what is karma

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 your font in your mobile, it doesn't mean that the chairman of Samsung will appear and 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 a 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 it forward to the next life. Our next life we also carry 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 reactions are 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 laws that govern the universe. So will the 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. We do not realize 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 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? 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.