KARMA

 

Karma is the merits of our action and it is an active principle. It is the essence of the law of cause and effect and it is the natural law of existence of the phenomenal cosmos.

Karma is a neutral rebound that perpetuates physical, mental and supramental system inherent to the phenomenal existence. It is immutable to living beings within the dimensions of time, space and causation.

Kama is not an instrument of inscrutable god, but the spiritual property of the phenomenal existence to which the whole of phenomenal existence is subjected.

Throughout our life, we wander endlessly, propelled by Karma. It is our Karma –the merits of past actions, that determines our present thought, intention and action, and they have corresponding influence on our present state of being, and the entire chain of our present and future life.

Karma is comparable to the golden rule but it denies any arbitrariness, fate or destiny due to absolute reason independently assigned by the cosmos. Determined by Karma, what we beget is the result of our own Karma. The retribution we receive for our Karma is reciprocal, exactly proportionate to our Karma and there is no supreme being rewarding or punishing us.

Buddha says; “Every existence is a product of cause and condition. Based on this principle, every phenomenal existence has dependence origination and doesn’t have independent existence.”

Karma encompass both physical and subtle actions including self-awareness, thoughts, desires and intentions and their corresponding effects which have inextricable relationship, and they are inseparable.

Karma binds us to Samsara –the cycle of birth and death, characterized by suffering –unsatisfactoriness, through recurring cause and effect of involuntary and voluntary actions. 

The Samsara in itself is not bad but the way we perceive Samsara must be correct. We should endeavour for not to disappear from Samsara, for one cannot disappear, but we should strive that we are no longer enslaved by Samsara.

In Samsara we suffer being subservient to negative states of our mind with wrong motivation. We suffer with our mistaken perception, seeking happiness where it is not there. With right motivation we will be able to overcome the ignorance of seeking happiness where it is not there.

The intent of our thought and action are our own creation and they determine our destiny. It means we are master of our own state of being and it is our own Karma that determines our progressive state of being.

Buddha says; “Although your action in past life influences your present life but not necessarily binds you. You possess infinite potential to create a situation where the bad Karma of past life cannot come to fruition. With good Karma, you can live a good life to the extent of largely diminishing the bad Karma of your past life."

In our present life we experience both heaven and hell here on earth. With our Karma we earn merit and that merit causes our presence in heaven. But when evil causes are there, we dwell in hell. It is the uncontaminated thought and action void of personal preferences, subjective views, delusion and attachment enables us to be in heaven. While passing through countless births we may accumulate enough merit prerequisite to permanently liberate ourselves from Samsara.

Living the mundane life here on earth, we are in heaven when we are happy and contended. We realize heaven here on this earth and experience happiness when we live with dignity, goodwill, love and compassion. But we live in hell also here on this earth when we live a self gratifying life with negative emotions and when we are under social repression.

Suffering does not arise by itself but by its causes, and the causes are triggered by Karma -the causal action. The desire to have, the desire not to have, and the desire to get rid of are universal causes of suffering.

Body, speech, and mind are the three Karma generating fields. Our mind generates thought that directs our action and our mind manifests in both negative and positive forms. In negative form, mind drives us with mundane desire, anger, hatred, pride, jealousy, doubt, fear, worry and all other perverted and deluded views. The same mind in positive form realizes divine nature in our being embodying love and compassion. 

Mind -the consciousness, the knowing principle with which we live with is all powerful and it creates entire experiences. All the causes and conditions for unwholesome actions are rooted in deluded views and misleading thoughts generated by our mind. 

The deluded view steers the nascent thought being generated by mind in the wrong direction, which gives rise to misdirected feeling. If we dwell on negative thought and feeling, we will have negative experience and feel unhappy. But thinking and acting in a wholesome way results in happiness. If we cultivate wholesome thought and feeling, it results in wholesome experience in our life and we feel happy. 

The sense of selfish desire resulting from craving, clinging and grasping gives rise to attachment. Attachment per se is not bad if the motif is to be in equanimity and harmony with others for living a life with selfless love and compassion. But if the motif of attachment is self-gratification, then that attachment becomes the source of suffering.

