Some years ago, while staying at the ashram of the Indian saint Ramana Maharshi, located at the foot of the forest-covered Mount Arunachala, I read the great sage’s sacred words etched above a doorway: “What is destined not to happen, won’t happen. happen, try as you can. Whatever will happen, it will happen. Do what you can to prevent it. This is certain. It is therefore best to remain silent.”
His words are a key to karma and destiny. As someone who tried to make things happen, forced results, and struggled with surrender, these words were like magic. I have never forgotten them and I think that reading this wisdom, while steeped in the silence that the great saint’s presence left in the area where he lived, caused the words to sink deep into my soul.
On a personal level, the words mean a lot to me, because I can immediately see how karma influenced the course of my life from very early on. I was given up for adoption as a baby, and it always seemed to me that my life at that time was like a river with multiple tributaries branching off in different directions depending on which lottery the parents took me home from. And actually that applies to all of us to some extent. We are born into certain circumstances, cultures, places on earth, wealth or poverty, with specific genetics, talents and disadvantages. We have no control over these circumstances… or do we?
Nothing raises more questions or is more misunderstood than the concept of karma. Karma is a Vedic science, with roots in India, and is a central tenet of many spiritual traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism and Jainism.
The wheel of karma is the idea that everything in our lives occurs as a result of past actions and that current actions influence future lives. Karma is linked to rebirth. Every action we take in life ripples out of us like a stone hitting water. The ripples have untold consequences for others and will flow back to us at some point in the future. The fruits of our previous actions are like echoes, and there is no escaping them. Karma is closely linked to causality. Once you become aware and access the higher stages of awakening and enlightenment, where you no longer become identified with the ‘self’, you can step out of the karmic wheel of life, that endless cycle of rebirth, and your personal karma disappears . This is the purpose of spiritual practice.
What is karma?
The principle of karma or ‘law of karma’ is the idea that all of life is governed by a system of cause and effect, action and reaction, in which your actions have corresponding effects on the future. Karma is a precise science.
It is a universal law, just as gravity is a law of nature. If you jump from a skyscraper you will most likely die, and if you harm someone you will get hurt at some point too. Science has discovered that everything in nature obeys laws. These laws of nature are impartial and arbitrary.
The law of karma states that you will reap what you sow, a hundredfold. The tennis ball that hits the wall must bounce back. Every action we take is like a little seed we plant. The seed will eventually grow and just like in nature, some seeds bloom faster than others. Some seeds will mature quickly, and others may take decades or lifetimes. But one thing is certain: the seed will ripen and we will have to face the results of our actions. Your world is 100% the result of your previous actions, words and thoughts.
The consequence or effects of one’s karma can be described in two forms: phalas and samskaras. A phala (fruit or result) is the visible or invisible effect that usually occurs immediately or within the current lifetime. Samskaras, on the other hand, are invisible effects produced in the person due to karma that transform and influence his or her ability to be happy or unhappy in this life and future lives. In this way, karma is a principle of psychology and habit. Karmic habits or seeds create the nature of man and influence your self-perception and therefore your life experience.
The science of karma is further complicated by different levels of karma. We have personal karma, family and ancestral karma, social karma, national karma and so on. All these levels of karma interact with each other.
Karma works through a process of several rebirths. Good or bad actions create impressions (samskaras) or tendencies (vasanas) in the mind, which over time will result in more action and karma. The seeds of karma are carried in the subtle body, or energy body, into which the soul transmigrates. The physical body is the field in which the fruit of karma is experienced and where we create more karma. Perhaps the hell that many religions talk about is simply the unbearable and painful situations we create for ourselves through our past bad deeds.
You are not punished for your anger, you are punished by your anger. – Buddha
Why do good things happen to ‘bad’ people and bad things happen to ‘good’ people?
Karma is a way of explaining misfortunes in the world to those who don’t seem to deserve it. Could their unhappiness be due to wrong actions in their past life? Through this lens we can understand why one person survives in a car crash and all the other passengers do not.
There was a story about a mother who was breastfeeding her baby during an earthquake when a pillar collapsed and killed her. Yet her little baby survived and was found unharmed in the wreckage, lying at her breast. There is no logical explanation for this event and people drive themselves crazy trying to understand why certain things happen the way they do. Understanding karma can help end this mental torture. Karma is also a way to explain things like child prodigies, who become exceptional artists or musicians at a young age, with little to no training.
