Karma: Not The “Mainstream” Version – The Real One
by Arjun Walia
Karma
is a concept taught by various cultures throughout human history, and is an idea that
dates back thousands of years. Despite its proliferance, the idea of karma
seems to be generally misunderstood and frequently tossed
around without any real understanding of its true meaning.
What is Karma?
In
the Bhagavad Gita (one text out of many from
multiple cultures that speak of karma), there are constant
dialogues about how to attain what’s referred to as “moksha”. Moksha
is the release from the cycle of rebirth; a sort of transcendent state or
freedom from the world we currently know – a world in which our senses deceive
us. It’s a state of bliss that can only be attained when we have freed
ourselves from the web of Karma. Once we reach that point our soul is ready to
move on to another experience that goes beyond rebirth.
According
to Hindu philosophy, the only “higher” activity one can engage in other than
performing selfless, fruitful action is the quest and cultivation of spiritual
knowledge, contemplation and truth.
Let’s
take a look at what karma really means:
“The
Principle of Karma requires that the experiences of the individual
being, based on his actions during the lifetime, are imprinted in the subtle
body, which will therefore have to possess some organized structure of fine
matter as mental state within it, and will accordingly be impelled to move to
specific locations for rebirth. The principle of Karma is fundamentally
based on this very concept that the deeds of today shape the future events for
man – the most intelligent of beings is gifted with the discriminating ability
in addition to the instinctive habits that all other creatures possess.”
– Paramahamsa
Tewari (source)
The
general idea is that every time we perform an action a cause is created that
will have corresponding effects. Again, Karma literally translates to
“action” or “deed” and included within that action are your thoughts and
intentions. The karma principle makes it clear that the universe will
respond to you in this life and/or the next. Actions have “consequences,” and
thoughts do as well.
I
personally like to leave out “good” and “bad” when it comes to the consequences
of our actions. For example, a human being can have what we call a “good”
experience or what is perceived as a “bad” experience. The truth of the matter
is that they are experiences, regardless of how we perceive them and choose to
label them. We can either choose to grow from these experiences and learn from
others, untangling ourselves from the web of karma, or we can continue viewing
them as “bad” (for example) and prevent ourselves from moving forward.
According
to some Indian philosophies, like Jainism, Karmas are invisible particles of
matter existing all around us. Our souls attract these karmas through various
actions. For example, every time we get angry we attract karmas, just as when
we are deceitful or greedy. Likewise, every time we kill or hurt
someone we attract karmas. According to Jainism these karmas form layers
upon layers over our souls and keep us from realizing our true potential and
our ability to hear our soul’s voice.
I
find it very interesting that the philosophy and concept of karma is
discussed in various ways by multiple cultures, religions and philosophers over
a period spanning thousands of years.
Karma Yoga
Again,
karma is all about action. In Hindu philosophy, it’s believed that purified minds
will be the ones to partake in jinana
yoga, what is also known as the yoga of knowledge. As mentioned
earlier, this quest for truth and contemplation was believed to be a superior
act of being as opposed to performing karma yoga (good deeds without care for
their rewards or consequences, selfless acts), but both are paths to the same
destination.
Performing
karma yoga is all about performing acts that can benefit the planet(s), acts
that stem from the heart’s intent strictly for the benefit of the world(s)
or others. This is important to remember, because many can perform good
deeds in order to benefit themselves, reap the rewards, get to a specific
destination or to “look good” in the eyes of others. Performing acts from an
incorrect place within your heart is not “doing your karma,” but rather,
performing a selfish act in the disguise of good deeds – something
that might actually cause you to accumulate more karma instead. Karma
is all about the place you are coming from within, which brings me to my
next point.
The Difference Between Karma and the Mainstream Idea of It
When
I refer to the “mainstream idea of karma” I am more so referring to the idea and
energy behind the statement “they’ll get what’s coming to them” as well as the
idea that performing good deeds will provide you with good rewards.
Although
“good” deeds might come full circle and have positive fruition, just as “bad”
deeds do, karma has absolutely nothing to do with people “getting what’s
coming to them” as a result of their “bad” actions. It’s about learning from
your experiences, not about receiving the consequence of your negative action
for the sake of receiving it. The focus needs to be on achieving personal
growth as a result of your deeds; even if we are not consciously aware of it,
there is growth occurring at the soul level. Karma is an opportunity to move
forward. If you see somebody hurting another person and then you see that
aggressor hurt or suffer afterwards, it’s not your place to point your
finger and say “karma,” or “they got what was coming to them.” Karma is
accumulated so we can eventually rid ourselves of it, learn what we need to
learn from this human experience, and move on. It has nothing to do with the
energy of judgement and blame.
