I was raised in a home in which my Indian step-father was a religious Hindu. He frequently remarked on how westerners misunderstood karma. Karma has become a highly over-used term in our culture and one that, unfortunately, reeks of "rights" and "wrongs" and a whole lotta guilt.

As I understand the term, "karma" is about fate, not punishment. Karma has to do with certain threads of events that occur throughout lifetimes (reincarnation). It is not as simple as "I steal something and then some higher power punishes me."