“As you sow the seed so shall you reap the fruit.” is the nature of Karma. It is well illustrated in the below Buddha story.
On one occasion King Pasenadi of Kosala approached the Buddha and said: “Lord, here in Sāvatthi a millionaire householder has died. He has left no son behind him, and now I come here, after having conveyed his property to the palace. Lord, a hundred lakhs in gold, to say nothing of the silver. But this millionaire householder used to eat broken scraps of food and sour gruel. And how did he clothe himself? For the dress, he wore a robe of coarse hemp, and as to his coach, he drove in a broken-down cart rigged up with a leaf-awning.”
Thereupon the Buddha said: “Even so, O King, even so. In a former life, O King, this millionaire householder gave alms of food to a Pacceka Buddha called Tagarasikhi. Later, he repented of having given the food, saying within himself: ‘It would be better if my servants and workmen ate the food I gave for alms.’ And besides this, he deprived his brother’s only son of his life for the sake of his property. And because this millionaire householder gave alms of food to the Pacceka Buddha Tagarasikhi, in requital for this deed, he was reborn seven times in heavenly blissful states. And by the residual result of that same action, he became seven times a millionaire in this very Sāvatthi. “And because this millionaire householder repented of having given alms, saying to himself: It would be better if my servants and workmen ate the food.
Therefore as a requital for this deed, he had no appreciation of good food, no appreciation of fine dresses, no appreciation of an elegant vehicle, no appreciation of the enjoyments of the five senses.
“And because of this millionaire householder slew the only son of his brother for the sake of his property, as requital for this deed, he had to suffer many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, many hundreds of thousands of years of pain in states of misery. And by the residual of that same action, he is without a son for the seventh time, and in consequence of this, had to leave his property to the royal treasury.”
So, in this story, this millionaire obtained his vast fortune as a result of the good act done in a past birth, but since he repented of his good deed, he could not fully enjoy the benefit of the riches which Kamma provided him.