Attachment and aversion are the two driving forces behind how what we think and how we act. The lead cause for attachment and aversion for self gratification is ignorance that gives rise to misleading thought. The source of ignorance is the sense of I, me and mine that gives rise to craving, grasping, clinging and aversion, all leading to suffering. A good life is lived when we renounce attachment to selfish motif and exercise total detachment from all forms of self gratifying attachments.

Suffering arises from dissatisfaction. One can be free from dissatisfaction with contentment. While exercising contentment we must accept and respect the result of our Karma whatever it may be with humility, as it comes, and continue to selflessly engage in right Karma with devotion, dedication and determination.

One arrives at pure thought through repeated reflection on whether the thought that has emerged is free from ill-will and it is harmless, both to oneself and to others. If a thought is afflicting oneself, or others or both, one should abandon it. One should act on thought only if it has happy consequences on both, to oneself and others. 

Buddha once advised his son Rahula; “...You should reflect on your thought saying: I will purify my bodily acts through repeated reflection. I will purify my verbal acts through repeated reflection. I will purify my mental acts through repeated reflection. This is how you should train your mind for having right thought which is the volitional aspect of wisdom and it is the energy that regulates your actions.”

Living a virtuous life means radiating love and compassion, not harming or causing injustice to others, not compromising with any of the precepts, and being aware of Karma -the consequences of one’s action on others and reciprocal impact on oneself. 

The most explicit teaching on Karma was first given by Krishna to Arjuna in Treta Yug (around 870,000 years ago) when Krishna told to Arjuna to execute rightful duty with innate devotion of his inner being to the supreme divine and deliver without thinking of reward whatsoever having fully destroyed the Ego –the outer consciousness, which is responsible for suffering.

In his teaching Krishna tells Arjuna; “Separate action from its result and renounce the result, and with it you become free from fear, doubt and delusion, the cause of suffering. Expecting the fruit of your action is the cause of suffering therefore you should renounce it.

You should do your rightful duty with full devotion, and you should not attach yourself to the result of our Karma, whatever it may be, bad or good. The time you attach yourself to the results of your Karma, doubt, fear and dissatisfaction arises, and deludes your mind.

Do your rightful duty and do not aspect anything in return. By doing rightful duty with full faith and devotion without expecting any return, you attain liberation (Moktsa) from suffering. It is the path of devotion and non-attachment for emancipation from Samsara.

Look upon both success and failure with the same sense of feeling and renounce all forms of self gratifying attachments. Firmly fix your thought on supreme divine, relinquish selfish desire and fruit of action, and do not see oneself as doer of the action.

Take refuge in supreme divine, the pure consciousness, and perform your duty with self-control and do not do anything for the sake of benefit it brings. One who performs action as if obligated without being attached to the fruit of action is in renounced order of life. Such person is self-aware and enlightened.”

Krishna presented a choice of four Yogas to Arjuna: Yoga of Devotion, Yoga of Knowledge, Yoga of Mind that cultivates awareness and mindfulness, and Yoga of Action -the Karma Yoga. Among these four Yogas, the supreme paths of emancipation, Krishna says the simplest one is the Karma Yoga –the Yoga of Action, which tells us to selflessly engage in rightful duty, whatsoever that may be, without expecting any result out of it. In doing Karma Yoga, taught for the first time, one only has to renounce the Ego-led motivation in undertaking the action.

In simple term Buddha tells us; “Execute wholesome action being responsible for the result of your thought, word and deed as every action you perform by your body, speech and mind; there will be reciprocal and proportionate impact on you.

With your Karma in this present life, you have the scope to purify Karma of your past lives and shape your life in future. It is the rightful and wholesome Karma which leads you to true happiness.

Do not be party to evil Karma. Cherish no ill-will. Follow the law of virtue and develop equanimity and non-judgemental awareness. 

Do not be possessed by craving, nor by lust. There is no fire like lust, no ill-fortune like hatred. There is no misery like being subservient to instant gratification, and there is no happiness higher than the happiness of peace. 

Not in the rain of riches the satisfaction of desire is found. Unsatisfying grievous are the desires. Win enemies by love. Leave anger and forsake pride. He who is just, speaks the truth, and simply does his rightful duty rises to a highest state.

