I seem to hear this phrase a lot "Karma's a bitch" but I am not sure most people understand karma. Generally people think what goes around comes around but it is a little more detailed than that. Last night we began a three day discussion called "The Pathway to Happiness: Understanding the Laws of Karma". We started reading out of the Bliss Divine by Swami Sivananda and here is a summary of my notes from the lecture:
Karma means action, not merely on a physical level but thoughts are mental karma. We often feel that nobody knows our thoughts so why does it matter? Yogis believe that thoughts are our primary karma, thoughts are where action begins and where your character is molded. Our accumulated karma is our destiny, whenever we have a thought or perform an action it leaves an imprint in the mind. Look at the shallow part of the ocean on a clear day and what do you see? You will see ridges in the sand left behind by the under current of the previous waves. Thoughts leave the same impression on the subconscious mind. If you plant a seed a tree will grow, that tree will produce more seeds which will produce more trees and from one single seed you will have a forest! Karmic seeds start as a very small tendency, a single thought that will become repeated turning it into an active force in the mind. The active force will then become character traits and desires. Every thought, every action we do leaves a seed and in yoga these karmic seeds are called samskaras. Samskaras work in groups, when we have a negative thought all sorts of other negative thoughts will come to support that thought. We cannot say if a seed will manifest in this lifetime or the next because it needs certain conditions just like in a garden. When the mind is tamasic (lethargic, lazy, or depressed) or rajasic (overactive, hyper) it is more prone to mental suffering and provides the proper conditions for negative, painful seeds to manifest. Karma also means the consequence of an action. The action and the reaction are one. Lying within the seed is a potential tree, the reaction is within the action.
Karma works only on the internal level, it is only about the intention. Look at two nearly identical men in the same setting that slice another man open, one is a doctor and the other is a murderer. They may be performing the same exact action but the intention is completely different which means karmically the reaction will be completely different. If you look at creation you will see an endless chain of cause and effect, every effect becomes a cause which has the same nature. If you planted an avocado seed would you be surprised to get an avocado tree? No!! It is the same with intentions. If you plant a negative intention then it will bring suffering and pain, if you plant a pure, loving intention then it will bring happiness.
A woman at the lecture raised her hand and said "I do so many things to help others and have pure intentions in my heart but do not seem to be receiving any benefits or having more positivity in my life." and Swami Brahmananda replied "Look where you are. Just the fact that you are here at an ashram in the Bahamas is a very positive thing." We don't know when karma will come but it is like building a bank account. From what I understand, you have a bank account with all the positive and a seperate one for all of the negative. Being at an ashram is a sign of a great deal of positive karma, they say it is like being a karmic billionaire! The results of karma may not be in our hands but we can be like a gardener and prepare the soil. No link in the chain of life is unnecessary. Every single minute detail of life is absolutely necessary for us to be where we are right here in this moment. Every event has a definite cause behind it, nothing happens by chance - it is all cause and effect. Every thought we project and action we perform causes a ripple in the world and it comes back to us like throwing a boomerang. God does not reward the virtuous or punish the wicked, it is all our own doing and there is nobody else to blame. The law of karma is a law of compassion to help us evolve to realize that what we do is what comes back to us. When you act with the wisdom of karma your actions will become very powerful.
Karma yoga teaches us to transcend karma. Negative karma is like being in iron shackles, positive karma is like being in golden shackles - but they are both shackles. As long as we perform negative and positive thoughts and actions we have to repeat this cycle again and again. Negative karmic seeds comes as suffering, positive karmic seeds comes as pleasure but pleasure always causes suffering. Pleasure causes attachment and we can never have anything permanently so we suffer either by having to let go of the pleasure or being worried about it. This means no matter what we do we will hit a wall and suffering is guaranteed. Karma yoga teaches us to act in a way that frees us from the shackles, to give ourselves selflessly to the greater good with pure intentions. But even to be able to practice karma yoga we need a pure sattvic mind with lots of good karma!
Any questions? Leave your comments!
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