You know, I've been thinking about your question and have come to change my view, in a way. I still think that we can't intellectually resolve this puzzle. I mean: we can't intellectually analyze the impact of our intention, versus factual action. That we can only fathom in meditation, basically.
With that said, I came to remember this little story, that I think answer your question in a much better way.
It's said that Buddha, in the incarnation before being born as prince Siddharta, was aboard a ship whose captain went crazy and aimed to kill everyone aboard, stealing it towards the cliffs. Innocent women and children among them. The Buddha to be stopped him by killing the captain. He survived, and so did the people aboard. But the day of his passing away finally arrived, and he had to go. And yes, he was sent to hell for the bad action of having killed the captain, BUT he stayed there only for a brief moment and was immediately sent back to earth and incarnated as Siddharta Gautama. I have no idea if this is more than a tale or if there is something to it, but I think it might answer your question. In that case: yes, the intention is important. Personally I believe the it's probably more important than the action itself.
After telling this story, the story teller is supposed to ask his audience why they believe why the future Buddha was - almost - forgiven. "Because he saved all those innocent lives", most people say, supposingly. But no, that was not the reason. It was because he saved the captain, or rather his soul, by killing him.
Staffan
@staffan But then if harming people or killing them is not "Such a big deal" to the Gods, why does it burden us with heavy karma?
Once I heard a lama talking about it.
He took the example of lying:
When a person is planning a lie to cheat someone, then he does it, and then he gets happy from his success. He called that something like a "completed karma".
One should not forget that whatever happens is Nature’s way of bringing about change, which is the way of Nature. Nothing stays the same in this world of duality. If one has been happy for a while, it is time to experience grief. If one has been grieving for a while, the time comes for happiness. To achieve this, Nature uses the nature of everything in this world to bring about this change.
As has been mentioned somewhere, emotions are energy in motion, and that is what Nature uses as its tool. The more one neutralises one’s emotions, the less one is used by Nature. Unfortunately, as has been told in the stories, even sages and Gods who have been able to conquer their emotions fall prey to the play of Nature. It’s just that the stakes get much higher.
In the example of the bridge collapsing because of bribery, the greed of someone, which is their inherent nature at that point in time, is used by Nature to bring about the deaths or injuries to people who were meant to die or be injured in that way on that day in that time frame. No one who was not supposed to be on the bridge on that day at that time, will never be there.
To take it further, there might have been wife-beaters or child-abusers who died on that bridge, and their wives and the children would breathe a sigh of relief. The death or injury of someone could bring in insurance money that would help in a child’s education or pay off mortgages. These people would thank God, and that might go in the positive account of the greedy person.
On the other hand, there would have been people who depended on someone who died or got injured. Moving from a dependent mindset to taking on responsibility is a hard task, and it would hit these people most. Instead of being dependent on someone, they might end up looking after an injured family member who is now dependent on them. They would grieve and rail against God, and that might go in the negative account of the greedy person.
But then, since Nature is all about change, the greedy person too will eventually understand the consequences of greediness and repent at some point and give up his greediness. On the other hand, ones who have not been greedy will learn to demand their share in the stake of the world. There have been instances when ‘bad’ people have behaved better than ‘good’ people, even when living in the worst of situations, and ‘good’ people have behaved worse than ‘bad’ people, even when living in the best of situations. History and newspapers are full of these examples.
Eventually, Nature does what it wants to do, which is bring in change. Just as the level of greediness in a person depends on how much they are healed or unhealed, in the same way, how people react to the change brought about by the greedy person, depends on how much they themselves are healed or unhealed. A healed person would see past the greedy person who caused the bridge to collapse and understand that it is all a game played in the entire Universe.
The pandemic during 2020 is a great example, where there was a lot of finger pointing going on. People who had never stepped inside a lab suddenly became experts in biochemistry and biogenetics, and expounded their opinions as facts. A lot of unhealed people fell prey to the unnecessary chaos created by these ‘knowledgeable’ people, who only wanted their 2 seconds of fame due to their unhealed psyche. And, using this chaos and everyone and everyone’s emotions, Nature did what it needed to do.
This whole game is not really about karma, but about our own nature and to be in touch with it as our nature itself changes, because that is what is needed by Nature to use as its tool. Even intention changes as our nature changes. If we behave according to our nature as dictated by Nature itself, where does karma come into the picture? All it is, is change - from good to bad, from bad to good, from poor to rich, from rich to poor, from killer to saviour, from saviour to killer. And the change only happens in the healing of the psyche, and the change in perspective. It is about starting to look from someone else’s point of view.
Well, I just don't know.
I just listened to the 20th video in the Adityas course, about Vishvamitra. In that Ernst resonates about these things. Like the difference between steeling a cow out of greed and doing it because of the need of the people that you are responsable for.
Staffan