Within Dvaita Vedānta, karma is understood as a real and binding moral law that shapes the destiny of each distinct soul. Actions, whether virtuous or harmful, generate karmic results that determine the conditions of birth, the range of experiences, and the particular forms of pleasure and suffering a soul undergoes within saṁsāra. This law of karma accounts for the observable differences among souls—their capacities, fortunes, and spiritual inclinations—while preserving the doctrine that each jīva is eternally distinct from Brahman. Karma thus functions as the mechanism by which the moral order of the universe is maintained, giving structure and intelligibility to the diversity of individual lives.

Yet karma never operates as an independent or blind force. It is always subordinate to and administered by the supreme Lord, Viṣṇu/Nārāyaṇa, who dispenses the fruits of actions with perfect justice. In this way, karma serves as an instrument of divine justice: each soul experiences consequences appropriate to its deeds, while God remains the sovereign controller, untouched by karma. The binding power of karma keeps the soul entangled in the cycle of birth and death, preventing it from fully realizing its proper relationship of dependence and devotion to Brahman, even though that relationship is never one of identity.

Dvaita Vedānta also emphasizes that while karma governs bondage, it cannot by itself bestow liberation. Scripturally enjoined and ethical actions, especially when performed as karma-yoga with devotion, help to purify the mind and orient the soul toward God. Such purified karma prepares the ground for bhakti, making the soul receptive to divine grace. However, liberation (mokṣa) arises only through that grace; it is an act of God’s will rather than the automatic result of accumulated merit. When liberation is granted, the binding force of karma ceases for that soul, which remains eternally distinct from Brahman yet freed from further rebirth and karmic entanglement.