In my personal view, karma is not just a spiritual or philosophical idea it is a feature, deeply embedded in the source code of this universe. If birth and death are just system events, then karma is a recursive function embedded in the logic of our soul’s lifecycle.
This blog is a personal reflection from a developer’s lens where I imagine the universe as a software program, life as a series of levels, and karma as a rule-based, state-driven mechanism, much like in software design or game development.
The Universe is a Software System
Let’s assume the universe is a cosmic application a massive, multi-dimensional program written in a language far more advanced than our most complex languages like Python or Rust.
In this software:
- Birth = system initialization
- Death = system termination or exit
- Rebirth = restart or re-deploy with retained data from previous states
- Soul = the main class instance (persistent storage)
- Body = temporary UI wrapper (frontend)
- Karma = behavioral logic embedded in the soul’s memory (backend logic)
What is Karma in Software Terms?
In programming terms, karma can be imagined as a state management system.
Let’s define a pseudo-code logic of karma:
class Soul {
constructor(previousKarma = []) {
this.karmaHistory = previousKarma;
this.currentLevel = 1;
}
performAction(action) {
const result = this.evaluateKarma(action);
this.karmaHistory.push({ level: this.currentLevel, action, result });
}
evaluateKarma(action) {
// Basic cause-effect rule
if (action.type === 'help') return 'positive';
if (action.type === 'harm') return 'negative';
return 'neutral';
}
shouldRebirth() {
return this.karmaHistory.some(karma => karma.result === 'negative');
}
}
Here, karma is not mystical. It’s cause and effect. Every action (input) generates a reaction (output), and the system stores the trace. If your karma stack has unresolved actions, the system re-initializes you (rebirth) with retained data to let you complete or balance those actions.
Karma and CRUD Operations
Every application has CRUD: Create, Read, Update, Delete. Life operates the same way:
| Life Function | CRUD Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Birth | Create |
| Life Lessons | Read |
| Growth & Mistakes | Update |
| Death | Delete (Temporary, if karma ≠ 0) |
Karma is like an audit log. Even if an object (you) is deleted, the log remains and is carried to the next instance (rebirth).
Karma and Rebirth: Version Control of the Soul
Think of rebirth as versioning:
soul-v1.0had some bugs (unresolved karma)- So
soul-v2.0is deployed with hotfixes pending from previous builds - The goal is to reach
soul-vFinal (moksha)— a stable build with no karmic backlog
if (soul.hasPendingKarma()) {
soul.version++;
deployNewBody(soul);
}
This loop continues until all actions are resolved when code coverage of karma reaches 100%.
Karma as a Dependency Graph
Mathematically, karma can also be visualized as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) where each node is an event and each edge is a cause-effect relation.
- Some nodes are “blocked” due to unfulfilled karma dependencies
- You must return (rebirth) to fulfill those edges
- You cannot exit the graph (i.e., achieve moksha/enlightenment) until all outbound edges are resolved
It’s the same as:
def resolveKarmaGraph(graph):
for node in graph:
if not node.isResolved():
return False
return True
Karma and Game Levels
Now, let’s take a game development analogy.
- Each birth is Level 1, 2, 3…
- Characters in your life (friends, enemies, lovers) are NPCs with shared karmic quests
- You must complete those quests in this lifetime or carry them to the next
If you fail to “give” something to a character in Level 1, the Level 2 will spawn the same character in a new form (new relationship, new setting) to let you complete that action.
if (level1.actionWith('CharacterX') === 'incomplete') {
assign(CharacterX, level2);
}
No escape. Karma ensures that all contracts are executed even if it takes lifetimes.
Karma as a Mathematical Function
Let’s try modeling karma with math:
Let:
- K = Karma
- A = Action
- R = Result
- L = Life Instance
Then:
K(A) = R
Sum(K) over all L = Karma Balance
And:
mathematicaCopyEditIf ∑ K ≠ 0 ⇒ Rebirth required
If ∑ K = 0 ⇒ Moksha (exit the loop)
This is exactly like balancing an equation. The universe (software) doesn’t let you terminate the process until the entire karmic equation is balanced.
The Ethics Engine: Not About “Good” or “Bad”
Karma doesn’t care if you were “good” or “bad.” It only cares about balance.
- If you harm someone, you will eventually face an event of being harmed
- If you uplift someone, you’ll receive help in ways you can’t expect
This isn’t a reward/punishment system. It’s Newton’s Third Law implemented in consciousness:
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Karma is the function that ensures total conservation of intent and impact.
Why This Matters
Understanding karma in this way gives life a new perspective. It’s not random. It’s not chaos. It’s well-structured, logically planned, and you are both the player and the coder (with partial memory loss between versions).
You may not remember your past life’s commits, but your soul does. And the system is always running background jobs to clean up that karma table.
Final Thoughts: Life as a Dev Loop
You’re born.
You meet people, go through trials, and make choices.
Every moment, you are writing code with your decisions.
Some code runs perfectly.
Some throws exceptions.
The karma engine logs everything. No error is forgotten. But every error can be fixed.
This game doesn’t end until your code is clean, optimized, and your final deployment achieves moksha the end of rebirth cycles.
So next time life feels complex, unfair, or weirdly repetitive…
Think like a developer:
- What karma logic is being triggered?
- What loop am I stuck in?
- What contract do I need to fulfill?
Because the universe is not punishing you. It’s just running your code.