Karma is a concept taught by various cultures throughout human history, and is an idea that dates back thousands of years. Despite its proliferance, the idea of karma seems to be generally misunderstood and frequently tossed around without any real understanding of its true meaning.
What is Karma?
In the Bhagavad Gita (one text out of many from multiple cultures that speak of karma), there are constant dialogues about how to attain what’s referred to as “moksha”. Moksha is the release from the cycle of rebirth; a sort of transcendent state or freedom from the world we currently know – a world in which our senses deceive us. It’s a state of bliss that can only be attained when we have freed ourselves from the web of Karma. Once we reach that point our soul is ready to move on to another experience that goes beyond rebirth.
According to Hindu philosophy, the only “higher” activity one can engage in other than performing selfless, fruitful action is the quest and cultivation of spiritual knowledge, contemplation and truth.
Let’s take a look at what karma really means:
“The Principle of Karma requires that the experiences of the individual being, based on his actions during the lifetime, are imprinted in the subtle body, which will therefore have to possess some organized structure of fine matter as mental state within it, and will accordingly be impelled to move to specific locations for rebirth. The principle of Karma is fundamentally based on this very concept that the deeds of today shape the future events for man – the most intelligent of beings is gifted with the discriminating ability in addition to the instinctive habits that all other creatures possess.” – Paramahamsa Tewari (source)
The general idea is that every time we perform an action a cause is created that will have corresponding effects. Again, Karma literally translates to “action” or “deed” and included within that action are your thoughts and intentions. The karma principle makes it clear that the universe will respond to you in this life and/or the next. Actions have “consequences,” and thoughts do as well.
I personally like to leave out “good” and “bad” when it comes to the consequences of our actions. For example, a human being can have what we call a “good” experience or what is perceived as a “bad” experience. The truth of the matter is that they are experiences, regardless of how we perceive them and choose to label them. We can either choose to grow from these experiences and learn from others, untangling ourselves from the web of karma, or we can continue viewing them as “bad” (for example) and prevent ourselves from moving forward.
According to some Indian philosophies, like Jainism, Karmas are invisible particles of matter existing all around us. Our souls attract these karmas through various actions. For example, every time we get angry we attract karmas, just as when we are deceitful or greedy. Likewise, every time we kill or hurt someone we attract karmas. According to Janism these karmas form layers upon layers over our souls and keep us from realizing our true potential and our ability to hear our soul’s voice.
I find it very interesting that the philosophy and concept of karma is discussed in various ways by multiple cultures, religions and philosophers over a period spanning thousands of years.
Karma Yoga
Again, karma is all about action. In Hindu philosophy, it’s believed that purified minds will be the ones to partake in jinana yoga, what is also known as the yoga of knowledge. As mentioned earlier, this quest for truth and contemplation was believed to be a superior act of being as opposed to performing karma yoga (good deeds without care for their rewards or consequences, selfless acts), but both are paths to the same destination.
Performing karma yoga is all about performing acts that can benefit the planet(s), acts that stem from the heart’s intent strictly for the benefit of the world(s) or others. This is important to remember, because many can perform good deeds in order to benefit themselves, reap the rewards, get to a specific destination or to “look good” in the eyes of others. Performing acts from an incorrect place within your heart is not “doing your karma,” but rather, performing a selfish act in the disguise of good deeds – something that might actually cause you to accumulate more karma instead. Karma is all about the place you are coming from within, which brings me to my next point.
The Difference Between Karma and the Mainstream Idea of It
When I refer to the “mainstream idea of karma” I am more so referring to the idea and energy behind the statement “they’ll get what’s coming to them” as well as the idea that performing good deeds will provide you with good rewards.
Although “good” deeds might come full circle and have positive fruition, just as “bad” deeds do, karma has absolutely nothing to do with people “getting what’s coming to them” as a result of their “bad” actions. It’s about learning from your experiences, not about receiving the consequence of your negative action for the sake of receiving it. The focus needs to be on achieving personal growth as a result of your deeds; even if we are not consciously aware of it, there is growth occurring at the soul level. Karma is an opportunity to move forward. If you see somebody hurting another person and then you see that aggressor hurt or suffer afterwards, it’s not your place to point your finger and say “karma,” or “they got what was coming to them.” Karma is accumulated so we can eventually rid ourselves of it, learn what we need to learn from this human experience, and move on. It has nothing to do with the energy of judgement and blame.