No suffering befalls on him who is not attached to name and form (subject and object). It is hard to control mind, unstable it is, and it is ever in quest of delight. Good it is to him who subdues his mind. Only a subdued mind brings happiness.

Cleanse your thought and your perception. By oneself the evil is done; by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified.

Choose the right way. Depart not from it. Watch your speech, train your mind, and never commit any wrong with your body, speech and mind.”

Buddha taught us how to generate noble thoughts and emotions. Our own well-being is important, but it should never be to the detriment of others. We should not run away from suffering for it brings us awareness on hidden obstacles of our life without which we can’t perhaps fully develop as human beings. We should welcome suffering as it comes and face it being the bedrock of righteousness, reverence, humility, tolerance, patience, perseverance, self-restraints, contentment, benevolence, and purity of body, mind and speech. We should cultivate the fervent wish to transform ourselves and others with positive ambitions, the pursuit of others’ well-being.

No one can survive without toil. Joy comes from hard work. We should not let fatigue and weakness overtake us. We should not let Samsara to bind us, but we should not withdraw from it either. All should strive for divine nature rightfully doing own duty.

At death, the consciousness with which we lived our life goes back to universal consciousness carrying Karma that we have earned. It is immutable, irrefutable and eternal truth. At death what remains is our Karma.

Vedas and Upanishads say, “At death, our soul, the consciousness with which we lived our life leaves our body with an imprint of the balance sheet of our Karma on its way back to the universal consciousness. Therefore, we must not ignore death up to the last moment when we cannot ignore any longer.

The cosmic root of Karma is the universal self –the Shiva, the universal consciousness, the absolute, supreme and primeval. Everything emerges from Shiva and to Shiva everything dissolves. We come from Shiva and we go back to Shiva. Every being is in a journey of coming and going which forms the cosmic cycle.

Our soul, the self, the consciousness with which we lived our life, travels back and forth to the Samsara carrying Karma created by it in association with body, intellect and Ego. It is in this human birth, we have the opportunity to purify our surface consciousness out of which ego is born and embody divine principles with which we attain divinity. This is why human life is precious.

Our inner consciousness is the knowing principle while mind is intellect. They are two different things. Do not let mind to be deluded by the outer surface consciousness –the ego, and do not let arise negative thoughts and feelings.”

Living a noble life means the life lived well and lived in divinity.  If we live a noble life, we die a noble death as noble life and noble death go together. Hence the philosophy of dying a noble death is based on the vision of a noble life and the premise of dying a noble death lies in living a noble life, which means the art of dying and the art of living are one and same.

Transcending the teachings on Karma one should not have a fatalistic view of Karma that negative action of past life has the potency to making our present life impotent. The noble action of present life diminishes the residual negative Karma of past lives and shape present as well as the future life. The cause of suffering may still exist in the balance sheet of past Karma, but if the action of the present life is positive, it will progressively diminish and do not let the Karma of the past life to express. Hence it is not only the existence of cause but also the condition must be favourable for the past Karma to express.

The spiritual theologies say the inner consciousness is a continuum of consciousness and it is within that continuum of consciousness the individual consciousness is recycled. The cycle of birth and death is not bad per se but suffering associated with it is painful.

Karma -the thought, volition and action, either binds or liberates our soul from the cycle of birth and death. The self-centred Karma, the Karma done for personal benefit binds our soul to Samsara -cycle of birth and death. But Karma done entirely for welfare of others liberates us. 

The journey of our soul in the cycle of birth and death continues until all self-centred Karma so far accumulated is annulled and no Karma is created. When all accumulated Karma is exhausted and further creation of it is ceased, one realizes the true self, the oneness among all beings. It is by realizing the true self, the Shiva, the individual soul is liberated from the cycle of birth and death. 

Karma creates an impression around us and in ever aware inner consciousness, which may be positive or negative, and it affects our wellbeing in this present life. When we die, the inner consciousness of ours carries the impression, which determines our state of being in the next life.

