritual, and philosophical viewpoint. Even a bunch of psychological ones. Love thy neighbour, reap what you sow, do unto others, the law of three, what goes around comes around, even (in a roundabout way) causality. It is all about teaching a lesson to be aware of the choices you make, especially when their results have an effect on others. Those results will always eventually have a consequence on you personally in some form.
Look at it this way. People who lie, bully, cheat, don't help others, and surround themselves in generally selfish behavior become known by others to have these qualities as their reputation. Such people rarely have friends, even more rarely feel trust, and when in need of help they find it difficult to gain any. Few people are willing to assist someone they do not feel sympathy for.
Meanwhile if a person is known to be friendly, helpful, supportive, and giving then they are much more likely to enjoy trust, support, and help in the times they need it, because those people are viewed as trust-worthy and sympathetic.
Regardless of if the motivation is practical, societal, personal, or spiritual it is still of one's direct benefit to attempt to act in a positive (but balanced) way.
It isn't even about making the 'right' choice. No one truly knows what the right choice even is half the time, until the moment is reflected on from some far-flung future. It is about making a 'better' choice than you did the last time. Learning, growing, using your greater history of experiences and consequences to act in a more informed, more conscious, more self-aware way.
In the end you don't have to believe in any specific spiritual system, but it is wise to understand the general message being taught under the surface, as they still have value even when separated from a spiritual set-dressing.
As for how non-belief would affect you, well, it might drastically affect you. Or it might not affect you at all. Do you choose to try to live a moral life despite the idea of karma being bunk? Or do you use the idea of Karma being 'made up' as justification to act selfishly? That is up to you and your own nature to decide where your moral compass points you.
I feel people have a misconception of karma. Like they expect instant karma [someone cuts you off in traffic only to hit a cop. Ha! Karma, baby!] and while I enjoy a good instant karma moment, I find karma is a buzz word people don't understand or don't really believe in. Correct me if I'm wrong, but karma is actually what happens after we die [you were a jerk? You're going down a peg in your next life. That's karma for you] but I feel karma is more subtle of a force, eating away at you in smaller ways throughout your life, but we don't register it as karma. [you keep being mean to people and then wonder why the world is mean to you? Karma]
Personally, when I was younger, I used karma a lot. [I had it on a t-shirt for crying out loud] but as I grew older, I noticed the inconsistency and began questioning it myself. What I believe is kind of the threefold law, but I don't like calling it that. When you do good, you feel good in your mind, body and spirit, when you do bad, you feel bad in your mind, body and spirit. This can also affect the energy around you and attract what you're putting out. A single bad day or mean thing won't result in the hammer of fate crashing down on your head to teach you a lesson, and you won't be instantly rewarded for a good deed after a lifetime of awfulness. But if you keep trying to live a better life, you will notice more positive results around you. It will be slow and subtle, but over time, you'll end up in a better place [or worse, if you're being mean] It's kind of like in The Good Place, a few episodes into season one, Elinor can't decide what to order, and turns to the person behind her and goes "here, you go ahead of me while I think" a few seconds later, she realizes that's the first time she ever did that, and she's ecstatic that she's "becoming a better person." I feel that moment of feeling good would be considered karma in action. [even though if this habit continues, one would not get that kick off "I did a good deed" it would simply be a natural thing, but your energy would be in a higher vibration, so you would feel good more frequently, and not need the validation of simply considering another human being because you're not the centre of the universe]
Destiny has set a right time for everything to happen . A specific event will happen no sooner or later , but on its destined right time .
A person with a karmic bonus will reap its rewards only when the right time for manifestation arrives . It doesn't matter how big the karmic bonus is .
Same applies for the ones with karmic debt . They will face the repercussions for their actions on the right time . It doesn't matter how large the debt is .
Hence , as nekoshema said , instant karma doesn't show up everywhere .
Philosophy of karma isn't such a complex thing . It just revolves around the phrase " As you sow , so shall you reap ". Whether you reap your sowings in this lifetime or the next one ,it is your karma .
Also, you are not bound or obligated to believe in something if you don't want to . There will be no effects on you if you stopped believing in something . Don't be too harsh on your mind .
Blessed be!
