What is Karma
The question of Karma is very complex, but it is vitally important to know about Karma, therefore we will try to analyze some of the main aspects of this fundamental Law of Cosmic Justice.
Surely, each of us has asked the question more than once: what are the causes of human misfortune? Why is there so much suffering? Why is fate so cruel to good people? Why is someone rich, healthy, beautiful, smart, lucky, while someone is weak from birth, poor, unlucky? All these "why" appear from ignorance of the Basic Cosmic Laws of life that reign in nature, and which, being violated, bring suffering to a person.
There are many of these laws: the law of Hierarchy, the law of free will, the law of balance, the law of Reincarnation, the law of Karma, etc. But the Law of Karma plays the main role in the life and evolution of both the entire Cosmos and an individual person.
This is the law of causal relationships between actions and their consequences. It is called the Law of Cosmic Justice, the Law of Responsibility, Retribution and Retribution. Karma is what, in a simple sense, means fate or fate. But in the concept of fate or fate is hidden something blind, fatal, accidental, without a cause, while the concept of law contains the wisdom of a system that can be studied and applied in the life of every day.
The law is not a being. The law is blind and immutable, it has neither heart nor feelings. He can neither be bribed, nor deceived, nor pityed, nor begged, it is impossible to hide from him, he rewards everyone according to his deeds inevitably: for good - good, for evil - with suffering. Its essence is expressed in the words of Jesus Christ: “Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. What goes around comes around.
What does the word "Karma" mean?
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The word "Karma" among the ancient sages of the East means action, and this indicates that people have known about the Law of Karma since time immemorial.
The word "Karma" in its sounding resembles the word "Kara - punishment", and in reality, negative action will be followed by punishment, positive - grace.
The laws of "Karma" say: "There is no phenomenon without a cause, and what is the cause, so is the effect."
As an example of manifestation of the Law of Karma can serve as the story of A. Haydock "Disguised", which was recorded by the author from the words of an old Ural peasant who witnessed the incident with his brother, a good, kind, hardworking person who loves his family and children.
Manifestation of the Law of Karma
This happened in the Volga region. The brothers and their families lived nearby. One summer, when the wheat rushed in the field, the storyteller's brother, young and healthy, was eager to go to the field and admire the fruits of his labor. He began to harness the stallion into a gig. No one objected to him, except that the stallion was completely stagnant - they had not harnessed for a long time. And then the children began to ask to take them with them. The mother of the children, sensing danger in her heart, began to object: "I will not give children," she says, "is it possible to carry children on our stallion! … Look how she dances." But, as a rule, docile, the husband brushed off his wife this time: “Oh, you! That I can't handle the stallion, or what? Nothing will happen! Children, come to me. " And that's what the kids need. They did not have the actions and persuasions of the brother not to take the children with them. The man seemed to be replaced: he became stubborn, angry. “My children. Wherever I want, I take it there."
And we left the yard. The father let go of the taut reins, and the stallion jerked with furious force. An hour later, the father returned home neither alive nor dead and brought the mutilated corpses of his children.
As it turned out, the stallion saw mares in someone else's herd on the way, jerked and carried. The peasant was strong, pulling the reins, did not give the stallion a move, and he, standing on its hind legs, overturned the cart. Children and fell out. Here the reins should have been loosened, the stallion would have jerked forward, and everything would have been all right, but the father of the children did not guess, or was confused, and even pulled it more … And then the stallion moved back together with the cart and in front of the father's eyes he trampled the children. Mother soon died of grief, and six months later, her father was gone.
Having finished his story, the old man asked the writer: tell me why this misfortune befell an honest man who did not do any harm to anyone? Where is justice, if it exists?
It should be noted that A. Haydock had the ability of insight and he received an answer through a vision. Imbued with sympathy and love for the unfortunate old man, whose consciousness carried him into the days of his youth, the writer entered the rhythm of the old man's experiences and, closing his eyes, saw a scene from the Middle Ages, which belonged to the times of the raids of the Teutonic knights on the Russian, Lithuanian or Livonian lands.
In the gray twilight of the winter dawn, the dying remains of a village that had just been raided were visible. Horsemen and foot soldiers with their visors raised, clad in armor, scurried about the conflagration, driving the cattle, carrying the stolen goods.
Among the mounted knights, the red-bearded warrior, probably the main one among the robbers, stood out for his huge growth. "Where are the captives we have brought?" He asked his servant. “Everyone is here, sir,” the servant replied, pointing to a small group of women who stood dejectedly. One of them hugged her children. This angered the red-haired knight, and he gave the order to throw the children at his feet. Despite the mother's pleas and sobs, two small bodies flashed in the air and fell in front of the bay stallion. In the next instant, the knight moved the reins and the horse moved forward, followed by a dozen more riders rode over the children's bodies. The writer did not retell his vision to the interlocutor, and sympathizing with the lack of knowledge of the old man said: "All this is because," said the writer who knows the Laws of Life, "that we are all dressed up, but dressing does not save us from old debts."