Furthermore, if you do good deeds while under the belief that good deeds will be reciprocated, you are completely contradicting the idea of Karma. Why? Because performing karma is all about action that comes from a selfless place within your heart, for no reward, for the good of the world. If you have the idea in your head that you will somehow be rewarded, or you are engaging in acts of good will for others to see, or trying to move forward in your career or other aspects of your life, you might in fact be wrapping yourself up in even more karma. The most important thing to consider is the intent and the reasons behind your actions.
“Actions performed without desire for rewards with spiritual consciousness contribute to the fulfillment of liberation. When fulfillment is achieved one attains the ultimate consciousness and liberation is automatically included. By performing actions in this manner a living being becomes verily a being of non-action. Renunciation is relinquishing the desire for rewards attached to appropriate actions. Performing actions in spiritual consciousness without desire leads to liberation.” (source)
There is a quote I saw that was floating around the internet not long ago that stated:
“Karma, no need for revenge. Just sit back & wait, those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.”
The idea that one can take joy in another persons misery is not at all indicative of the theory of karma. Judgement has no place with regards to the theory of karma. It’s all about lessons and opportunities for spiritual growth.
Collective Karma
“The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it.” – The 14th Dalai Lama
Just as we accumulate karma as individuals, we do it on a collective level. Our actions as one giant human race will have consequences, and we’ve seen that time and time again. One of the biggest examples is how we are operating here on planet Earth, as well as our relationship with the environment and other life forms that share the planet with us.
I think it’s important to question what exactly we are doing here – what we are thinking and how we are acting, and to then examine what type of reality we are manifesting as a result of those thoughts and actions. After all, quantum physics is shedding light on just how important human consciousness is, and how factors associated with consciousness are affecting our physical material world. You can read more about that here.
I will leave you with this quote, as it is a completely separate topic yet still related to the idea of karma in some way.
“Broadly speaking, although there are some differences, I think Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Mechanics can shake hands on their view of the world. We can see in these great examples the fruits of human thinking. Regardless of the admiration we feel for these great thinkers, we should not lose sight of the fact that they were human beings just as we are.” – Dalai Lama (source)
**This is a very brief, condensed explanation of Karma according to Hindu Philosophy. Please keep in mind that the idea of Karma is present in various ancient cultures that have roamed the Earth through various stages of human history.
The scientific term for Karma is the Natural Laws of Physics, for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction.
Sure, the literal meaning of Karma is Action
Definitely 🙂
Karma = Cause and Effect = Morality = Creating in good to live in good, or creating in evil to live in evil. Cause and effect. All up to each one of us, now. No need for a belief in past lives. Natural Moral Law is discernible in reality, right now! Evolve Consciousness.
http://evolveconsciousness.org/universal-cosmic-natural-moral-law/
The Hindu teachings had to be changed or else people couldn’t figure how to fit them together with the way they changed the Christian teachings.
Karma is a Beautiful Rendition of the Explaining of Our(Heart) Times..Such That This is What That Means..and is the Example of our Lovely Benefactor.. Such is the Way of the Means of The Ends…and a Lovely Rope is Lassoed and Tied with the Matrix of Karma as Benefit..and the Young That Will Die are Spoiled and the Wise and Mature Live Forever..so the Justice of Karma does Us desire!
Tease us..
Jesus IS as Karma IS..This IS The law Of Absolution..IN Which the Soul Does justice to its many Weights(Emotions) and so does the Lobotomy of Time center Our Awareness on more Distinctions! True Self..IS Salvation!! For the Teasing of the Rope to Make justified the Distinctions of Time..and the Relating There of is the Iconoclash Genius…the True (Object)Icon of The Atonement..and All Idols Deserve to be Smashed!! Or Upheld in the Court(Karma) of Law..Books May Be Burnt on Behalf of the Karmic Guild..which is the Long Held Institution of the Names of the Karma.. For What We are IS Dharma..and the Names that Take the (Pie) Cake are All Made in Weddings..of the Virtue of Christ…and Caesar is as Caesar Does..Either a Royal King(Queen) or Simply a Bite to Eat!!
