By Wilma Gonzales Buenaobra
The word karma has crept into our everyday vocabulary. Indeed, in its realization, have we come of age? “As you sow, you shall reap,” after all words from the good book: the Bible itself! Is karma truly one-dimensional? Is it immediate pay-back for what deed done here and now?
Maybe it is time to get a bit of understanding of karma. Consider it an act of bravery to taken on this topic. Albeit, worthy of a “purple heart” due to its inherent complexity. Largely, karma is way beyond human understanding. The deeper we delve into it, the more complicated and confusing it gets. However, it is too tempting not to share some basic idea. Thus, I succumb.
Oxford say: Karma (in Hinduism and Buddhism) is the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. It is a common belief in India that what happens to a person, happens because they caused it with their actions. Believe it or not. However, if we delve deeper, we find that it is not possible to bring karma without its twin – reincarnation.
In my quest to find answers to nagging questions, I first became acquainted with karma in early 70s as I came across the story of Edgar Cayce, a clairvoyant and dubbed as the “sleeping prophet,” in a book written by Thomas Sugrue: “There is a River.” Later readings furthered my understanding of karma, particularly books from India, out of the Science of the Soul Center, in Delhi and Punjab areas. Nonetheless, because of its complexity, I still consider my understanding much like trying to capture the ocean with a spoon.
Common Perceptions and clarifications
The commonly held belief is we only get back the result of our negative actions immediately, in this lifetime. Unbeknownst to many, the universe, fate, God, or nature, whatever you wish to call it, is far more just than we give it credit for. And it is timeless in its patience to exact what we deserve. Karma is both our positive and negative actions. In accounting, it is simply a debit and credit of our actions. The asset and liabilities we bring when we are born. Indeed, we are also rewarded for our good or positive actions. Therefore, we ask: “Why do good things happen to bad people?” And conversely, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The manifestation of our current life stems from our past thoughts and deeds. A thought doesn’t carry a karmic implication until we act on it–thought always follows an action. This is the logic why we are all born with the duality of the karmic baggage. Some are born beautiful, some are not. Others bright, while others dull. Others are tall and some are short, some rich, some poor. Some are born with congenital deformities, mental issues, and other challenges, and so on. Who decides even who many hairs we should have on our head, and when we are to lose some or all of it? Who and what factor determines our race, color, religion, and country? All is linked to the karma we have. based on how we have lived our previous lives. Fortunately, majority of the human population are just average, not many have significant variations in their deeds or karmic baggage. Most people are normal, so to speak. You can say that karma is the ultimate equalizer even if it is not obvious to us. And therefore, it is difficult to grasp.
Reincarnation and transmigration
Reincarnation
It would be gravely remiss if we did not take up the matter of reincarnation. We transcend time and space, our soul that is, lives on as we discard our mortal coil. Our appointed time to come into mortal being and our time to discard our physical body are both preordained. So, this answers many puzzling questions that unanswered, we have decided to forget. Who makes the decision on who our parents, siblings, relatives, friends, lovers, enemies, and other associates ought to be? Karma determines all of that based on previous lifetimes; not just the immediate past. If the Lord of Karma (the Supreme Lord’s Administrator on this plane), sees fit to call upon a distant past reward or payment of a debt, one will have that link in this lifetime.
Many books have been written about people who remember past lifetimes; movies and TV shows have likewise been made about it, especially children who have for some reason, clearly recalled a past lifetime. We ask: why do we not fully recall our past lives, so we won’t repeat the same mistakes? As was shown by those few who remember their immediate past life, it is entirely too difficult to navigate this lifetime if we were to remember all our previous lifetimes, even just the most recent one. The mind is too limited in its capacity to hold, sort, and fathom things.
Likewise, if creation is to continue, as the Divine Creator willed, we must continue with the cycle of births and deaths, and this is done by creating both positive and negative karmas.
Transmigration
We cannot possibly discuss reincarnation without taking up transmigration as part and parcel of the inconvenient truth. Difficult to accept intellectually (with a healthy ego), that we can come as animals, insects, plants anything you can think of, depending again, on our karmas. Just as the Creator is boundless, limitless, and timeless, so is His creation. People who work closely with animals have pets swear they are often better than humans in showing love and gratitude. If you are reading this, you are one of the nearly 8 billion fortunate humans living in the world today. Humans are at the top of creation because we have the gift of thought and discrimination.
Three types of karma
Pralabadh is experienced through the present body and is part destiny. It is that karma which will bear fruit in this life.
Sinchit is stored or accumulated karma which is the sum of one’s very distant past karmas. A lifetime of deeds and actions stored that will become pralabadh once it bears fruit in this life.
Kriyaman is karma we produce through our current thoughts, decisions and actions in this life, whether negative and/or positive. It is the karma we now produce yet reap in future lives. We one cannot reap and pay off all the accumulated karmas in a lifetime as a lifetime is not long enough, so it is stored it and becomes either sinchit or then pralabadh karma later. Now that I have confused you, let us proceed with confusing you more.
Who then are we?
