Opportunity Knocks, Karma Hunts you Down
Why do things happen the way they do in our lives, especially things that are agonising to deal with? It’s not easy to fathom the reasons why certain adversities occur in our lives, but yet we are perpetually searching for answers, which sometimes seem beyond our own understanding. A Sanskrit term, karma is a work, which basically means ‘action’. For South Asian Religions and even philosophies though this term has gained a lot more connotations. It connects actions with results and the good and bad happenings that are experienced in this world; as aggregate results of deeds that have been performed in this and previous lifetimes.
Why is so important to understand what the law of karma is actually?
Many of us may feel that life will unfold whatever it has to and we can’t do anything about it. However, when we understand the law of karma it can help us to improve the quality of our own lives. It will help us to naturally avoid negative actions, which will lead to suffering – both for ourselves and towards others.
We will also be able to experience a higher state of happiness in the future.Karma is a conceptual principle that has actually originated in India –also known as the principle of karma, karma theory or even the law of karma. The law of karma is an easy to understand concept, which stresses the importance of the law of cause and effect. Here, every single action of speech, body and mind are all the causes and our experiences are the effects.
Karma is very closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Asian religion. It is within these schools that karma in the present affects one’s future and the quality and nature of the future lives - basically one’s samsara (a Sanskrit work that means "wandering" or "world"). It is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Taoism. Karma has a common theme of causality.
“Karma – You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down and it has made all the difference in my life.” The co-founder of Apple Inc. once said these popular lines and its really true isn’t it?
Ultimately, we are responsible for our own destiny. It may seem to us that our fate is predetermined, whether by our genes or by our environment. What really matters, however, is how we can improve ourselves from this moment forward, how we can change the circumstances that we find ourselves in. This enormous transformative force is what Buddhism is all about. – Daisaka Ikeda
When we perform virtuous (good) actions we are sowing the seeds for our future happiness. However, if we sow non-virtuous actions we sow the seeds of suffering. It is only when the conditions for these seeds to ripen occur do they produce the desired effect. The real catch of this all is that the effect may occur many lifetimes after the original action has even occurred.
Do you remember the 2012 T20 World Cup? This is perhaps a perfect example of how Karma works. Australia, Pakistan, India and South Africa were all qualified to the same group in the super eights. Now, Australia was in best form even after defeating West Indies in the group match. India had lost out of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament beating South Africa in the final match of the Super Eights stage. South Africa was not in the best of their form for that tournament, although they had almost qualified. Pakistan qualified for the finalsNow, Australia had already qualified for the semi-finals despite not having lost to Pakistan, it didn’t matter. Australia had to face Pakistan.
KARMA AT WORK: Now maybe it was over-confidence or maybe its plain KARMA but they lost to Pakistan. Some even claimed that they did so on purpose. So, India was out of the tournament based on the Net Run Rate, even if they won against South Africa! However, in the finals, it was West Indies and not the Aussies who won the trophy .This is karma at work!
Reciprocal Concept: There is a reciprocal concept, which includes action and INTENT. Many good actions such as helping the ‘needy’, working for NGO’s, etc. and are definitely not overlooked. We all have an individual karmic balance sheet – a set of fortunes and misfortunes that are determined by the actions of our past, either in this life or the next. There are other people who hold the belief that our fortune is determined by the future through action and yet others believe that WE create our fortune by our past deeds.
'Throughout our life we have to experience various kinds of suffering and problems without choice. This is because we do not understand what actions we need to abandon and what actions we need to practise. If we had this knowledge and put it into practice there would be no basis for experiencing suffering and problems.'- Geshe Kelsang Gyatso- a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, scholar, and author.
Our lives are in our hands YET they are not, in many ways. We can compare this to a simple game of snakes and ladders, where the throw of the dice is what forces you to move a set of steps forward. All you can do is roll the dice.
The point where you reach is not in your hands, right? If you land on a spot where there is the mouth of the snake, by the base of a ladder or it could even be empty. If you reach the snake’s mouth you fall backward and if it is the base of the ladder you move forward. Otherwise you just wait for your next turn.
Aren’t our lives so similar to this?
More than anything, we have to learn to be ‘ACCEPTING’ to our mental and physical make-up. It could be about anything, really: they can make us feel depressed, angry or even resentful. All of these added emotions only worsen the pain that we go through, and even perhaps for others. It could be as painful as having a difficult relationship with our partner at someone at work, not being able to find a partner or other obstacles that make it hard to meet our needs and desires.
It is similar to living a life in conflict with oneself, everyone and everything around us. It takes a lot of inner strength, courage and resilience to be able to make any possible changes in our lives, i.e. change our karma.
It is what we do in the present moment that decides our future; our past causes do not govern our future as well. Nichiren Buddhism emphasises that no matter what kind of karmic causes we have made in the past, through the causes we make in the present we can achieve a brilliant future.
Consequences of effect of one’s Karma- the consequences of karma can be of two types: phalas and samskaras. A phala (literally result of fruit) is a visible or invisible effect that occurs, most often immediately or within the person’s current life state. On the other hand, samskara is the invisible effect that is produced inside the person because of his karma, which transforms the agent and affects a person’s ability to be happy or unhappy in this life and future ones.
As a man himself sows, so he himself reaps; no man inherits the good or evil act of another man. The fruit is of the same quality as the action. Mahabharata
'Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potentiality, on our very subtle mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous actions sow seeds of future happiness and non-virtuous actions sow seeds of future suffering. These seeds remain dormant in our mind until the conditions for them to ripen occur, and then they produce their effect. In some cases, this can happen many lifetimes after the original action was performed.’Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso- a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, scholar, and author.
There are many effects of the countless actions that a person has taken in their previous lives. There can be no similarity between the karma of two people. Everyone has their own mental disposition that they have to fight out on their own. This could perhaps explain why certain people are blessed with good health, while others are constantly suffering from some health problem.
Present effects are due to karmic causes from the past. However, future effects arise from the causes we make in the present. It is always the present that counts.Many people debate whether karma is true or not and who is keeping account of our deeds, but it is a representation of positive psychology.
Yet bad things may happen to good people, for no apparent reason other than the actions that were committed in the past.What goes around does come back around, at some point of time and its up to YOU to believe or NOT in karma.
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