…uh…Lord Buckley? Is that YOU !? Hmmmm. Professor Irwin Corey , is that YOU? How uncanny. I could swear…
Awesome article! 🙂
Vedas mean hymns of knowledge in its totality and hence should enlighten us on karma too-let us see
“Vid- “to know. Main aims of Vedas are to ensure:
▹ A continuously improving total symbiotic relationships, of all its living and non-living entities in all the universes
▹ The wellness of all its entities, in tune with their do good attitudes using the Vedic knowledge and benevolently.adopting its ways
▹ Prevention and punishment to those that hinder this aim after extending sufficient warnings and with scope for correction.
Such a deep rooted Vedic convictions and aspirations have been clearly emphasized in several oft- quoted mantras especially in “Lokas samastaha sukhino bhavantu “and in “Sarve janaha sukhino bhavantu” meaning let all lokas (Worlds/universes) and all Janaha (all inhabitants of these lokas irrespective of their affiliations ) be happy/blissfull. One should wonder why two statements? It is only to make it clear that unless both continuously develop each other’s well-being,duty-bound through symbiotic supports, such happiness can’t be ensured. Most importantly the words LOKASAMASTHAHA and SERVE JANAHA merit attention. Read to-gether these two statements, in my view, make it clear that the reward or punishment is built in and one need nor worry about it. In principle,one’s good or bad actions inline or in violation of the spirit of Sanathana dharma goes to the federal bank of good or bad karmas and then gets redistributed to one and all in due proportion to one’s contribution.Hence the need for collective -evolution and the prevalence and practice of Saguna Brahman
•
i understand… in our worldly quest for future advancement, we have been taught to forget the past but it is the older ancient knowledge that will truly help us all to move forward.. free thoughts to all 🙂
My views have nott been fully reflected- can this be checked and rectified lest it looks as if i have not dpoken out on the topic under discussion-
Karma means ‘what we do matters’ rather than things happening due to randomness, or some deterministic scheme like Theism or Materialism. Karma is a view in contradistinction to views where our agency is made meaningless, like the idea of an all-controller God, or mechanistic determinism.
The text, the Yoga Vasistha says “Fate or divine dispensation has come to be believed only due to being repeated over and over. If this God is truly the ordainer of everything in this world, then what meaning is any action, and who should one teach one at all.”
Please read the Yoga Vasistha…
The results of karma are not meant to be punitive, but to be purifying..
They are meant to provide situations to correct oneself with respect to particular likes/dislikes/habits rather than to punish.
The analogy is that when a child does poorly in math, the parents given them math-related problems often.. Or when a soldier is found afraid/incompetent in a particular situation, he is put through similar situations to correct him.
If one’s aspiration is towards higher planes, then how is one able to remove self from the desire to be enlightened. Another religious paradox? If…
We, and everything-thought being is energy. The same energy. Various frequencies of the same energy. All thoughts and materials have and leave trace energy. How that energy is man-ipulated can and will guide it’s polarity. As a matter of fact, i’m having my energies guided this afternoon to treat chronic pain. When pharmaceuticals/mainstream medicine kill more people per year than the diseases they treat, alternatives must be considered. Reiki, or however it is spelled, is a very effective tool in the treatment of all sorts of maladies. Animals, pets and livestock both can have their energy manipulated in a manner that permits healing of the body by itself.
Fascinating stuff.
Now, where’s Tesla?
That’s what a meditation practice is for: as westerners, it’s easy to think that enlightenment is a goal and not a process. Life isn’t a waiting room: we need to experience and value both the relative and the absolute. Hope you feel better!
You might be interested in reading this book – http://www.amazon.com/Transformation-Karmic-Patterns-Purification-Individual/dp/9535736035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421949321&sr=8-1&keywords=tomislav+budak
Correct in the notion that other peoples’ bad karma should not be rejoiced. However, have you considered that people share lessons of Karma as a means of waking up those in their circle to the idea of the institution and encouraging them to live a life of fulfillment by doing good deed?
My teacher once told us that the best thing you can do for a person with “difficult” karma was to learn from their mistake, i.e. if your friend gets caught stealing, don’t steal; they receive “points” for teaching.
