Characteristics of karma

Karma is a material quality, both physical and psychological, one related to the other as Cause and Effect. Matter in its subtle and psychic form pervades the entire cosmos. It penetrates the soul because of its association with matter outside it. In this way, one’s Jiva builds his own nest like a bird, and is bound by the so-called Karman-Srira or subtle body and remains bound in it until the empirical self depersonalizes and becomes a pure Jiva radiating with its original luster.

Karman-Srira attaches to the soul, it consists of eight prakriti corresponding to eight types of Karmic atoms producing different types of effects. These are of two types:

1. Karma that obscures true vision, such as for example

• • Darsan-avarna, hinders general correct perception or understanding
  • Janan-avarna, those who obscure correct understanding or understanding
  • Vedaniya, those who obscure the inherent blissful nature of the soul and thereby bring pleasant or painful feelings
  • Mohaniya, Karma that obscures right belief and right behavior.

All this karma acts as smoke colored glasses through which we see the world and everything in the world. Life is poetically described as a “multicolored glass dome” which “tarnishes the white radiance of eternity.”

2. Then there is the karma which makes a person like himself, because they determine (i) physical body, (ii) age and longevity, (iii) social status, and (iv) spiritual makeup. Each of these types are known as Naman, Ayus, Gotra and Antraya respectively.

In addition there are divisions and sub-divisions below, which have hundreds of branching.

The karmic particles that are scattered in the sky, cannot help but be attracted by each soul according to the pressure of the activity they enter. This continuous inflow of Karma can be checked by freeing oneself from all kinds of bodily, mental and sensory activities and stabilizing it in its own center; while the accumulation of karma can be limited by fasting, tapas, saudhyaya, vairagya, prashchit, dhyana and the like: namely, austerities, reading scriptures, renunciation, repentance and meditation etc.

The Buddha also placed great emphasis on constant effort and struggle with the aim of the ultimate victory over the law of Karma. The present may be determined by the past; the future is our own, depending on the direction of each individual’s desires.

Time is a continuity without end, the past leading to the present and the present to the future as desired.

The karmic particles that are scattered in the sky, cannot help but be attracted by each soul according to the pressure of the activity they enter. This continuous inflow of Karma can be checked by freeing oneself from all kinds of bodily, mental and sensory activities and stabilizing it in its own center; while the accumulation of karma can be limited by fasting, tapas, saudhyaya, vairagya, prashchit, dhyana and the like: namely, austerities, reading scriptures, renunciation, repentance and meditation etc.

The Buddha also placed great emphasis on constant effort and struggle with the aim of the ultimate victory over the law of Karma. The present may be determined by the past; the future is our own, depending on the direction of each individual’s desires.

Time is a continuity without end, the past leading to the present and the present to the future as desired.

With the realization of this ideal, all struggles will end, because whatever a liberated person does, he does without attachment. The ever-rotating Wheel of Life gets its momentum from karmic energy and when that energy itself is exhausted, the giant Wheel of Life stops, then reaches the junction of time and eternity, still at its core.

Karma provides the key to the life process; and one’s consciousness moves from one stage to another until he becomes a truly enlightened being. For the yogis of the Sages, the universe, far from mere mechanism, is Dharma-Kaya or the body pulsating with the Dharma or the principle of life, simultaneously functioning as its main support.

In short, the Law of Karma is a stubborn and inexorable law of Nature from which there is no escape and no exception. What you sow, you will reap, is an ancient axiomatic truth. Those are the general rules for life in nature. It also extends to several upper physio-spiritual regions, according to the order of their respective densities and peculiarities.

Karma is the highest principle higher than gods and humans because the former too, sooner or later, will also be affected. The various gods and goddesses in different realms took longer to serve in their respective realms than humans, but in the end they had to be reincarnated in the flesh before they could win, the final emancipation of the world. Karma rounds of birth.

All work, action, or deed forms a vital tool in God’s plan to keep the entire universe running perfectly. No one can remain without work (mental or physical activity) even for a moment. Someone is always thinking or doing one thing or another.

One cannot naturally become empty or mentally unemployed, nor can one stop the senses from their automatic functioning: the eye cannot neither see nor the ear but hear; and the worst part is that someone can’t, like Penelope, undo what was done. Repentance in itself is good, it cannot heal the past.

Whatever a person thinks, talks about or does, good or bad, leaves a deep impression on his mind and these accumulated impressions make or break a person. As one thought, so be it. It is from the abundance of thoughts that the tongue speaks. Every action has a reaction, because that is Nature’s Law of Cause and Effect. Therefore one must bear the fruit of his actions: sweet or bitter, depending on the case, like it or not.

Is there no cure? Are humans just toys of destiny or destiny working in a purely predetermined way?

There are two sides to the problem. A person has, to some extent, free will, by which, if he so chooses, can direct his path and make or break his future and even shape the gift of life for his own gain. Armed with a soul that lives within him of the same essence as his Creator, he is stronger than Karma. The infinity within him can help him to transcend finite boundaries. Freedom of action and karmic bondage are only two aspects that manifest in him. Only the mechanical and material parts of him are subject to karmic restraint, whereas the real and vital Jiva in himself transcends all and is hardly affected by karmic loads. This is what we must learn if we want a way out of the Endless Cycle of Karma.

The problem with most of us is that we don’t think about our actions. We, at every step of the way, are recklessly accumulating a charge of karmic particles without realizing that there is a force within them calculating everything we think, say or do.