Submitted by Somnambulo on
Image by TheFinalMiracle from http://123rf.com
Karma is not a police or a judge, it does not work like ‘law and order” in human society. It is the universal law of consequences of each action or thought - whatever we do eventually comes back to us, but it might not be in this life. There is also an issue of pre-birth agreements - sometimes souls agree to provide us with a painful lesson for our own learning, in this case - they do not create any negative karma, as this was your soul’s request, they did you a favor by hurting you. (I know, it sounds weird, but souls have a very different view on human life than human personalities, for them, it is more like a 3D video-game). It is also possible that they are providing karmic retribution for abuse you imparted on them or other souls in your past lives, so this is a “payback” to you. If you want to explore this situation - have a past life regression and check out your own past lives, and ask your Guides why the unpleasant events in your life happened? It is all pretty convoluted and complicated and different in every case. - Irina Nola, Past Life Regression Therapist
Karma follows you until you die:
Sometimes people feel the need to blame misfortune on some great being or the universe. Often we find it an excuse to do nothing—can’t help it, it’s my karma, we say. That may be partly true, but the process must not be misunderstood—it is the carelessness of the past that creates conditions for the present. Therefore, we have to understand that it’s our own karma, created out of our own actions. We can see how we need to be mindful of all our thoughts and actions to make sure that these misfortunes will not happen in the future.
For the sake of this short life, we unfortunately tend to do all sorts of things that create bad karma. To get a nicer home, more money or more pleasure, we may act selfishly, pushing others out of the way in our rush to be the best. We are all looking for happiness but by putting our own need ahead of others we accumulate a lot of bad karma. If we understand the rule of karma then we may stop and think before we act selfishly. Should we put our own short life first or should we think of others and the lives to come? We may only be here for the blink of an eye but the way we live our lives will stay with the universe forever.
Karma is a difficult idea, when we think about how often bad things happen to very good people. You see someone who for all purposes is pious and good and kind but faces a tough life and you start disbelieving in the process of karmic afflictions. But as with everything in life, our karma is not just our own, separate from everyone else. Our karma is collective and inter-connected with all others. In Buddhist philosophy this collective karma even goes back many generations, as we have all been here before and will visit again in the future.
From a more mundane perspective, modern science says we are influenced by past generations by inheriting their genetics and traits and we will influence future generations by giving them our genes and traits. So you see, we all have the karma of the world in our own hands. That is why we mustn’t hide away or think of ourselves as separate from others. We are all human beings. We all come from different backgrounds but we are connected by our karma. Since we have this great karma to meet, we should be supporting each other and encouraging each other. This spiritual path that we are walking is full of bumps and potholes, we have to carefully hold hands with warmth, sincerity and understanding. Nothing is impossible when we walk together.
The karmic cycle can be easily explained as a delayed cause and effect mechanism, not necessarily immediately but over births and re-births. In scientific terms, we know that every action has a reaction, usually equal and opposite. In karmic terms, it is similar—except that the manifestations of your actions can be advantageous or negative depending on intent and action. If intent and action are in line of positivity, the karmic results will be only positive. If intent is good, and action is hurtful, or the action is good but the intent was hurtful, the karmic effect will be equally misaligned. If both are negative, the effects will be harmful—in this life or the next.
When we are able to stop, pause and think more about our actions, words and thoughts, we begin to see the cause and effect more clearly. We then begin to understand that by changing the cause, if it is in our ability, we can change the effect. You might notice, for example, that if you can put aside jealousy then you are less likely to speak harsh words to that person or feel pain yourself. And, equally, that by showing great joy in another person’s wellbeing or happiness you will feel a warm glow yourself. This is why we talk so much of love, compassion and kindness. Once you begin to be truly mindful of acting in this way, your love, compassion and kindness will give your words and actions great colour and very good karma.
The author is the spiritual head of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa Order based in the Himalayas.
"Karma siddhanta" means "law of karma."
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.Watch your words, for they become actions.Watch your actions, for they become habits.
The word, karma, derives from the verbal root, kri denoting action. But actions, good or bad, do not begin and end in the present. As per the physical Law of Conservation, energy is never destroyed, but changes form. So does karmic energy which assumes the shape of samskara-s or impressions that germinate and fructify in present life or the next.
In ancient Indian literature, karma is used in the sense of sacrificial ceremonies to please higher powers, or viewed as acts of charity and penance to purify the inner self. Gradually, karma evolved into a full-fledged doctrine of cause and effect, called karma siddhanta, having eschatological and soteriological implications. The Gheranda Samhita (I: 7) says: ‘As the Persian wheel, in drawing water from a well, goes up and down, moved by the bullocks, so the soul passes through life and death moved by karma.’
The world is called karma kshetra or karma bhumi, the field of action, that none can escape. God is called karmaphaladata, the giver of results of actions performed at physical, mental, social or spiritual levels. Karma is of four types: the accumulated actions of past lives which do not influence a person’s present life are called sanchita; the actions of past life which determine his destiny, are called prarabha, and the actions which are performed in the present, are called kriyamana. Kriyamana or voluntary karma-s that are not immediately rewarded, but become the basis of agami or future actions.
Karma has also been classified as white, black, mixed or colourless, meaning respectively, the good, bad, both good and bad, and the trivial. In a ritualistic sense, karma has six more categories to it : nitya, those acts which are performed daily, like prayer and agnihotra yajna, the offering of oblations to fire; naimittika, those which are undertaken occasionally, like fasts, penances or pilgrimages; kamya, those which are performed with a specific purpose in mind; adhyatmic, those which are carried out with a spiritual motive, adhidaivic, those which relate to a tutelary deity such as a mantra, and adhibhautic, those which are related to material beings.
Actions which draw one to mundane activities are called pravritti karma; those which turn one’s mind inwards, are nivritti karma, and those which hurt or harm others, are pratishiddha karma. Karma-s are propelled by desire. Desires stem from thoughts. Thoughts set the pattern of actions. Says the Brihadaranayaka Upanishad (IV.4: 5-6) : ‘As a man acts, so does he become. A man of good deeds becomes good; a man of evil deeds becomes evil. A man becomes pure through pure deeds, impure through impure deeds. Man verily is desire-formed; as is his desire, so is his thought; as his thought is, so he does action; as he does action so he attains.’
The Buddha holds that one remains bound to the wheel of birth and death till one refines one’s actions by following the Fourfold Noble Truth and the Eightfold path. The mind which ties one to karma can simultaneously help one to attain illumination in nirvana. In the Jaina metaphysics, karma is of atomic nature and applies to all the four classes of beings - devas, humans, lower animals, and vegetation.
The factor of inequality among human beings is often attributed to the law of karma. But Swami Vivekananda argued that man is not ‘a powerless, helpless wreck in an ever-raging, ever-rushing, uncompromising current of cause and effect.’ He is a divine being, who can change the course of his destiny by realising his true identity. Those treading the path of Bhakti profess that by surrender and devotion to God and by meditation on His name, one neutralises the effect of bad karma.
When karma is transmuted to karma yoga, as advised by Shri Krishna in the Bhagavadgita, one is able to spiritualise one’s activities by first dedicating the fruit of one’s actions (karmaphala-arpana), to the Lord, then the action itself ( karma tarpana), and finally, renouncing even moksha, the quest for liberation. - Srikanth Kota
- 670 reads