If there exists one common, underlying principle connecting Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, three of the major religious traditions of the East, that unifying principle would have to be the law of karma. Though each tradition understands the law of karma differently, the basic foundation for the law remains intact throughout all three of these religious traditions: the consequences of an action, good or bad, will affect the performer of the action at some point in the future. From its mysterious origins in Vedic Indian literature, to its permeating of all aspects of modern Eastern society, the law of karma is indeed an important key in better understanding the essence of the three aforementioned traditions in the context of one another. Perhaps the way to best examine the fundamental nature of this common principle, in order to understand fully its breadth of significance, is to scrutinize the philosophical and doctrinal bases that lie at the core of the law of karma.
             To begin with, one must first briefly consider the origins of the doctrine of karma. While the specific point of origin of the law may be of limited significance when considering the essence of the law's content and meaning, perhaps a contextual perspective, which would be gleaned from such an historical analysis, would prove useful in the future examination of points of doctrinal and metaphysical importance. Thus, in order to gain a contextual perspective on the creation of the law of karma, one need only look back to the Vedic literature of the sixth and seventh centuries before the Common Era. What is widely regarded as the earliest explicit mention of the karma doctrine can be found in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, in the context of a discussion taking place at a funeral between the sage Yajnavalkya and Artabhaga, his contemporary, about the afterlife: "Having gone aside, they engaged in a consultation. That whic
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