Karma means ' act ' , ' action ' or ' activity ' and refers, not only to action undertaken by the body, but also to those undertaken by the mind . Karma is actually action and reaction for Hindus believe that all actions produce results and it is this theory that is behind the concept of samsara. As we know from life itself, not all actions produce immediate results, particularly those actions of the mind, so it may be a very long time before the results of certain actions, whether physical or mental, come to fruition. This means that results of actions may come about in later existences. It is the jivatman, the personality with its many positive and negative likes and dislikes and positive and negative actions, which causes karma. Every time we do something or think something, we create a cause and having created a cause we must have an effect, a result.
 
     So each individual goes through life creating the kinds of results which will be stored up to form his or her jivatman in the next existence. Each person chooses how to act or think, so each person's karma is his or her own and equally so the results of those choices belong to that person. So if choices are good, then results in the next life will be good, but if choices are bad then the just rewards of such will be reaped also in subsequent lives. If actions are very bad then a person may actually devolve and degenerate into a lower life form as an animaI. Westerners sometimes see the operation of karma as fatalistic, but it is far from this, since, while an individual can do nothing about the karma he or she must reap, all of an individual's future lives are affected by present actions, thoughts and words: we shape our own future. And while it is also suggested by some that the status quo in India is maintained with regard to poverty, there are many Hindus who would counter-claim that responsibility and care for the poor is one of the means by which good karma can be promoted.