what is Karma

What is "Karma"? 

The Law of Karma is a Law of Action and Reaction. According to this law, every action of ours is recorded and rewarded either through the good or evil that our action has caused. The Law of Karma is a universal law and holds good for everybody. Nobody can escape this law, and nothing can manipulate it. Even if the action is performed behind closed doors and unknown to the world, the Law of Karma captures it. Such is the law. Karma literally means "ACTION", but because of its global popularity, it has reached beyond that. Today if one says "Karma," it means a lot more. It indicates the existence of a cosmic law. What is the relevance of this law? Imagine something terrible happens most unexpectedly and unwarrantedly. Thereseems to be no logical reason as to why the incident happened. And we exclaim-"Karma!" Here, we are acknowledging the fact that the Law of Karma is executing itself in the circumstance that just unfolded. There was no reason for this terrible thing to happen. Then why did it happen? It is obviously a reaction to an action performed previously. The action may have been performed in the distant past and beyond the recall power of our memory. The Law of Karma ensures that all actions are appropriately rewarded. Suppose you have a garden in which you find apples growing on a tree. How did the apples appear? Could it be through some magic? Is it a random act of nature? Of course not. Somebody must have planted apple seeds for the tree to blossom in the garden. It could be you, someone else or even your neighbour who threw the seeds across the compound wall. It might have been caused by the wind or the birds, but some action has led reaction. You cannot reap apples unless you sow them, and if you sow tomatoes, you cannot reap to mangoes. The law is very simple, and while it cannot be proved, we know the law exists through inference.Can you prove that the Law of Gravity exists? You can't! You can prove that your Gmail account is yours by revealing the password and other related credentials. But the Law of Gravity is different. If you throw your mobile phone up in the air, it doesn't disappear into the clouds above. Thus, you infer that there is some force that pulls it back to the ground. You conclude that the Law of Gravity exists. Karma is also a law that can be verified through inference. There is no doubt that the law exists. The Law of Karma is a complex law. It works in several ways. You may instantly get the reward for your actions, or you may have to wait several days, weeks, months or even years for the repercussions. In fact, it is believed that you cannot escape this law even after your death. Many things keep happening around us. What is the cause of all that happens? It seems that a Law of Cause and Effect is unfolding. What is the Law of Cause and Effect all about? For every effect, must be a cause. Therefore, something that has happened in the past is causing whatever is happening now. What is happening is the effect of a cause. For every action, there will be an equal reaction. If there is smoke, there be fire something that has caused it. The Law of Cause and Effect can also be seen in our day to day life. You see a pot, a plate and a statue. You know that all the three are made out of mud. Mud is the cause. The pot, the plate and the statue are just effects of the cause. Whatever is happening around us are just effects. What is the cause? Our own Karma, our own actions or deeds of the past that were captured by the Law of Karma are unfolding as effects. Therefore, Karma is often referred to not only as - "the Law of Action and Reaction", but also as "the Law of Cause and Effect". you ever seen a boomerang? When you throw it into the sky, it comes back to you. Karma works like a Have boomerang. What you put out into the world eventually comes back to you. Sometimes the Law of Karma tricks because although we do many bad things, only good comes to us. We don't realize that the good that is returning to us is the Law of Karma itself. These are our own previous good actions that are coming back as a boomerang. What about the bad actions that we are currently performing? Beware! Although it looks like magic show and a lot of good is happening in your life, every bad actic currently performing is also being recorded by the Law of Karma and will eventually come back to you. that you are The world today believes that what goes around comes around. People know it, and it is not something they need to be taught. Intuitively, people feel the truth of this statement. They experience it. What goes around comes around. If someone treats other people badly, he or she will eventually be treated badly. People know that if they cheat someone in love, someday somebody else will cheat them too. They can't escape their own actions. The universe works with several cosmic laws. One such law is the Law of Sequence and Continuity. If you see someone going somewhere, eventually, he or she will come back. If you see someone coming, that person must have gone somewhere sometime ago. People don't come from nowhere and