Karma is like seeds that become fruit. Skillful action grows in skillful soil. Though the seeds of unskillful action be planted, they can’t grow in your mind-soil.
Karma is not as it has been percieved up to now as a tit for tat return of similar experience but it is simply that if you shine a particular color of light due to your evolution you will see and experience that color all around you as you go, tainting the experiences accordiningly. If you are shining blue you will see the world in blue. If you are red the world will appear as red. This means that after you pass over you do not bring certain experiences with you that you will have rebound on you but it is that the quality of light you have achieved becomes character and wisdom for the oversoul you are a part of. If you have injured someone, say in a past life you do not have to have this same thing happen in a next life as a form of ballance. The Spirit learns what it wishes to learn and creates whatever it desires whenever it desires. It is not so mechanicaly oriented as to be forced to experience the same negative thing that was experienced in a past life only. Spirit rules matter and not the other way around and Logic and reasonablness are not taken into account in the Spirit realms. It is the achievment of character through the lessons that are the main factor. Those souls who are asleep to the spirit may be imprinted to believe certain things about Karma in a lifetime and then forced to carry over unecessary baggage into another lifetime but this is unatural and a part of the enslavement of humanity by parasitic races at this level.
It is the same with inherited diseases within a family or a nation where a thoughtform is fastened onto a newborn by the family group or nation so that a pure entity becomes diseased due to this thoughform overlighting that is fastened onto an entity, that is not a deserved thing per-se. Karma as it is taught to the masses is corrupted by the controlers who enslaved humanity long ago and will not let us go.
Very interesting, thank you
I see Karma as something else entirely, based on my own personal experiences and “proof” that was revealed to me… I will explain.
As a child, I was molested and abused quite severely. I always wondered why. I always thought to myself, if this is what beauty is, I do not want to be beautiful… I felt I had no one to turn to regarding these situation, and I felt I could not speak about them) I had reoccurring dreams, for many years.. running from something chasing me… opening my mouth to scream, but not being able to do so… like my voice was not allowed to go forth…. I remember this dream vividly.
When I was 21, and pregnant with my first son…. I had an extremely vivid dream… the type of dream which was NOT a dream. The type of “dream” where you KNOW it is a dream, and fight to awaken, but are not allowed to awaken, then arguing with the dream and denying what you see to be truth.
I understood dreams to be something that you are able to control, but this one was not.
I was a young man, in the hills of Scotland, tending sheep for a very powerful and rich man… I was considered part of his family, as he treated me kindly. He was rich, but he lived in what I would now describe and a shack. Only a few rooms, for he and his family. He had a daughter… whom I was madly (or so I thought) in love with.
(I argued with that fact, as I am female and was preparing myself to marry my son’s father)
I then saw myself making love to this girl, (I really tried to awaken then because I am not a lesbian, and I was sickened but what “I” was doing to a woman) It was the plan, between she and I, that we would marry.
the Scene cuts to me coming back after several years, to look for her… (I had left, not sure why) She had been cast out, and labeled. She had been disowned by her family…. she died in child birth, I found her grave, and wept…
It was only after this that I was allowed to awaken.
I went immediately to the bathroom and locked myself in, crying profusely, after realizing what I had done.. I was then instructed on what I needed to do next.
Looking into the bathroom mirror, and deeply into my own weeping eyes…. I apologized for what I may have done, I apologized for what I did to myself AND what I did to that young girl.. and I realized ::::
It was my own subconscious guilt for what I had done which created an opportunity for me to understand and learn a lesson..
within the next week…. I was flipping through channels on the television and came across a movie… Which seemed to be straight from that “dream” I felt as though the woman had come back, and used her memories, to write this story… I also felt this was confirmation to me that I was correct in my understanding of the “dream”
2 days after the movie, I was riding my bike, and felt someone behind me… i turned my head and noticed a man riding along side of me and a bit behind, he had his hand stretch out as though he was trying to grab me… and for the first time in my life I felt empowered.. He was a very large man, as I am only 5’2″ and at that time was very small…. I put on my brakes for a split second, which allowed him to move ahead of me, and then I rammed my bike into him, I threw it down and proceeded to jump and kick him in the back…. he road away calling me a crazy woman… and left me alone…
Another instance of a similar situation… I will copy from my own personal notes on Facebook, and paste them here…
When I was 8 years old, I had recurring dreams of me laying in a huge oak bed, I remember the bedspread and the old shack I lived in. I could draw photos of the house from top to bottom. I remember a fire, all the way around the bed, the floor would cave, and I would awaken.