In Mahabharata, Krishna tells Arjuna; "By virtue of the nature of your existence, you cannot refrain from Karma nor can it be renounced. Inaction is sinful just as doing sinful action. Being capricious also produces negative Karma.

With your action, you remain in Samsara and suffer and with your action you are liberated from Samsara. With even mindedness in pleasure and pain you should renounce all sense of proprietorship to your action. Even if a man does it at the moment of death, he enters into the divine world.”

The message of Krishna on Karma is that we should selflessly execute our rightful duty, with right attitude, fortitude, patience and perseverance having fixed our thought firmly on the divine consciousness. We must not expect anything out of our action. Be it a success and failure, our response to the results of our action must be null and void, and we should continue to strive with even mindedness in all situations.

Buddha in his teaching on Karma tells us to invoke; “My motivation and action will have their effect on me and my social and natural environment in which I live. I cannot overlook these effects; therefore, I have the responsibility to see that my conduct creates conducive effect on me as well as on my social and natural environment.

I am responsible for what I am; and whatever I wish to be, I have the power to realize it.

What I am now is the result of my past Karma, but I have the power to change, right here and now, in this life. Whatever I wish to be in future I can realize it by my present action.”

We are born with our Karma. We perpetuate our life with our own Karma and at death we go with a balance sheet of our lifetime Karma to continue life with it in next life. 

How long we wander in Samsara and suffer life after life or attain eternal bliss having attained liberation depends on our Karma.

Nothing forces a man to born in a particular way except his own accumulated stock of Karma. Our Karma, whether mental or physical, or both, determines either we perpetuate in the inexorable cycle of birth and death or attain eventual emancipation.

In Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna; “If one does not perform one’s rightful duty detaching from the result of his action; lives in vain producing negative Karma. One must not give up one’s occupational duty and suddenly become a monk either. One should be in one’s own position and try to realize divinity within.

With right motivation, one’s action should be guided by his intellect and the feeling of universal oneness having fixed one’s thought on the supreme divine and not by self-interest.

He who controls the senses by mind and mind by intellect, and engages in action with right attitude, non-attachment and devotion, attains the highest state of being.

With your intelligence you should study your mind and understand your material mode of existence and the worldly desire you have. With spiritual intelligence, you should know your real identity and conquer your enemy; the worldly desire.”

Karma is not simply action but the intent behind the action that counts. The intent of Karma must be right and it has both, the continuative and retributive principle. 

Buddha says; “The law of Karma naturally applies to phenomenal existence. The origination of every phenomenon and its dissolution depends on cause and condition obeying the law of Karma. Hence the law of Karma is infallible. No being or force can influence or control the operation of Karma. The Karma itself yields the result of every action, as the natural operation of the universal law of cause and effect. 

What you are is determined by what you thought, said and did in the past, and what you are thinking, saying, and doing now will form your future. The actions of the past, present and future events are connected by the universal and infallible law of Karma.

The past Karma conditions the present birth; and present Karma, in combination with past Karma, conditions the future. The present is the offspring of the past, and becomes in turn the parent of the future. There is continuity between past and present, and that the present accords with the past. If you want to know your past life; look at your present condition. If you want to know your future life; look at your present action.”

Bound by the law of Karma; the life-stream flows ad-infinitum. The birth precedes death, and death precedes birth. The ultimate beginning of this life stream is beyond scope of time and space and difficult to determine. Inconceivable is the beginning of this Samsara. In this ad-infinitum of the life stream of birth and death, suffering emanates from ignorance.

Due to ignorance and ignorantly engaging in doing evil Karma we endure suffering and unsatisfactoriness in every successive life. The ignorance with which we live, results in evil Karma, which in turn results in suffering. When a person comes out of ignorance, the worldly desire dies, the illusion ends, and the divine light of enlightenment shines on him. 

From ignorance there arise defilements: attachment, aversion, anger, lust, greed and jealousy. As long as the defilements are present, they singularly or collectively bring down our ability to discern good and bad, and we continue to generate negative Karma which gets accumulated and expresses in the next life. When all defilements are emptied from one’s being, the divine light is kindled and divine one becomes.