First, let us go back to the basics: man is made up of three major components: soul, mind, and body. Many schools of thought would argue that body is further divided into causal, astral, and material body. In yet other schools of thought, man is made up of the elements of fire, water, earth and ether. They are all true as well. But those are topics for another day. The soul is part and parcel of the Divine Creator. Thus, soul has all the Creator’s sublime attributes and goes on forever. Mind and body belong to the Lord of Karma who determines and assigns our mind and physical attributes, based on how we lived our previous lives. Thus, the varied differences in humans. Note that the Lord of Karma is called by other names in other religions or schools of thought. Thus, all endowed with both mind and bodies according to the karmas they are now reaping from previous lives. The mind keeps the record of all our previous lives (Akashic Records), so we have “sanskaras” (impressions from a past life) or “déjà vu” (feels familiar). How often have we felt a place, a person, or an event so familiar that we swear we have met or been to this place before? How is it that some people naturally repel us and become our so-called enemies, while others we automatically gravitate towards and become our friends? Why is there such a thing as “love at first sight” and some people marry “total strangers”? Even within our own families, karmic drama takes place. Ergo, we get along with some and not so much with others. As often said, “We can choose are friends, but not our family.” It is just a comforting thought which is good for the ego, justifying that we had no choice. We go through life continuously encountering people who are nice to us, and some “bad news” to us! Who and what determines those things? Again, its karma.
Second, based on the understanding of the above elements of our being, you can say that in this life, we are thus far, the sum of our past lives. Through the execution and management of the three types of karmas, it has shaped everything that we are today. We would argue that we have free will, so karma is not real. Really? So, who and what factors determined all that you are today? The factors that shaped you such as your country, education, environment and your genetic predisposition. Did you? Or wasn’t it karma?
Life is Fair
From our one-dimensional point of view, life is unfair. So many are poor and hungry, infirmed and suffering, and some live a happy, comfortable, and fulfilled lives. But when we can expand and deepen our understanding of the depth and breadth of the Divine Law of karmic implications, karma is the ultimate punisher and equalizer. No one can escape it. We are born with two sets of karmic luggage: our positive and negative karmas, as we define it. Some make us comfortable (wealth, beauty, or intellect) and others don’t (the lack of recognition, material comforts and elevated intelligence). We, and no one else determined who we have become today! Believe it or not!
Often, I wonder what great things some people have done in previous lives that made them enjoy such a bounty of good karma: beautiful inside out, popular, wealthy, good family, and healthy until the last final breath. Conversely, I am saddened to see how some are so prone to doing things repeatedly, that are karmically disastrous, such as serial killing and/or committing suicide, including repeated abortions for whatever reason! Unfortunately, the worst transgressions in the court of the Lord of Karma and the Divine Creator. Life is a divine gift, we have been blessed to have been given it no matter the circumstance, it is our duty to take care of this wonderful gift. As we do not have the capacity to create it, we do not have the right to take it. That’s the long and short of it.
Free Will
I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but I have no choice. Yes, now, we have very, very limited free will. Often, there is the illusion that we are exercising our free will but if we are so limited in our choices, is it so free? It is no different than the choices one can make when one is in jailed for say 70-80 years. We have compromised our free will when we first succumbed to the temptations of the mind, you can say that that was the original sin. For example, when Cain committed the first murder, when he killed his brother, Abel. Cain followed it with a lie when his father, Adam asked where Abel was and so on. That first sin once committed was followed by more transgressions during eons and eons of lifetimes until we find ourselves here and now. Frustrated and wondering, “Why me?” When we can read the Akashic Records, once our third eye opens, all will be revealed; our understanding complete. For now, we must content ourselves with snippets of reality.
In conclusion
From Concepts and Illusions by Sabina Oberoi:
“We need to condition the mind to accept that everything happening to us is because of our karmas. The people we meet and interact with, the skirmishes we have, the person who gives joy and the one who receives it, the one who inflicts hurt and the one who is hurt, birth and death, all and everything – accepting that our existence is determined by our karmas makes it easier to deal with it all. By delving any deeper, we will take up never ending questions, which will only add to our confusion.
Why rattle our mind with issues that we cannot comprehend? The more sensible approach would be to accept it and deal with it. We can cook a well-cooked meal and enjoy its flavors without getting into the specific ingredients. We can have a pleasurable flight pm am aircraft or bask in the sun on a luxury yacht without being bothered about the mechanics involved.
J.P. Vaswani has said:
We have tried to understand that everything that comes to man is of his own doing. In other words, man is the builder of his own destiny…. What you send comes back to you. The law of karma is thus the law of boomerang. It is an inviolable law that governs the universe from end to end.”
We attain human life by gradually transmigrating from the various species of plants, birds, and animals to the top of the creation. Human beings are considered the top of creation because we can discriminate between right and wrong. Each thought, word and action create karma – right thoughts, words, and actions manifest into positive karmas, and harmful thoughts, words, and actions into negative karmas. Eventually, every human being must submit to the bondage of the karmas he or she has created through each individual action.
Our karmas have tarnished our true self.”
We now live under a severely compromised “free will” all because we have, for eons and eons of existence, given in to the wiles of the negative aspect of the mind. We are constantly seduced by the five passions or perversions of the mind: pride, anger, greed, attachment, and lust…the five devils, the bad boys in us that bring us lower and deeper into our karmic noose, resulting in our comings and goings.
In closing, do be careful with slander or bearing false witness against thy neighbor to gain sympathy or to look good. Payment is exacted from your assets or good graces, plausibly here and now. So, ask yourself, can you afford it?
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