A look at Karma

From the very beginning, humanity has been faced with the problem of death and has, therefore, pondered over the mystery of life and death. According to the yoga teachings, we are born to work out our karma. As we sow, so do we reap.

Karma binds us, but it can also set us free. Karma is bondage, as long as we cling to the transient world of the senses. Once we turn to the infinite, karma will set us free.

When we observe the world around us, we find that some people are born rich, healthy and intelligent while others are born poor, ignorant and even diseased. The Rishies ponder over this apparent injustice and questioned the existence of an all-merciful benevolent God.

But it is absurd to blame God for our self-inflicted miseries and unhappiness. Few of us follow the teachings of scriptures in thought, word and deed?

We ourselves become the cause of miseries, when we violate the laws of God. God merely looks on, letting His laws measure out justice. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita:"As the Lord, I am equally present in all beings; there is none neither hateful nor dear to me."

God remains detached in all beings as the Atman. Having given human beings free will, He lets us write our own destiny. We do so and become bound by the chain of karma, which we slowly and painfully have to work out from birth to birth.

If there was no prior birth and if every effect has a cause behind it, then what is the cause behind the person who is born physically handicapped or mentally challenged? It is the past actions of our prior birth that makes us what we are and what we do.

Biologists propose the theory of heredity and claim that it satisfactorily explains human existence. If heredity is all there is, how can one account for the fact that the offspring of the same parents exhibit such a marked difference in temperament, character, intelligence etc.? Similarly, the children of the same parents brought up in the same environment do not possess identical personalities.

Some attribute the birth of a genius or mentally challenged to chance or accident of birth´. But there is no such thing as change in the universe. Everything in the universe is well regulated and follows laws. There is nothing accidental in this world. We see this all around us. Is it just change that makes the apple fall to the ground? Ignorance of a fact does not mean that it does not happen. According to the teachings of yoga, it is the law of karma that explains why each individual is what he or she is.

Nothing happens without a cause. Effect and cause correspond to each other. Neither heredity nor environment, nor even their interaction, can fully explain the facts of life. A physical process can produce only a physical effect, nothing more.

Only when a person understands what he is and why he is what he is, can he change his life and destiny. By knowing his karma, he can master it.

Karma means action, both physical and mental. Every action leaves its impression in the subconscious mind and has either a positive or negative effect on the life of a person. The impressions of the actions of past lives are stored in the super consciousness and germinate under a suitable environment. These constitute one’s inner environment, which along with the outer environment governs person´s actions.

Karma is divided into three categories:

Karma of our past lives that has not yet come into expression, karmas of our past lives that determines our present life and karma we are accumulating in this life that will manifest in the future.

Once a person loses his ego and ceases to identify himself with his action, to that person, actions will no longer be binding. Thus, the solution is not inertia but detachment and ultimately realizing who the doer is. 

The life of a Kriya Yogi is not guided by past actions, but by the direction of his inner Self.