disappear into nowhere. Things don't come from nowhere and disappear into nowhere. What goes around comes around. What you give is what you get. The Karmic Law is very simple. Even a child can understand it, but we human beings often forget this law because we ignore the existence of the Law of Karma. We don't realize that the law exists. Just because the table, the chair, the cupboard, the bed, you and your laptop are all secure on the ground, it does not mean that the Law of Gravity has stopped working. The cosmic Law of Gravity exists. It has always existed and it will continue to exist forever, and so is the case with the cosmic Law of Karma. The Law of Karma is universal. Whether you are American, Chinese, Indian or Japanese, the Law of Karma applies to you irrespective of your nationality. It does not matter whether you are a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jain, a Sikh, a Jew or a Buddhist because the same law extends equally to everyone who is born on earth. One cannot escape Karma, no matter which religion they follow. The irony is that we can neither escape Karma (Action) or the Law of Karma. Can we escape from action? Every human being has to act - whoever they are and wherever they are. They need to get out of their bed every morning and do something. You can't escape from action. This is also a universal law. But while this is a law, it is not the law that is referred to when we talk of "Karma". Karma has been understood across civilizations, nations and religions as the Law of Action and Reaction or the Law of Cause and Effect. Peter used to live in a village with his uncle. To explore new opportunities, he left for the city and spent two decades building his career. One day, he returned to visit his uncle, and they took a walk around the farm. "Do you remember, Peter, just a few days before you left, I had asked you to plant a row of apple seeds, all around the edge of the farm?" his uncle asked. "Look at these wonderful trees now. In twenty years they have grown so beautifully." His uncle took him around the entire farm and showed him how well the trees had grown along the border of the farm until they reached the northern end. Suddenly the entire farm looked like a haphazard jungle. When Peter saw the mess, he closed his eyes in shame and wept. "I had done my job well till here, and then I remember my friends called me to play with them. Whatever remaining seeds I had, I created a pit and put everything there," he added. His uncle laughed and said, "You can't escape Nature. Your good actions will stand forever in the farm, but your acts of compromise cannot escape. The Law of Karma is very clear as you sow, so shall you reap. If you are reaping something, there is absolutely no doubt that it is happening because you had sown something circumstance maybe unknown to you. But if you are when, where and in what receiving a reward or a punishment, then the Law of Karma infers that it is your own actions that are coming back to you. Because we don't understand the Law of Karma, we question God. "Oh God! Why do bad things happen to good people?" The fact is bad things can never happen to good people. The universal Law of Karma will not permit it. Sometimes can't figure out why something bad is happening to a good person, but we need to understand that it is their own bad doing that is coming back to them. Sometimes we question God as to why a person who is insincere and cruel is rewarded with much success. We don't aliz that the Law of Karma is only unfolding as per its past records. Since we human beings do not understand the Law of Karma, we let ourselves perform bad deeds - we cheat, we lie, we hurt, we kill and then we hope that in return, good things will happen to us. How on earth can goodness return to us with the prevalence of the Karmic Law? Today, tomorrow, or sometime in the future, we will have to pay for our deeds as per the Law of Karma. Every bad action of ours is recorded and will be repaid in full, just as every good deed will be rewarded. The Law of Karma is not cruel. It is reformative, not punitive. It helps us evolve in our ethical journey as human beings by rewarding us for every good we do and punishing us for our sins. Its objective is to reform us before we eventually leave the earthly plane. It is not like policeman who is always trying to find people who are committing crimes. On the other hand, the law records both good and bad equally and it responds to every action with an equal reaction. When we don't understand Law of Karma, we live and die without ethics or values, and eventually, we suffer. Even if we have lived ethically, we cry in pain when bad things happen to us because we don't realize that the Law of Karma is only returning to us as per our own past actions. Rather than crying, it's best to understand the Law of Karma and live our life with a positive attitude, accepting the consequences of our own past actions. Karma is nothing but the Law of Action. Whatever is our action, so will be the reaction. If we plant a tomato, we shouldn't expect a mango. What we reap is what we sow! 