Naturally, the question arises: why does a person not remember his past lives? Another Cosmic Law of Evolution is involved here, the law of Compassion and Mercy. Someone in a past life could be an executioner, a villain who killed many human lives, and knowing this can bring him to despair, disrupt his psyche and delay his evolution for a long time. Someone, on the contrary, in the past held a high post, perhaps was a king, a prominent military leader, etc., and from such knowledge a person can become proud, such qualities as vanity, ambition, pride can develop in him, which ultimately also will have a negative impact on the mental health of a person and delay his spiritual growth. For this reason, at a present low level of consciousness, a person is deprived of the opportunity to know his past lives and remember the roles that he played in them.
However, someday there will come a day in the life of every person (if he is a human, and not just a two-legged animal) when he will be able to look into his past lives. Until that time, we can dimly judge our past by our current life, which is a direct result of our past good deeds or atrocities. Individual episodes of our past lives can sometimes be seen in dreams, but for the most part they remain unrecognized.
And yet, in current life, the manifestations of the Law of Karma are so frequent and obvious that everyone who seeks the truth with an open mind will easily perceive it.
Here an evil man sent arrows of hatred at his neighbor, and he remained calm to the sendings of the ill-wisher and did not allow them into his aura, and they, arrows of anger, deviating from the intended target, not finding a similar one there, returned with a boomerang to the one who sent them and struck him causing a corresponding illness or some kind of trouble in his life. Therefore, the Law of Karma is also called the Law of Backstroke or the Law of Responsibility, because the person himself is responsible for his actions.
Here is another example: a thief stole money, he was caught and he was punished severely. This is the action of the law of Karma in its rough form.
Some may notice that a clever thief can elude the punishing hand of the law. Yes, he can hide from the state law, but he will not hide from the Cosmic Law of Justice, sooner or later he will overtake him, inflicting a cruel but deserved blow of fate with the same force of suffering that he inflicted on others. The whole question is in the time of manifestation of the consequences of the perfect action.
The fact is that the manifestation of the law of Karma is a cosmic reaction to human actions, which requires a certain time for the formation of a consequence.
The organism of the Cosmos is incredibly sensitive, harmonious and responsive to every influence of human free will. A minor cause, slightly disturbing the harmony, reveals its effects in a short time, while for the manifestation of the consequences of an action that significantly disturbed the balance, it takes centuries. Stepping on someone's foot can immediately, as a result, get an angry look or an unflattering remark. But often people perform such actions that require a longer period to identify the consequences that go beyond one person's life.
The Universe is a great aggregate of activities that are governed by the law of absolute Cosmic Justice. And the activity of each individual unit that makes up the cosmic organism - be it a star, planet or a person - should be in full harmony with the Great Plan of Evolution. Failures are unacceptable. Any failure inevitably leads to a violation of harmony, which outwardly can manifest itself in diseases, catastrophes, cataclysms on a global, world or universal scale, because everything in the world is interconnected.
Each person, in order not to become a detonator of the planet, needs to know that his activity should serve not selfish goals, but the Unified Plan of Evolution. Man is a thinker, and he is given the right to choose a path: to go either in accordance with the world plan of evolutionary development, spiritually developing in order to subsequently become a conscious collaborator of the Cosmos, or degrade and be destroyed as a failed creation of the Cosmic forces. One can go the upper path only by developing unselfishness and coordinating one's activity with the Higher Will, i.e. live according to the formula: "Thy will be done, not mine." This formula, with a lack of knowledge about the innermost nature of man and the Universe, helps to avoid many mistakes. Jesus Christ spoke, addressing all of us: “If anyone wants to follow Me, deny yourself and take up your cross, and follow Me” (Luke).
If a person makes mistakes, gets lost on the way because of his ignorance, then the Great Law of Cosmic Justice - the Law of Karma helps him to correct the mistake and return to the right path. The Law of Karma is the guiding force of evolution. The Great Helper of man, acting for the benefit of evolution. Karma is harsh Grace.
Any action that hinders evolution, restricts a living being in its development is evil, and, conversely, any action that helps a living being to reveal his spirituality, his divine essence, is good. Any evil is a violation of the harmony of the cosmic organism, therefore the law of Cosmic Justice requires that even the smallest evil inflicted by a person on even the most insignificant creature be extinguished.
Recognition of the Law of Karma
Based on the above, we can define Karma. Karma is an evolutionary force. Its purpose is to direct a person to the path of evolution, to teach him to act in full accord with the Cosmic Laws, because only in full accord with the Laws of the Cosmos a person becomes a good creator of both his own fate and the fate of the planet.
