A mysterious question is whether a person is responsible for what he does or will everything depend upon fate or God? Religious scriptures offer one both the answers. They say person is responsible for what he does and has created a set of do’s and don’ts for them. Scriptures also states that a person who sins, goes to hell, and the person who does good deeds goes to heaven. Scriptures also say that we should surrender before God as whatever takes place in this world are the will of God and not a blade of grass moves without his will. Therefore, a person is not a doer nor responsible for his acts.

Scientifically, we find that a person is responsible for each and every action that he takes in life. We find that what we do is the will of nature or result of endless factors present within and outside of us. For an authentic comprehension, we first have to define who ‘I’ is in the body? Analyzing, we find that ‘I’ is the one experiencing all inputs from various sensory organs like eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, etc. and is the one that commands the body to perform various functions through hands, feet, mouth, etc., in addition to making all the decisions.

To know who is responsible for karma, we have to analyze ‘I’ more deeply. On analysis, we find that on one hand, we are the ‘I’ in this body and are responsible for each and every decision or action that we take. On the other hand, ‘I’ or our body consists of trillions of microbes without which it cannot survive, in addition to trillions of cells and endless factors both within and outside the body.

Every thought that enters our mind or decision that we take is a joint effort of all these endless number of organisms and factors both within and outside our body. So, we can conclude that on the one hand, we are fully responsible for each and every action that we take and on the other hand, we have nothing to do with anything, and everything depends upon our Fate or on God. So, if any person says that he is responsible for everything or he is not responsible for anything, then both ways, he is half correct and half wrong.

In other words, Karma and Fate are like two sides of the same coin and one cannot survive without an equal amount of other side. Whatever we do in life equally depends upon karma as well as our fate. The question is, once we decide that both Karma and Fate are equally responsible for all our actions, then how should we conduct ourselves, as no human being or life form can remain without work for even a moment in this world.

The answer is, we should conduct ourselves in a manner that is considered normal or acceptable by society at that given point of time without any expectation in return, and leave the results to Fate or God. By way of explanation, we should behave in a manner in which we expect our fellow human beings to behave with us and leave everything else upon Fate or God.

Karma means action. It is also the reaction that follows on an action. The process of compensation for any given feeling, thought or deed is completely automatic. Karma in its sense of law keeps the cosmos in balance and harmony. Life in cosmos is severely restricted on some planets more than others. Here, there are both physical and personal limitations on what you can do. Karma, however, is your unrestricted power of choice, and it makes sure that for every choice you make there will be just consequence. The law of karma is often expressed with this quote: "As you sow you shall reap". Good seeds produce good fruits, while evil seeds produce evil fruits. That said, karma does not concern itself with good or evil. It simply returns what has been given. To make it slightly more complicated, karma is only produced when pain is nourished and joy quelled. If instead joy is nourished and pain quelled no karma will be produced.

All karma must be experienced or resolved. Karma can be resolved through understanding. Karmic seeds understood as to their consequence as they are sown as well as to their result as fully developed fruits will be resolved. Unresolved karmic seeds will develop into karmic fruits providing experience equal to that sown. Karmic fruits understood as to their cause will bring evolution away from action.

When trying to move up the ladder of cosmic existence, you will be confronted with experiences trying to keep you down. Conversely, when falling down you will face experiences trying to move you back up. Only, if you insist on changing your position it will indeed be changed. After the change a new status quo will be established. Karma in the sense of reaction is different from fate in the way that fate involves your total experience, while karma is produced from action alone and not from creation or meditation.

Karma and Fate like other dualities such as life-death, good-evil, happiness-sorrow, night-day, cannot exist without an equal amount of the other. Rise above such dualities, and perform duties without desire or hatred, and attain ultimate peace and contentment in life.