Understanding Karma

Karma means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect).

As per Hindu Religion, the Soul remains and gets manifested in different bodies across births, till it reaches its final destiny of Moksha. So the ultimate goal of soul is to attain Moksha, ie to reach the abode of God, the parabhahman. But this is not easy.

The Karma's performed by soul determines how long it takes to attain Moksha and what are the happiness and sufferings the body containing the soul has to go through across different births. The Soul without body cannot experience either happiness or suffering. That is why God blesses it with a body to experience the happiness and sufferings as per the Karma's it performs across births. Till the Karma's dont get exhausted and there is something to be experienced by the Soul, the cycle of birth and death continues.

So the whole concept of human taking birth empty handed is wrong. They come in with accumulated Karma of past life and also leave the world with accumulated Karma based on actions they performed between birth and death.

The whole Karma can be classified into 3 major types.

1) Sanchitha Karma - These are the Karma's( Good and Bad) of the past life, that were not fructified in that life and are carried over to the next birth of the soul. 

The reason for the carry forward may be because those Karma's require time to fructify. We can understand this by example of drinking ice cold water and immediately we catch cold. But if we keep consuming alcohol for a certain period and then leave its consumption,certainly there will be an effect on the liver, which will be reflected after many years.

2) Prarabdha Karma - These are the Karma's that are carried forward from past life into present life and that which are going to be fructified or experienced by the body of the soul in the current birth.These are part of Sanchitha Karma, that will be experienced in current birth.

3) Kriyamana Karma or Agami Karma - These are Karma's carried out in current birth, that will be accumulated for the future.These will be added to the Sanchitha karma for future births.

In the three categories we have total control over the Kriyamana Karma. We should properly think twice before performing actions and make sure our action do not affect any human, any life or nature etc. We will be accumulating good karma for future if we perform good Kriyamana Karma now.

So now we can clearly understand why some people in this life though keep doing good things and are very good suffer a lot, while some people who are really bad and do all kind of bad activities live a happy life. Reason is Karmic Cycle. 

The Soul through this birth and body experiences the pain and suffering that were fructified due the bad karmas of the past life while accumulating good Sanchita Karma through the various good Kriyamana Karma that it is performing in the current birth. This is the former case of a good person suffering in this current birth.

The Soul through this birth and body experiences happiness and pleasure that were fructified due to good karmas of the past life while accumulating bad Sanchitha Karma through the various bad Kriyamana Karma that it is performing in the current birth. This is the latter case of bad person enjoying in this current birth.

The Karmic Cycle can be broken by the three spiritual ways - Gyana Yoga - Perform good actions after analyzing and understanding the principles of Karma. Do only good actions., Bhakthi Yoga - Devotion to God and Karma Yoga - Perform good actions.

The Karmic cycles are repetitive and almost occur in cycle at same frequency and time. We should be conscious enough to understand it and break it by devotion to God.

They are not new Inventions- They existed much earlier

We flaunt about various inventions and discoveries that we have done in in modern world. Especially the West, without realizing that these existed way back as per our Indian Tradition. Just that we had done injustice by not having understood the methodology based on which the technologies were developed and having lost the technique to reproduce them. Hence we could not claim that we had them already with us during the times these were rediscovered. The main reason for this being our misfortune and our ignorance and our attitude towards our own rich heritage. We kept ignoring them and respecting that which is outside our tradition.

Below I give list of such examples.

1) Pushpaka Vimana - Used by Ravan to abduct Sita Devi. This Vimana travelled in air and cross the ocean to take Sita Devi from India to Srilanka. This was many centuries before aeroplane was invented. Many more used such vimanas during the period.

2) Brahmastra - Used by Arujna during the Mahabarath wars way before the nuclear weapons were invented. Many more such astras existed.

3) Sajayan seeing the Mahabarath war happening at a distance from home - Classic example of telescope.

4) Auto recording of Vishnu Sahasra Nama when it was recited by Bheeshma to Yudishtra by the Spatikamani that Nakula was wearing.Example of record and play back.

5) Surrogate Father hood - Seen in case of Vyasa fathering Dritarastra and Pandu as requested by Sathyavathi.

6) IVF - Birth of 100 Sons to Gandhari. The actual gestation of 100 sons from flesh is still not discovered by modern medicine yet. May be will be discovered some day.

7) Classification of plant species in Ayurveda way before modern Herbarium.

List goes on.

There are many more concepts that are found, which are waiting for modern inventions to happen, as the methodology and technology was lost

1) Method Krishna used to give Saree to Draupadi continuously from a remote place.

2) Method used by Hanuman Ji to lift the Sanjeevini Mountain and sail through the air holding it.

3) Method by which Sita Devi was born from the Boomi and went inside the Boomi.

4) Method by which Draupadi and DhritaDhyuman were born from Fire.

Here again the list goes on.

Three Paths to Realization

 Sanatahna Dharma there are three paths to realization. Realization of God, The Truth etc.

1) Gyana Yoga - This is by way of knowledge. You want to ask questions, seek and try to get the clarity on the concept and once you have the sufficient knowledge you can realize Truth, God, Brahman

2) Bakthi Yoga - This is by way of Devotion. Complete Surrender, Complete Bakthi, Faith. There should be no questions asked. You completely have faith in God, Truth that you just practice what is told to you. You realize the God, Truth through this way

3) Karma Yoga - This is by way of Action. You perform the actions and by doing the actions selflessly without expecting the results.By way of actions and experience we can realize the God. Truth.

We can take the Philosophies of the Hindu Religion. The way the Veda's and Upanishads are interpreted and understood. These also born out of constant seeking and questioning and understanding of the Vedas. We also can understand that the paths specified to realization is used in each philosophy.

1) Advaitha - This philosophy believes that the Atman and the Brahman are the same and unified. Adhi Shankara. The Gyana Yoga path is preferred one to realize God here.

2) Vishistadaviatha - This philosophy believes Advaitha but in a Qualified manner. That is Brahman is there are all Atman are parts of the Brahman. Ramanujacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as part of Brahman.

3) Dwaitha -  This philosophy believes in dualism ie the Atman and Brahman are separate and not the same. All Atman are under the case of Brahman. Madwacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as Atman under the care of Brahman.