Also when I was 8 years old, I woke in the middle of the night to use the restroom…I didn’t think to turn on the light, because we had a security light in the back yard, shining through the window.
I grabbed my step stool so I could reach the sink to wash my hands… As I did this, I was looking in the mirror…
what I saw, to me, was normal, until I saw the eyes… it was a young girl.. with dark hair floating around her head… her face was bluish, and her lips were purple… when I looked at her eyes… they were closed. I screamed when I saw the eyes closed because I knew it could not be “me” as my eyes were open… as soon as I screamed, the mirror rippled like water…
in 1996, I moved to Oklahoma… working at Mcdonald’s I saw a woman with 2 children… there was something about her, and “spirit” was really being very loud, that I needed to make a connection with this woman… so I did… I wouldn’t allow her to shake me.. she was very introverted and did NOT want to be bothered… but she was also stunned when her 2 yr old daughter, ran up to me and gave me a huge hug… because her daughter NEVER hugged anyone. we became friends and I began teaching her what I knew of spirituality, and “gifts”
anyhow… after a few months of friendship… I learned that her parents had told her of 3 sisters who died before she was born… mom told her the story that there was a house fire and the “girls” were burned beyond recognition. The youngest was a redhead, the middle child was a blond, and the oldest child was a brunette.
the oldest was about 6 years old, and she was responsible for taking care of her sisters while mom was working…
I met a mutual friend of her’s and we all began hanging around… there was a closeness we all shared…
the first friend was a redhead, the second friend was a blond, and I … a brunette.
we hung out at the blonde’s home most often, an apartment complex by the name of “East Gate”
Because we were all known as Psychics… we were named the Witches of Eastgate ( spoof from “The Witches of Eastwick”
I met the redhead’s brother, and kind flipped out, because he looked IDENTICLE to my biological brother… so much so, that I never could get over it…
about 4 years later, the redhead’s mother passed away… all three of us females began to suspect something was not right about what she had been told about her sisters’ deaths… so we decided to start delving into this research VERY intensely…
She went through old photographs and found the “shack” I had described, the bedspread, the bed, the bathroom where I told her it was… the photos PROVED what I had explained in accordance to my dreams…
The redhead, went into trance… since she was the only child who had come back to the same mother.. she explained her vision like this…
she walked up the steps to the front door, and walked into the house.. it was as if she was invisible, because as she was watching the children playing, her mother walked in… she was extremely tired, stressed and beyond depressed….
The mother took the baby from the oldest child, and proceeded to run a bath… she held the baby under water until it stopped breathing… The redhead wrestled the child from her mother’s grasp, and the mother didn’t even act as if she realized it…. and the redhead dried the baby and put a diaper on her… the mother grabbed the next oldest child and proceeded to do the same thing… The oldest child, sitting on the bed watching in shock…
after all three of the girls were drowned and laying in the bed… the mother looked at the redhead and told her…
“Now you know the truth, do NOT come back here again”
and she awoke… right after that the redhead googled the county in which the parents lived… somewhere in Iowa….
She spoke to a detective.. who just happened to be there that night in 1968.
he told her, that he remembered the fire… and the children were not touched by the fire… the fire was all the way around the bed, but it did not touch the children… he said that they did not have testing equipment back then, so it was assumed that the children died of smoke inhalation.
The woman, who was a redhead, was a friend… but, I had allowed her to walk all over me… She treated my like dirt, very badly, and I NEVER allowed anyone to treat me the way she did… and I always beat myself up, trying to figure out why I felt such a strong sense of being a protector… why I can HEAR her screaming for me… 100’s of miles away, when she needs me…. and… I was always there for her… But when I needed a friend, she pretended she wasn’t home, while I was knocking on her door… she would peek out of her bedroom window, and not open the door….
she was my only friend for so long… and I was at her beck and call.
until I finally realized WHY… I felt so protective…
I watched her die, and I, being the oldest, was supposed to protect her… I was the “mom” and I allowed her to be murdered without trying to help her… I felt guilty. and I was making myself suffer.. to try to make up for it..