Summary 

What is Karma?

Karma is a Universal Law. It is also known as the Law of Cause and Effect or the Law of Action and Reaction. According to the Law of Karma – "What you give is what you get!" Nobody can escape from this Law. Bad things can never happen to good people. Whatever is happening in our life is our own actions returning to us.

How does the Law of Karma work?

If I ask you to look at an apple and tell me how it tastes, can you? You cannot because the eyes are only capable of seeing. To know if the apple is delicious or not, you need your tongue and taste buds to taste it. The tongue has been given the sense perception to taste, the eyes to see, the nose to smell, the ears to hear and the skin to touch and feel. We have also been given a mind to produce thoughts, a memory to record and recall and an intellect to discriminate and choose. However, we have not been given a sensory perception to understand and decode Karma. We cannot see which action of ours is being rewarded by which reaction. We are unable to define this law, and we can only try to understand its tenets. We can either accept it or refuse to acknowledge it. But just because we do not acknowledge Universal Laws, they will not stop existing. Universal cosmic laws rule the world. There are several such laws. The Law of Opposites has created so many opposites in the world - day and night, pleasure and pain, loss and gain, summer and winter, north and south and birth and death to name a few. These opposites exist, and we have no choice but to accept them. There is also a law called the Law of Cycles. Everything in this world is cyclic - the cycles of spring, summer, autumn and winter; day and night and the cycle for a woman's ovulation. These follow each other without any intervention as per the law. All the cosmic laws have been set in motion by a Power - the Creator and thereon they work automatically, requiring no intervention. Samsung makes a program that makes our mobile work. Every time you decide to change the size of mean that the chairman of Samsung will appear and your font in your mobile, it doesn't heed to your request. All Samsung mobiles have automatic updates and software that make the device function efficiently. The cosmos is no different. Everything on earth is programmed and managed by cosmic laws - one such being the Law of Karma. The Creator does not micromanage our actions, neither does the Creator sit in a cosmic court passing judgements on what should happen to whom or what should not. Everything unfolds as per the Law of Karma. The Law of Cause and Effect, popularly known as the Law of Karma, ensures that nothing happens by chance. Everything has a before and after relation. Our own actions become a cause for our future. Therefore, our present actions will determine our future, just as our past actions determine our present circumstances. Karma is law that prevails throughout our life. The Law of Karma states that what you give is what you get. As you sow, so shall you reap. We are not being micromanaged. Why are some of us happy and some unhappy? This is because of the Law of Karma. The Law of Karma decides who is happy and who is unhappy based on their past actions. All our actions receive corresponding reactions. Not only do we receive reactions during our current life, but our actions are compensated even in our future lives. It means that based on our actions, not only do we receive rewards or reprimands during our lifetime, but we also carry it forward to the next life. Our next life will depend on our Karma or our actions of the present and the past. There are over 8 billion people on earth, and each person can think up to 50,000 thoughts a day. These thoughts lead to feelings and ultimately, actions. It means that trillions of actions are being performed every day. Can you imagine the scale of a computer required to record these actions and to ensure that every debit is credited with a corresponding debit just as every good deed is rewarded and blessed? The Karmic Law is beyond human comprehension just like the universe itself is. You are one among 8 billion people, among trillions of other living creatures, inhabiting one in over 200 different countries of a planet called Earth. The Earth is like a tiny speck in a galaxy called Milky Way, which is an insignificant part of the divine cosmos. Can you even imagine the scale of creation? While we cannot comprehend the cosmos and its laws, we have been blessed with the intellect to understand its existence. It is up to us to make the best of our life as per these cosmic laws and live happily with contentment and fulfilment. Those who don't understand the cosmic laws, particularly, the Law of Karma, try and object to everything that happens in their life. They live without understanding life's meaning and purpose till this gift of life is eventually consumed and comes to an end. As intelligent human beings, can't we see the Law of Karma in action? Don't we understand that if we plant tomatoes, we will not get mangoes? Doesn't our common sense tell us that good will be rewarded by good and bad by bad? What would you do if someone came and offered you flowers with a smile? Would you kick them in return? On the other hand, if somebody gave you numerous punches, would you return the gesture with a gift or a smile? We human beings know that our behaviour, attitudes, and impacted by the actions of other people. We return good for good and evil for evil. The Law of Karma is no different. The only difference is that this law records our past actions even from our previous lives, and thus, it is sometimes difficult and even impossible to comprehend this law. Sometimes, we see bad things happening to good people and we forget that it is nothing but the Law of Karma in action. The law is unfolding as per our own past actions. And the bad things that are happening are only our own bad