Karma is the universally accepted word for ‘good and bad deeds’ derived from Sanskrit word called ‘Karm’. There is a saying, “As you sow, so shall you reap”(jaisa bauoge waisa kaatoge), which means your present deeds will decide your future outcomes.
In Hinduism, Karma refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect, Our actions and intentions (cause) will influence our future (effect), this principle is accepted all over the world, while there is another principle of Karma in Hinduism viz. good deeds destine us to happier rebirths whereas, bad deeds contribute to abysmal rebirths.
There is a concept of ‘Instant Karma’ where we get the results of our doings within a small period of time, extrapolating with an example – “Everyone is endeavouring to make way for an ambulance except one car on the road and the driver is on phone, later the same car slams another car that belongs to the police”. Well, we need to reckon that Instant Karmas don’t always come out as bad outcomes, one can get the instant favourable fruit of his/her good deed.
We need to consider the difference between ‘Karmic effect’ and ‘Retaliation’. If something bad happens to you because of someone, you should not curse them or should not wait for Karma to hit them, it will make your intents bad, and if you will become the downright nemesis for them it will make it worse and you would be the same person whom you never wanted to be.