I was the oldest, the blond was the middle child, and the redhead was the baby…. the same coloring that we are in this life.
I finally forgave myself, and put distance between she and I…
Many people may say I am nuts… but when you live a life of being “awake” from the time you can remember… then it is a “”Normal”” part of my life…
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Because of these two situations as well as countless others I will not mention, I have come to the assumption and hypothesis that Karma is brought about by one’s own subconscious guilt about what happened in the past, The highest self keeping tabs and understanding that this is an area that you must confront and forgive before you can move beyond it and heal both parties of that past experience.
Thank you for taking the time to read this “novel” of self ….
Namaste
Al Ae Nu Ra.
Alla
Many thanks for sharing! Namaste! And thanks for your courage and devotion. Alla ba shoma. Best, Timur from Berlin
I have nothing to add, I submit. 🙂
You summed up the essence of karma yoga beautifully ~ intent and the reasons behind your actions should be good and selfless. I think in the current chaotic and violent scenario the collective karma will lead to more chaos? Thanks for the beautiful post, Arjun
Wow dude! Awesome article Arjun, thanks so very much again bro…
The law of karma is same as the law of attraction. You attract the same kind of energy which you emit. The positive or negative event that happened with you, was attracted by you in the past. Specifically saying karma is just like boomerang.
Indeed
To see the big Picture you all should visit this site http://www.martinus.dk/en/frontpage/ to learn about Martinus Cosmology
Two aspects of karma are left out. One, Karma can function only in the realm of Maya, that inscrutable force which cannot be separated from the ultimate truth. Just as sparkle or heat cannot be separated from fire. Karma or Maya can function only till one realizes the truth. In absolute truth there is no Maya nor any Karma. How the Karma or Maya came about in the first place, there is no verbal answer to this. It cannot be answered. Just as the timeless, space less, causation less truth, Brahman, can never be described in words. Because words and thoughts can function only in the shackles of time, space and causation. And it is as difficult as asking when infinity came in to existence. Infinity cannot have any beginning or end and hence can never come in to existence. It is like saying time started within a few microseconds of Big Bang, and before that a small indescribable fire ball existed. How can be there a ‘before’ or existence prior to the existence of time?
Secondly Karma can be overcome by concerted effort. In normal course there is no escape from Karma. But due to the result of one’s self inquiry and with the grace of an enlightened Guru, Karma can be transcended and the absolute truth realized. Once this happens there is no need for any questions, answers or doubts. There is no second to be questioned about, there is no second to be answered about. When there is only absolute ONE, where is the question of asking about the second. Once woken up to the waking state does any body inquire whether the tiger in his dream was hungry or why it chased him? It never chased him.
Dear friend, you have tried to explain here both “Law of Karma” and “Karma-Yoga” as a single word “Karma”. You are perfectly right when you say “Judgment has no place with regards to the theory of karma. It’s all about lessons and opportunities for spiritual growth.” With respect to good deeds performed with a desire to get good results, you say “…..that MIGHT actually cause you to accumulate more karma”; in fact it “WILL definitely cause to accumulate more Karma”. In these aspects, ie about Law of Karma, you are in a better place than what you call “Mainstream Version”.
However, I differ with you to some extent about “Karma-Yoga”. You say, “Quest for truth and contemplation, .… and karma yoga (good deeds without care for their rewards or consequences, selfless acts), both are paths to the same destination.” No doubt Krishna has used the same words in Gita; but his purport there needs to be understood properly. That makes Gita a very difficult scripture to understand, more difficult than Upanishads. Upanishads describe the path in straight language in three stages – Purification of mind, concentration of mind, and dawning of knowledge. Mind is purified to some extent by selfless deeds causing a thirst for seeking Truth & inner happiness; then practice of concentration or meditation is necessary to dive deep into one’s own Self, and that leads to experience of the Self, the knowledge that was the goal.