Furthermore,
if you do good deeds while under the belief that good deeds will be
reciprocated, you are completely contradicting the idea of Karma. Why? Because
performing karma is all about action that comes from a selfless place within
your heart, for no reward, for the good of the world. If you have the idea in
your head that you will somehow be rewarded, or you are engaging in acts of
good will for others to see, or trying to move forward in your career or
other aspects of your life, you might in fact be wrapping yourself up in even
more karma. The most important thing to consider is the intent and the
reasons behind your actions.
“Actions
performed without desire for rewards with spiritual consciousness contribute to
the fulfillment of liberation. When fulfillment is
achieved one attains the ultimate consciousness and liberation
is automatically included. By performing actions in this manner a living
being becomes verily a being of non-action. Renunciation is relinquishing the
desire for rewards attached to appropriate actions. Performing actions in
spiritual consciousness without desire leads to liberation.” (source)
There
is a quote I saw that was floating around the internet not long ago that
stated:
“Karma, no need for revenge. Just sit back &
wait, those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re
lucky, God will let you watch.”
The
idea that one can take joy in another persons misery is not at all indicative
of the theory of karma. Judgement has no place with regards to the theory of
karma. It’s all about lessons and opportunities for spiritual growth.
Collective Karma
“The
universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a
common karma. Likewise,
the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of
the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each
of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We
all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with
everything in it.” – The 14th Dalai Lama
Just
as we accumulate karma as individuals, we do it on a collective level. Our
actions as one giant human race will have consequences, and we’ve seen that
time and time again. One of the biggest examples is how we are operating here
on planet Earth, as well as our relationship with the environment and other
life forms that share the planet with us.
I
think it’s important to question what exactly we are doing here – what we are
thinking and how we are acting, and to then examine what type of reality we are
manifesting as a result of those thoughts and actions. After all, quantum
physics is shedding light on just how important human consciousness is, and how
factors associated with consciousness are affecting our physical material
world. You can read more about that here.
I
will leave you with this quote, as it is a completely separate topic yet still
related to the idea of karma in some way.
“Broadly
speaking, although there are some differences, I think Buddhist philosophy and
Quantum Mechanics can shake hands on their view of the world. We can see in
these great examples the fruits of human thinking. Regardless of the admiration
we feel for these great thinkers, we should not lose sight of the fact that
they were human beings just as we are.” – Dalai Lama (source)
**This is a very brief, condensed explanation of Karma
according to Hindu Philosophy. Please keep in mind that the idea of Karma is
present in various ancient cultures that have roamed the Earth through various
stages of human history.
From Collective
Evolution @ www.collective-evolution.com/2015/01/21/karma-not-the-mainstream-version-the-real-one/
For more information about karma see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/karma
- Scroll down
through ‘Older Posts’ at the end of each section
Hope you like this
not for profit site -
It takes hours of work every day by
a genuinely incapacitated invalid to maintain, write, edit, research,
illustrate and publish this website from a tiny cabin in a remote forest
Like what we do? Please give anything
you can -
Contribute any amount and receive at
least one New Illuminati eBook!
(You can use a card
securely if you don’t use Paypal)
Please click below -
Spare Bitcoin
change?
Xtra Images by R. Ayana – https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5808/23490578656_f663bc1d69_k.jpg
For further enlightening
information enter a word or phrase into the random synchronistic search box @
the top left of http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
And see
New Illuminati – http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
New Illuminati on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/the.new.illuminati
New Illuminati Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/newilluminati/playlists
New Illuminati’s OWN Youtube Videos
-
New Illuminati on Google+ @ For
New Illuminati posts - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RamAyana0/posts
New Illuminati on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/new_illuminati
New Illuminations –Art(icles) by
R. Ayana @ http://newilluminations.blogspot.com
The Her(m)etic Hermit - http://hermetic.blog.com
DISGRUNTLED SITE ADMINS PLEASE NOTE –
We provide
a live link to your original material on your site (and links via social
networking services) - which raises your ranking on search engines and helps
spread your info further!
This site
is published under Creative Commons (Attribution) CopyRIGHT (unless an
individual article or other item is declared otherwise by the copyright
holder). Reproduction for non-profit use is permitted & encouraged - if you
give attribution to the work & author and include all links in the original
(along with this or a similar notice).
Feel free
to make non-commercial hard (printed) or software copies or mirror sites - you
never know how long something will stay glued to the web – but remember
attribution!
If you
like what you see, please send a donation (no amount is too small or too large)
or leave a comment – and thanks for reading this far…
Live long
and prosper! Together we can create the best of all possible worlds…
From the New Illuminati – http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add your perspective to the conscious collective