karma
Action from free will; certain consequences of action; duty.
In Vedanta
Action and its results. Every deliberate action produces a result (phala) governed by the law of dharma. Accumulated karma — puṇya (merit) and pāpa (demerit) — drives the cycle of saṃsāra. Vedānta teaches that no amount of karma can produce mokṣa, because action produces only finite results. Knowledge alone reveals that ātmā is ever-free and was never a doer (akartā).