Karma - Sanskrit: कर्म
Karma comes from the Sanskrit meaning "action", and the concept of action or deed, which leads to a cycle of cause and effect.
Any conscious thought, words and/or actions arising from cognitively unresolved emotion results in karma. Ways in which to negate the effects of this includes calming therapies such as meditation, counselling, psychoanalysis, etc – whose aim it is to enhance emotional self awareness and so avoid negative karma.
Some believe that a higher being plays out the role of giving out the fruits of karma, or that in rare occasions, a persons’ karmic cycle can be changed by them. In general, followers of Buddhism and many followers of Hindu traditions consider the laws of causation sufficient to explain karmic returns.
One view of karma is that a Sadguru* can act upon a higher being’s behalf, and work out some or all of a person’s karma. While those who follow Jainism believe that a person is individually responsible for their own karma.
Karma as also likened to a field in some belief systems, where karma is a seed. It holds everyone responsible for what a person is, or what a person will become – it is based on the total sum of passed karma. This isn’t the case spanning over a single lifetime - a person is where they are now due to previous karma in every form of (previous) existence.
In Jainism, karma is seen as “karmic dirt”, and the karma is attracted to the karmic field of a soul on account of vibrations created by the activities of the mind, speech and body, as well as an account of mental dispositions.
This can be visualised in some of the healing therapies, where “cosmic dirt” is erased from the body.
Karma is also affiliated with Paganism and the “Three Fold Law” where a person’s actions will return to them times three, or the saying “What goes around, comes around”.
Buddhism links karma directly to the motive behind an action as well, as motivation makes all the difference between actions that are good and bad. Ignorance is also taken into account with motivation, as a well intended action coming from an ignorant mind could be interpreted as “bad” as it creates negativity somewhere else.
There are three actions in which karma takes place:
- Sanchita – what karma is stored and yet to fruit
- Parabdha – Karma whose effects are received in this birth in a form of destiny
- Kriyamam – the actions you perform in day to day life that create karma
Karma alone is not the only cause of what happens; there are five branching categories of karma known as “Niyama Dhammas” that govern the mechanics of the universe:
- Kamma Niyama - Consequences of one’s actions
- Utu Niyama – Seasonal changes and climates
- Biija Niyama – Law of hereditary
- Citta Niyama - Will of the mind
- Dhamma Niyama – Nature’s tendency to produce a perfect type
Karma comes from the Sanskrit meaning "action", and the concept of action or deed, which leads to a cycle of cause and effect.
Any conscious thought, words and/or actions arising from cognitively unresolved emotion results in karma. Ways in which to negate the effects of this includes calming therapies such as meditation, counselling, psychoanalysis, etc – whose aim it is to enhance emotional self awareness and so avoid negative karma.
Some believe that a higher being plays out the role of giving out the fruits of karma, or that in rare occasions, a persons’ karmic cycle can be changed by them. In general, followers of Buddhism and many followers of Hindu traditions consider the laws of causation sufficient to explain karmic returns.
One view of karma is that a Sadguru* can act upon a higher being’s behalf, and work out some or all of a person’s karma. While those who follow Jainism believe that a person is individually responsible for their own karma.
Karma as also likened to a field in some belief systems, where karma is a seed. It holds everyone responsible for what a person is, or what a person will become – it is based on the total sum of passed karma. This isn’t the case spanning over a single lifetime - a person is where they are now due to previous karma in every form of (previous) existence.
In Jainism, karma is seen as “karmic dirt”, and the karma is attracted to the karmic field of a soul on account of vibrations created by the activities of the mind, speech and body, as well as an account of mental dispositions.
This can be visualised in some of the healing therapies, where “cosmic dirt” is erased from the body.
Karma is also affiliated with Paganism and the “Three Fold Law” where a person’s actions will return to them times three, or the saying “What goes around, comes around”.
Buddhism links karma directly to the motive behind an action as well, as motivation makes all the difference between actions that are good and bad. Ignorance is also taken into account with motivation, as a well intended action coming from an ignorant mind could be interpreted as “bad” as it creates negativity somewhere else.
There are three actions in which karma takes place:
- Sanchita – what karma is stored and yet to fruit
- Parabdha – Karma whose effects are received in this birth in a form of destiny
- Kriyamam – the actions you perform in day to day life that create karma
Karma alone is not the only cause of what happens; there are five branching categories of karma known as “Niyama Dhammas” that govern the mechanics of the universe:
- Kamma Niyama - Consequences of one’s actions
- Utu Niyama – Seasonal changes and climates
- Biija Niyama – Law of hereditary
- Citta Niyama - Will of the mind
- Dhamma Niyama – Nature’s tendency to produce a perfect type
*A true monk, a title only given to “Enlightened Seers”.
