Is the law of Karma fair?

John is a well-known business magnate. He is the chairman of the board of several

companies and he has Judges, Senators and high-ranking law-enforcement officials for
friends. Unknown to all of them, he has a dark side. He is a serial killer who has discreetly
tortured and murdered dozens of children. One of the victim’s father, Anderson, unable to
come to grips with the loss of his son decided to investigate his son’s strange death on his
own when the law gave up. He spent months following clues and finally he started
suspecting John. But he had no real evidence and knowing very well that going to the police
is completely useless, he decided to confront John in his mansion. Shockingly, the security
guards let him in but patted him down and removed him of his handgun, two knifes, a
mobile phone and a recorder.

As he sat in the guest lounge, his hands fidgeting even as his mind simulated various
scenarios that could play out, he could not but help admire the exquisite chandeliers. John
walked in alone with a smile on his lips. “Mr. Anderson! How nice of you to visit? How is
Pamela? How is your daughter Mary?” asked John. Anderson was mortified. “If you could
see the expression on your face, Mr. Anderson” said John mockingly. “Like father, like son!”
laughed John. “I will make this simple for you. I tortured and killed your son. I have lost
count which one your son was. You’re the only person on the planet who knows and I
admire your tenacity and perseverance for figuring it out. You have been snooping for
months and you thought I would not find out? There isn’t a damned thing you or anybody
else can do to me. Move to a different town or better a different country. Or you, your
lovely grief-stricken wife and your innocent little baby girl will end up as patties for the
burgers in my restaurant!”. Anderson was sweating profusely now. He was paralyzed with
fear. He could not breathe. Every second seemed like an eternity. Finally, he had a panic
attack and passed out.

Anderson awoke in the hospital with his wife and daughter by his bed side. The first words
that came out of his mouth was “We are moving to Canada!”. Several years passed. The
wounds healed slowly. Anderson was happy and content but every now and then the
knowledge that his son’s killer roamed free probably still murdering children sickened him.
Anderson was now a bank manager. His 2 o’clock meeting today was to meet Jake who was
a school teacher who also runs an orphanage. Jake wanted a huge loan to start another
orphanage. Anderson had never met Jake before and he was excited. He had heard so much
about him. As Jake walked into his office, Anderson’s spine shivered and his face turned
pale. It was John! All the bad memories returned to him in an instant. All Anderson could
remember from the meeting was that Jake did not seem to have the faintest clue who
Anderson was! Anderson could not sleep that night. Anderson started investigating Jake in
the pretext of background verification. He visited Jake’s school and orphanage. Jake and
John looked identical but they were not the same person. In fact, Jake was the direct
opposite. A guy who had dedicated his life to helping children. Anderson had never met a
more admirable human being in his life. After a few weeks of investigation, he had strong
reasons to believe that Jake and John were identical twins separated at birth! Sleep still
eluded Anderson for months. He kept replaying the conversation with John again and again.
He had do something. Jake was after all the brother of that vile creature who took his son
from him. He hatched a plan. He abducted Jake and locked him up in a secret abandoned
cabin. He tortured him for three days and then killed him. He knew what he did was
meaningless but the catharsis was very real.

I am confident that not a single reader of this story would condone Anderson’s action
towards Jake. Even the hardline readers who would have absolutely no problem if Anderson
had killed John in the most brutal way possible will still staunchly oppose the torture and
murder of Jake. Why? Jake and John after all have the exact same DNA. But that does not
make Jake deserving of torture and death. After all a human being is not his/her DNA alone.
To punish Jake for John’s crime is perverse and meaningless.

The theory of Karma says that though Jake is not responsible for John’s actions, Jake a
hundred births before had done something horrific and thus deserves the torture now.
Why? Because the soul or spirit of Jake and this horrible person who lived two thousand
years before are the same. Whatever this soul is, it should be more representative of a
person that his/her DNA. The deep question is “What makes one deserving of
punishment?”. If one says that Jake did not deserve the punishment for John’s crimes and
yet explains Jake’s suffering using Karma, one owes an explanation as to why the Jake of this
birth is deserving of the punishment of a crime committed two thousand years ago by some
random person. After all:

1. Jake has absolutely no memory of his previous births.

2. Jake has led an admirable and blemish-less life.
3. Jake would not even dream of committing the crime that his previous birth
doppelganger supposedly committed two thousand years prior.
4. From modern neuroscience, it is highly likely that every aspect of the human we call
“Jake” is nothing but chemical reactions in the brain and body of the Jake of this
birth. The human we call “Jake” seems to have nothing to do with the person who
committed the vile crimes two thousand years before apart from the soul.
5. For the theory of Karma to be fair, it is imperative that the theory explains how
exactly possessing the same soul entails punishment to the vessel that carries the
soul. In other words, unless the theory explains with rigorous scientific proof that the
crux of what constitutes a human is the soul and not the body, brain, DNA, etc., the
theory is more atrocious than punishing Jake for John’s crimes. It is as good as
punishing some random person for a random crime. Simply saying the souls are same
so punishment is deserved without explaining what the soul has to do with “being
human” is nonsense. As an analogy, if there are robots that are intelligent and
conscious, it would be asinine to punish a robot merely because its battery was
recycled from a “bad” robot that had died! The soul has to be so much more than a
battery. It has to be the central thing that makes Jake, well Jake! But what makes
“Jake” seems to be entirely his body and brain. This “seems to be” is becoming “is”
at a rapid rate as neuroscience advances.
6. The explanation and scientific proof required as a result of the argument in 5 is
completely missing in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In fact, a satisfactory
explanation seems highly unlikely in the light of recent advancements in
neuroscience.
7. Ergo the theory of Karma is unfair.