produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral, or emotional - that is, one's karma affects both one's happiness and unhappiness. The effect of karma need not be immediate; the effect of karma can be later in one's current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives.

The consequence or effects of one's karma can be described in two forms: phala and samskara. A phala is the visible