Discussion on Karma                                       KARMA003.TXT
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       by Dr Jonn Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati)
       topics include: Karma, Karmic Cycles, Reincarnation, Rebirth,
       Transmigration, Life after Life, Metempsychosis, Nemesis Sin: Penalty
       or Opportunity?
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       What is Karma ?

       Karma is a psychic equivalent of Newton's theory of action and
       reaction, the psychic equivalent of Newtonian physics, for as far as
       you push in one direction, the pendulum is going to swing back an equal
       arc on the other side. Karma in essence is a principle, that for every
       turn of the mind-body complex and every action in the external world
       there must be an inevitable consequence.

       Basis of Karma

       I am not interested in altering your belief system. You may or may not
       agree with the concept of life after life, an endless cycle of birth
       and death and rebirth but it doesn't matter whether you believe in it
       or not, that is of no consequence.

       Half the world's population believe in the doctrine of Samsara - the
       eternal bondage of rebirth; the cycle of life and death. Buddhists,
       Hindus and offshoots of Buddhism and Hinduism and Esoteric teachings in
       the West ALL AGREE UPON THIS and consequently reincarnation has become
       a formal doctrine with half the population of this planet.

       I am going to suggest to you, which you do not have to believe, that
       the teaching of life after life may or may not be so, and I would
       suggest to you that the belief that it is so, is also an Esoteric
       teaching. There is an outer teaching and by my understanding, as my
       Gurus have taught me, there is also an inner or esoteric meaning to the
       concept of reincarnation.

       Life after Life or Thought after Thought

       I will share with you, one aspect of the esoteric or
       inner teaching about the doctrine concerning life after life.

       What does reincarnate, in endless rounds of birth after birth, is the
       chain of associational thinking that eternally goes on within all of
       us. Each thought is a birth and each cessation of the thought is a
       death. The tendency for us is to recycle our thoughts in ever-recurring
       patterns. The Yogi gains freedom from the wheel of rebirth by
       sacrificing thinking for being.

       Types of Karma

       We have the following three categories of Karma:

       SaBija Karma, Agami Karma and Parabdhra Karma

       SaBija Karma

       SaBija Karma is the cycle of events that happened to you in the womb
       and continues to affect you after birth. It means that at the moment of
       birth there are seeds of Karma already within you, which may or may not
       be sprouted, and each of us in this room is carrying around SaBija
       Karma, and it can be sprouted at any moment.

       "The seeds of destiny already stored as a result of former lives, but
       which have not yet begun to germinate. Left alone, these would generate
       in time a set of latent dispositions, which would yield a biography,
       but they are still in the seed-state: they have not yet begun to
       sprout, mature, and transform themselves into the harvest of a life." 
       Heinrich Zimmer; Philosophies of India

       Agami Karma

       Agami Karma is Karma that we collect during our life after birth and
       the seeds are there but not yet sprouted, they can be sprouted at any
       moment and they are the result of inevitable action and reaction or
       consequences to things that we have done.

       The mental and physical acts performed by an individual in the present
       life, the fruits of which are to be reaped in the future.

       A Ramakrishna-Vedanta Wordbook

       Parabdhra Karma

       There exists a third type of Karma and that third type of Karma is
       known as Parabdhra Karma. Parabdhra Karma is Karma that has already
       sprouted and nothing can stop it. It is the consequences absolutely one
       hundred percent unavoidable. No one can stop Parabdhra Karma!

       It is Parabdhra Karma when the seed is sprouted and the consequences
       are already clearly and irrevocably manifest. Parabdhra Karma may
       bedescribed as Kinetic Karma i.e. in full motion.

       "The seeds collected and stored in the past that have actually begun to
       grow; i.e., the Karma bearing fruit in the shape of actual events." 
       Heinrich Zimmer; Philosophies of India