KARMA ? [tof] KARMA001.TXT *********************************************************************** This one sits in a place of trying to understand what is called Karma, by the Eastern Teachers. The concepts of Karma and Reincarnation are fully intertwined, so the texts I make available to those who are interested deal with both. Please be advised, this author/editor does not state what appears in these texts are "truths". These are my current limited understandings of Karma at this time from my direct experiences, my studies and my assessments of the eastern texts and scriptures and or words spoken or written by those I believe to be Enlightened and or Real spiritual authorities on the subject matter ! [This file is an on going project. It will be added to and updated from time to time and the texts that come with it may added to also. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- According to the doctrine of Karma, all actions are followed by inevitable, but not necessarily immediate, consequences. Karma is the "universe" balancing out all negative and positive actions a being has taken in past lives, takes in the current life, and takes in future lives. The doctrine of Karma assumes the continued existence of the jiva (individual soul) in the universe. That is; when the current physical body dies, the jiva leaves it and after a certain amount of time is "born again" in another physical body. That body may or may not be a human. Samskaras: Samskaras are also refered to as Karmic Traces. The term Karmic Traces refers to the "seeds" which exist as un manifested potentials and which ripen when the necessary conditions Are present, traces of Karma originating in past lives, in youth, and in the resent life of an individual. RESULT OF A KARMIC CAUSE WHICH HAS MANIFESTED FROM RESENT ACTIONS. Karmic Traces appear when the conditions for it to manifest fully are ripe. EVENTS WHICH ARE RELATED TO AN EVENT WHICH TOUCHED THE PERSON DEEPLY AND LEFT TRACES OF THE TENSION, FEAR OR OTHER STRONG EMOTIONS. Karma is divided into four categories: 1. Sanchita karma, or the accumulated past actions. 2. Prarabdha karma, or that part of sanchita karma which results in this present birth and is known as predestination. 3. Kriyamana karma, or present willful actions, or free will. 4. Agami karma, or the immediate results caused by our present actions. Types or categories of Prarabdha Karma: 1. Ichha, personally desired. 2. Anicca, without desire. 3. Pariccha, due to others' desire. It is said; "Karma is not punishment ! It is "the universe" balancing out of all actions of an individual soul." "All beings must experience their Karma, however there are exceptions to this." "Karma is not fully unavoidable." (From texts about the I Ching.) "Some negative Karma can be dissolved away by certain actions." "A small amount of Karma is dissolved away each and every time a human being does a loving service to others without thought of reward or benefit to one's self." "A small amount of Karma is dissolved away each and every time a human being actually enters deep meditation." "Much Karma is dissolved away each and every time a human being actually enters full Samadi (Asamprajnata Samadi) while in deep meditation, even if Samadi is only experienced for a few seconds." "Even after becoming enlightened, a being still must experience certain aspects of their past Karma." "An Enlightened Being creates no new Karma by their actions." "An Enlightened Being can and may dissolve some or all of a follower's or a devotee's past life Karma when they are initiated as a disciple." "When an Enlightened Being dissolves a disciple's Karma, the karma of the disciple's current life is not dissolved." "If all of a being's Karma is dissolved, the being immediately drops the current body and leaves this plane of existence." "A being can not inhibit a human body without having some Karma in existence." "If a man kills 100 deer for food, he gets reincarnated 100 times as a deer who gets killed for food." [This raises the question,"Does a person who eats the meat of a deer killed by another man incure Karma for the death of the deer ?"] "Karma is far more complex then most people think it is." "There are various forms of Karma. Some of these are: personal, ancestral, racial, family, peer group, country, and physical location." "When you marry a person, you are making an unconscious agreement with the universe to share your partner's Karma with them as if their Karma was actually your Karma." "If a person does not sufficiently develop spiritually in a life and does not create sufficient "good Karma" in the life, then often the next life is in a lower life form. "A human being is not entirely bound by samskaras, otherwise it would be useless to try to attain enlightenment." "Non-spiritual desires are chain that binds man to the reincarnation wheel" "A person who does violence to another or even kills another in defense of their life or the life of another incurs no negative Karma for the violence, if it was not done in anger." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Stories and tidbits: The Master further states, that karma already created in the current life is not touched by a Master as if he did the devotee would drop his body immediately [Physical death]. An eastern master tells this story in an attempt to explain an aspect of karma, There was in an indian village a man with two young sons. [assumed to be teenager] (add 2 sons story here.....) It is stated even one who has reached enlightenment still must "clear" stored karma. the following story is told by.... about this; Once there was A very wealthy King whose karma was to enjoy a full life of many pleasures and be served and taken care of by servants. The king was a seeker of truth and wisdom. He meditated each and every day and did other spiritual practices. One day the king blossomed into Enlightenment. The king no longer needed to be wealthy and be surrounded by by beautiful objects, eat gourmet food and be taken care of by servants. So the king fled from his palace and went deep into the jungle to live alone. He had not been there long when a caravan owned by a very rich merchant came along. The merchant recognized the king and the fact that the king had reached enlightenment, so he had his servants set up a table with gold dishes and cook fine food to feed the king. And when the merchant when on his way left many of his servants to serve the king. It is said, "good deeds" in a current life can balance out some of the negative stored karma. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For the one who has realized the Self [become Enlightened], there is no ichha-prarabdha but the two others, anichha and parechha, remain. Good and bad samskaras are like seeds of different plants kept in a bottle: some grow in winter, some in the summer, and some in the rainy season. If you throw all the seeds on the earth, the seed which grows in that season will grow and the others will remain dormant. Exactly the same thing happens with samskaras. All kinds of samskaras are there but they grow according to the person, place, or thing with which we associate. If we go with depraved people, the bad samskaras will automatically come up and good samskaras will remain dormant. If we sit with a truthful person, samskaras or truthfulness will automatically come up. Karmic Traces appear when the conditions for it to manifest fully are ripe. [My current understanding of this principle is shown as follows; If it is my karma from a past life to have my wife leave me and take my children taken away from me when she leaves me, this "karmic seed" can not "ripen" until I; 1. get married. 2. father children with the woman I am married to. If i do not get married in this life, this "karmic seed" can not ripen and the karma can not be fulfilled until I have a life in which I get married and have children.] --ganashyam das