What is
Karma?
Karma means not only action, but also the result of the result,
the consequences of an action is really not a separate thing but a part of the
action. Breathing, thinking, talking, seeing, hearing, eating are all karmas.
Thinking is a mental karma. Karma is in fact the sum total of our acts both in
the present life and in the preceding births.
Any deed, any thought
that causes an effect is called karma. The Law of karma means the Law of
causation. Whenever there is a cause, there an effect must be produced. For
example, a seed is a cause for a tree which is the effect. The tree produces
seeds and becomes the cause for the seeds.
Karma= deed or act. Karma is not fate, for man acts with free
will creating his own evil. According to the Vedas, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil,
we will reap evil.
How Karma
is fashioned?
The Law of karma states that all living creatures are
responsible for their karma- their actions and the effects to their actions. Behind
every action there are desire and thought. A desire for an object arises in the
mind. Then one thinks how to get it. Thus, desire, thought and action always go
together. A person desires something, works to acquire that thing, and karma
produces its fruits as pain and pleasure and one has to take birth after birth
to reap the fruits of his actions.
According to Karma, performing positive actions results in a
good condition in one’s experience, whereas negative action results in bad
effect. The effects may be seen immediate or delayed.
The Law of Karma spares no one, whether one believes in this
law, or whether he is ignorant of this law, not even God in human form according
to Hinduism.
Story of King
Dashrath in Ramayana:
Dashrath, father of Lord Rama was not spared when he unknowingly
killed Shrava Kumar. One may think that since he did it unknowingly, or he was
the father of God himself, so he could be spared, but no, law of karma will
always act on the person irrespective of who that person is. King Dashrath was
cursed by the parents of Shravana Kumar that he would die in despair of his son
parting from him, and that is what actually happened.
What some
people actually think:
We may do one bad deed, and then to cover it up we may do five
good deeds and think that actually we have a balance of four good deeds to
enjoy the fruits of, but this is totally WRONG notion.
Had the above been true, we would come across thousands of
people who have a balance of good deeds and hence would never come across any
misfortune or sadness. BUT this is NOT true. In fact, it is difficult, almost
impossible to come across one single person who does not have any difficulties,
or any sadness, and this is the result of bad deeds done either in this very
birth or in previous births.