To be liberated from suffering, one should move upward aspiring for divinity and accord with it, and move downward to help every sentient being with compassionate heart to liberate them from suffering. 

One who devotes in getting others liberated from suffering, without any condition whatsoever or any return gets oneself liberated.

The suffering and happiness one experiences are the natural outcome of one’s own good and bad actions, and not because of any external entity who rules his subjects with reward and punishment.

One can diminish the negative Karma of past lives with positive wholesome Karma now in this life and change the course otherwise determined by past Karma, and put oneself on the path of liberation.

This life, in human form, is precious because in this life one can diminish the negative Karma so far accumulated and free ourselves from suffering.

The teaching on Karma therefore gives us hope, self-reliance and moral courage, resilience, and the spiritual fortitudes, in the event of misfortunes and disasters. It energizes our efforts and enthusiasm, and makes us ever kind, tolerant and considerate. It convinces us to do good, be good, and be free from all forms of defilements and attachments, and prompts us to refrain from evil. 

It is not true that a divine way of life can be lived only by a monk. A lay person living a moral and ethical life can also attain liberation. What is inevitable is the pure intent, wholesome action and being free from attachment.

Attachment to the fruit of our action, whether wholesome or unwholesome, results in suffering. From it there arises doubt, fear and all other forms of defilements.

Our action may be right and wholesome but if it is done with the intent of getting something, the result will still be suffering. But when we are free from attachment to the results of our action, all our volitions are directed towards wholesome action only.

When we confront misfortunes or disasters, our faith on Karma gives us the strength to accept as it is and relentlessly continue to make effort for betterment. Indeed our faith on Karma gives us confidence on ourselves for our own emancipation.  

Buddha inspires us to make the following commitment aspiring for noble state of being: “My future is better than my present. My future is in my present. I determine my future; it is in my hand.”

The right understanding of the law of Karma gives strength to our willpower and makes us aware of our moral responsibility. It tells us to rely on our own will power, and work incessantly for the well-being and happiness of self and others. 

By virtue of our nature of existence, our material mode of nature is always dominant in us. Our materialistic want and desire drag us away from living a just life in harmony within, with others and nature. Unless we transcend our material mode of nature and transform our consciousness into wisdom, it is difficult to be free from the influence of the modes of material nature. 

It is not possible to get out of the mode of material nature by having the theoretical knowledge only. Knowing is not enough. We need to experience living a divine life. Only upon experiencing the realization of divinity in us, we will be able to end our bondage to the mode of our material nature. 

It is not only ideas, concepts and philosophies, but it is practicing and experiencing the purity in thought and action benefiting others that matters. Only when the purity of thought is translated into action and the same is confirmed with deep awareness within, we will be able to cross over the Samsara and attain Nirvana, where true happiness is eternally cherished. Many know the way, but few only actually walk on it.

Karma must not be understood as destiny. Every one of us is borne carrying the dividend of Karma of our past lives. But it all begins to change as soon as we are born and our senses begin to influence our consciousness. The change could be in any form or direction. It depends on the nature of our upbringing.

The environment in which we grow influences our consciousness that is construed of both positive and negative forces. Both have equal inertia to fully influence and regulate our state of being. 

The fight between the positive and negative forces goes on throughout our life and through ad-infinitum. The two rival forces, the positive and negative forces, we live with, have common source -our consciousness and it is continuously influenced by the social and spiritual environment.

Consciously generated thoughts have positive intent, while unconsciously generated thought may have negative intent. Remaining aware and mindful of our thought and action is the crux of generating positive Karma and thereby living a noble life. 

In the infinite eternal stream of consciousness, mind is the substrate for creation of both positive and negative Karma causing joyful and painful results and their continuity. 

Negative Karma arises in mundane ordinary mind due to ignorance of being attached to the falsity of phenomenal world.

One perceives as they are. However, one should attempt to perceive life with right perspective. Perceiving life with right perspective is the essence of having pure vision. With impure vision, the suffering is inevitable.

Karmanye Vadhika-raste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,

Ma Karmaphala-hetur-bhurma Te-Sangostva-karmani (Gita 2.47).

 

(You have the right to work only but never to its fruits.

Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.)

OM NAMAH