Krishna has a more difficult task in his hand. He has to reply to Arjun’s questions truthfully, but has to engage him in war also. He cannot say that eternally doing karma will not lead to knowledge and you have to practice meditation. He says karma leads to the same goal, because it in fact does so, but gradually, not directly. In between karma and knowledge is meditation which he is hiding skillfully so that Arjun develops interest in the karma which he is entitled for. He cannot meditate or gain knowledge without first completing his karma that is war. After the war was over, Arjun once asked Krishna to repeat the sermon of Gita. There, Krishna tactfully avoided repeating Gita and advised him on Sannyas, because now Arjun was developing fitness for Sannyas, not much of karma was needed for him. In Gita itself, Krishna himself in many places says “Jnan/Sannyas is superior”, but immediately follows it by “Karma is special”; because, in his own words, “one should not divert the minds of the ignorant attached to karma from their respective karmas”. In 4.41 he says karma should be renounced by practice of (meditation-)yoga, and in 12.10,11 he clearly says if you are not able to practice abhyasa-yoga (ie meditation), then do external karma-yoga. In 6.3,4 he mentions two stages of meditation as Karma & Shama or Sannyas, and in 6.8 the final stage or goal. All other scriptures corroborate this teaching.
Another point that is hidden in Gita is that practice of concentration is also a karma, a mental karma (as you also have mentioned), and it needs to be done without attachment to fruits. Otherwise the seeker will get distracted and lose sight of his goal as happens with most seekers. When a seeker with desires gets some experience, he wants to tell people about it so that people respect him, intensity of his meditation suffers and he falls from the height he had attained in the path. This karma-yoga or abhyasa-yoga of meditation is mentioned in chs.6 & 18.
By external karmayoga (selfless service) action does not become non-action. It also bears good fruits and purifies mind to some extent. When a jnani is under the spell of his Self-experience, all his thoughts cease. In that state whatever he does by his body spontaneously without any decision to do it (kaama sankalpa varjitam and sarvarambhaparityagi), those actions are non-actions. This state comes after enlightenment which is gained through meditation only, not by yoga of outer actions; and enlightenment is liberation or nirvana.
For more on Karmas, my blog-post “Karma, Karma-Yoga & Liberation” in the blog “Take Part in Revival of True Religion” in blogspot.com can be seen.
I believe Karma is caused: i.e. one harms themself in minor as a child because they are neglected as a child to cope with the pain they hurt themselves then they receive the KARMA for hurting themselves by their parents fighting, people being rabidly angry with them, their life going shit and until you come clean your life continues to be shit. Then you get neglected, hurt yourself again and then the cycle restarts. Well this is my own personal experience. Or there is no such
Karma does NOT come fairly, in equal to what one has done. It perpetuates until one comes clean and good deeds do not stop karma. Karma will continue to happen long after something has been done and one will continue to feel guilt most likely.
Thank you you all for your perspectives on “karma”. I am 64 an still learning 🙂
Wisdom Eradicate Karma. Namaste ! <3
RESULT
This moment
is the result of
choices made
in all
previous
moments
“Karma, no need for revenge. Just sit back & wait, those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.” : Somehow I am not able to agree to this statement, as this is also one type of revenge and definitely not a godly attitude. Rather we should help the fellow (who have harmed you ) to soften his karma.
“Moksha is the release from the cycle of rebirth;” – This statement cannot be correct. It violates many verses of Gita. Take a look at the Soul Theory book at the blog site https://theoryofsouls.wordpress.com/ Reincarnation is a law of nature and no one can escape that, not even Krishna, who is considered as god by many.
” … deeds of today shape the future events for man..” This actually defines the destiny law or the action reaction law. This also means deeds of today are shaped by the deeds of the past. That means I do not have any freewill now. I cannot change my karma. My life is completely planned moment by moment, and can be precisely predicted by any high level yogi.
“The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live.” – Dalai Lama is correct, but we are not capable of changing this global plan or global destiny. All objects in the universe are simultaneously and continuously interactive with each other for all time, past, present, and future. If anyone moves everything else moves. Thus nobody is free and my actions depend on the actions of the entire universe. My individual destiny is derived from this global destiny. This shows destiny is also a law of nature, and nobody can have any control over it.
Since destiny is a law of nature the following cannot be correct – “Because performing karma is all about action that comes from a selfless place within your heart, for no reward, for the good of the world.” There is nothing like selfish or selfless karma. Similarly there cannot be good or bad karma. All karmas are planned and are part of the global destiny. Humans are only machines. Even souls do not have any freedom once it takes a body.