actions coming back to us. Maybe these actions are of a distant past - forgotten and unknown, but the Law of Karma makes no mistake. It doesn't know how to reward bad actions and to punish the good ones. It is a perfect cosmic law, and just like the Sun does not forget to appear in the morning, the Law of Karma doesn't forget its duty. Someday, will all the chairs of your dining room just start flying into the sky? It will never happen because the Law of Gravity will always be in force as an integral part of the cosmic govern the universe. So will at Law of Karma always rule the world. The reason we don't understand or appreciate the Law of Karma is because we don't realize that for Karma, death is not the end. It is just a bend, and the law continues to record our actions as we move on to another life. Therefore, when a new-born suffers from serious disabilities, we are unable to comprehend why. lize that the infant is carrying with it loads of bad Karma that needs to be negated. The birth of this child who is suffering is required to happen for the Law of Karma to compensate and redeem the past actions of a person. We human beings don't realize that we never die. The body dies. But "WE" who wear the not body don't die. That is why when a person dies, we say that the person has passed away or departed. Where has that person departed to? Since we don't have answers to such questions, we close the discussion. That doesn't end the story of Karma. Some people are born in rich families and some in poverty. Why? Does this happen at random? Of course not. The Law of Karma controls birth, and we are born based on our past Karma. We live in a body, and while that body dies and disintegrates, our Karma gets recorded, based on which we are reborn in a new body. Since these are complicated phenomena and are known more by inference than proof, most of us ignore the existence of the Karmic Law. This, however, does not do away with its existence. As commonly understood, we are a combination of a gross physical body, a subtle invisible body and life energy often referred to as the soul. The gross body dies. But we - the subtle body or the inner instrument, comprising the mind, memory, intellect, and ego - continue our journey to a life beyond. One may or may not believe in rebirth. But the Law of Karma forces us to realize that there is no other option. As long as we live as an ego and a mind that has a body, we perform actions and we are governed by the Law of Karma. Our actions are recorded, and although we leave our physical body and move on, we carry our Karma into our next life and enjoy our good deeds or get punished for our past sins as we adorn a new body. Who actually enjoys Karma? As long as we are alive, it seems that we, a body-mind-soul complex, are the recipients of Karma. But what happens after death? The body is no more. Who then enjoys the Karma? While the body dies, the mind and the ego continue their journey by being born in a new body. They carry the Karma of not just the life that has ended, but also all previous lives. It is ME (Mind + Ego) that enjoys the fact, even the body, which just died, transmitted all its experience to ME, while it was alive. The ME never dies. It keeps reappearing in a new body Karma. and creates Karma that accumulates birth after birth. In fact, it is based on the accumulated Karma that the ME is assigned a new birth on earth. We human beings don't understand the Law of Karma. We don't actually realize what life is and that Karma is one way to decode the meaning of life. Of course, there is a lot more to realize in terms of the self and the Creator, but being oblivious to the Law of Karma or being indifferent to the Law of Action and Reaction is a sure way to live and die in misery. Don't we see that this demystify life and its meaning. The Law of Karma is not out to punish us. It is not punitive, it is reformative. It is meant to help us reform our mind and our life till we finally understand Karma, the other cosmic laws and life itself. Some people don't understand Karma at all. They think that everything is predestined, and, therefore, their actions have no significance because God has already decided the future. The Creator is super-intelligent and he has not made us to exist like puppets. We are gifted with intelligence and have a choice to live a life in which we can choose to do good or bad. However, we must try to understand the Law of Karma as we live. Whatever has happened in our past life or lives is like a road or a highway in our present life, which is already paved. Our past actions have built this road. Whether it is a dirt track or a high-speed highway is determined by our past actions. This cannot be changed. While we cannot change the past, we can definitely change our future because our future is like a car that we drive. We can choose to accelerate or slow down and turn left or right. We can drive the way we want to. We have been given an intellect and willpower to choose. Whatever we do, our present actions will determine the next road that we will arrive at in the future. It is our own Karma that will determine our future circumstances. Such is the Law of Karma. Whatever our present is not magic... It may be good, it may be tragic... It depends on what we did in the past, Karma will decide until when it will last. 

Summary

How does the Law of Karma work? 

The Law of Karma ensures that our actions both good and bad - are recorded. And that they come back to us! "As we sow so shall we reap!" Good deeds come back as good fortune, bad deeds as misfortune. Nothing happens by LUCK. Everything unfolds as per the Law all Karma! Karma belongs to ME (Mind + Ego) The ME never dies. Based on its accumulated Karma, the ME is assigned a new birth. Everything that happens is not predestined. Our past actions determine our present circumstances and our present actions will control our future.