Have you ever thought or said, it doesn’t matter, karma will get them? I know I did that. In moments of anger, betrayal, pain, I’ve definitely thought, “don’t worry about this so much, karma will seek them out.” But as I delved into my spiritual practice and yoga studies, I came to understand that karma is not this boogeyman with a big stick, beating you up for your misdeeds to even the score. Yes, karma is a universal law, but it is much more important and meaningful to our own consciousness and success in human life than I initially thought. Understanding karma more deeply allowed me to move from victim to empowerment.
The real meaning of Karma
If you truly understand karma, so much can fall away. Repeated negative thoughts about your life fall away when you realize that you created and caused absolutely EVERYTHING that is happening to you now. At some point in your life you chose it through your actions. This is on the one hand very sobering, and yet it can be just as liberating. It means that you have the power of a positive response, no matter the situation. It’s not about blaming yourself or others. It’s also not about passing judgment when someone is sick, or when something bad has happened to him or her.
It’s more like humility, like realizing that you may have hurt someone else, perhaps betrayed someone else, or taken something from someone else, in a forgotten time. Understanding karma is about opening your heart to more compassion and kindness, for yourself and others. When someone betrays me, I try to remind myself that it is entirely possible that I have betrayed him or her in the past. And so, instead of reacting angrily, it would be better to deal with my own pain, deeply consider the situation before reacting, and not create more bad karma for myself. This in no way means that you are weak, or that you won’t stand up for yourself. It’s about being aware. I think this is what Ramana is talking about when he says it is best to remain silent!
“If you think that everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything comes only from within you, you will experience both peace and joy.” Dalai Lama
At some point in your life you chose it through your actions.
Understanding karma is a key to a good life. You can use the laws of karma to create success in your life. For example, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then really help others to become entrepreneurs. This will create positive karma for you and sow the seeds for the opportunities you create for others to arise for you. If you want to heal something in your own life, help others heal. The law of karma is about choice.
Sometimes we can’t control what happens in our world, but we can absolutely control how we respond to what happens. This is a huge challenge if you are in the middle of an argument, or if you have been rejected or wronged. But if we can stop in that moment and respond consciously and with wisdom, we can most likely save ourselves from the endless cycle of pain and loss. Whether you believe in karma or not, it affects you and its principles can help you live a better life.
Besides good karma, there is also karma, devotional service, which brings ultimate freedom from karmic entanglement. Some practices that can support the ability to balance karma and find inner peace are Loving Kindness meditation or Metta, and the Buddhist practice of Tonglen.
In Loving Kindness meditation, you open your heart to send prayers and good wishes to all beings. Starting with yourself you can pray: May I prosper, may I be happy, may I have peace. Then you go to friends and relatives, repeating the phrases, visualizing your loved ones. Finally, go to someone with whom you are having problems, bring him or her to your thoughts and repeat sincere prayers that he or she is well, happy and at peace. You can also use Loving Kindness meditation to pray for groups of people, animals, or the entire world.
Tonglen is a more advanced practice and is also called giving and receiving because it is a practice of breathing in suffering and breathing out peace or healing. When you come to a meditative space, you connect with your feelings, breathe in all fear, excitement and resistance, accept what is in front of you, with kindness, and then breathe out compassion and healing for yourself or for all beings .
Tonglen is used to absorb and transmute the suffering of others, so that, for example, you can breathe in the suffering of refugees and radiate hope, love and peace. As you breathe in and out, cherish the wish to take away suffering and then the wish to send comfort and happiness. These exercises can help you open your heart, move beyond the ego, and discover a broader perspective on life.
So many times I have pondered the meaning of Ramana’s words, and each time my consciousness cracks open a little wider to understand the silent emptiness that radiates from his wisdom. The words travel with me and have given me great comfort, saved me countless hours of worry and brought me deep peace. His wise words are not a call for passivity. On the contrary, they are a call to inner action, to introspection and acceptance. In the silence we unravel the past, without creating more drama for ourselves in the future. We discover our heart and the meaning of life, which is to help others and love each other.
By means of Azriel ReShel
Original article @ Elevate