“… Until a person understands all the greatness of his origin, that he is an immortal particle of the Divine Self, eternally changing its forms, and does not realize his responsibility, and that there is no one who could forgive him his sins or give him what he deserves and that only he himself is the creator of causes and effects, a sower and a reaper of everything he has created, until then man will be the originator and performer of that madness of crime and depravity, which threatens the planet with our terrible death”(Letters of E. Roerich, vol. I, 12.09.34).
Hence we can conclude that the recognition of the Law of Karma is a vital necessity.
Karma pursues the goal of the all-round harmonious development of the Individuality and therefore in each incarnation puts a person in such conditions in which a certain ability or quality of the soul develops and strengthens. For example: if there is not enough courage in a person, he must develop courage. Good qualities must grow and be affirmed, even if it took several incarnations. Thus, we can say that Karma is a school of life, an unlearned lesson is repeated in the next life or lives until it is fully mastered.
And yet, of all types of Karma, individual Karma is the main, decisive one, because it affects both the generation and the extinguishment of all other types of Karma.
The Law of Karma teaches that everything that happens to a person during his earthly life is the result of what he has done in previous existences, is the restoration of his own disturbed balance or justice.
In each new incarnation, a whole stream of the Karma we have done falls upon us, but still not all of its supply, under the weight of which we would not be able to rise. That part of karmic debts that everyone is able to pay off is taken away. This is the manifestation of the compassion towards us of the Masters of Karma, our spiritual cosmic Guides who direct us to a new incarnation. They take into account our inclinations, our capabilities, create conditions in which, with tension and goodwill, we will be able to master what is entrusted to us: pay off debts, gain new experience, spiritually advance higher, become better, cleaner, brighter. Therefore, it is said that there are no unbearable tests.
Karmic connections
Since a person lives simultaneously in three worlds: in the physical world - by his mechanical actions, in the astral world - by feelings and desires, and in the mental world - by thoughts, he creates a chain of causes and effects on each of these planes. A complex interweaving of karmic ties turns out.
There are three categories of forces that weave the patterns of our Karma, tie karmic knots with other people and determine our future.
These are our desires, actions and thoughts, expressed through words and actions.
Desires give rise to passions: they attract us to the objects of the external world; they always carry a person into the environment where these desires are able to receive satisfaction. They determine the place of birth of a person, family and mother, whose blood will provide suitable material for the formation of a physical shell, most suitable for satisfying desire: either the gross physical material plane, which binds the spirit to the Earth, or the spiritual, exalted, drawing the soul to heaven. Desires influence the selection of friends and enemies with whom we will be connected in the new incarnation.
Desires are born of feelings, and if such feelings appear between people, then they weave a karmic connection. Especially strong bonds woven with desires and feelings of love and hate. They determine our future enemies or friends, whom, upon meeting, we can identify by a sudden and brightly flashing feeling of sympathy or dislike.
At least half of all earthly encounters come from previous incarnations. But rarely does a person realize such meetings.
Whole groups of embodied people who lived earlier in one locality may again find themselves in the same locality. Some will be attracted to her by a feeling of attachment to their habitable place, others will be attracted here by the desire to continue work unfinished in their previous incarnation - therefore, former employees - doctors, scientists are often met … Still others will rush to quickly take revenge on their enemy, etc. If there was a friend - you will meet a friend, if there was an enemy - an enemy.
The enmity magnet is very strong, and the enmity path is not useful.
“Enemies strive to return to Earth as soon as possible in order to end their dark intentions … They are very annoying in their intentions and know how to find former opponents. They even strive to incarnate in kindred families in order to better overtake their victim …”(Supermundane, §616).
The question of close ones is very difficult.
Blood family closeness forces one to share and bear the burden that burdens all family members, and the Karma of hostile auras is especially heavy.
Former enemies, incarnated in the same family, are often burdened by their imperfections and hostility. In a close family circle, it is especially difficult to protect oneself from the aggravating psychic influences of auras alien to each other, especially when it is accompanied by various emotions.
Sometimes the pressure of other people's auras in the family is so heavy that when one of the family members goes somewhere even for a while, the air seems to become cleaner and the soul feels an extraordinary lightness and a sense of freedom. Karma sometimes makes us live for a long time near such burdening individuals, darkening life and putting pressure on consciousness, and only Karma frees such people from such people.
… The second category of forces that create our Karma are our actions.
If in past lives our actions caused suffering for the people around us, then in the future we will experience no less suffering, and on the contrary, if we contributed to the improvement of the well-being of others, then the karmic bill will pay us for our good deeds with good conditions of future earthly life. But whether a person in these good conditions will be contented and happy, or gloomy and dissatisfied, will depend not on the act itself, but on the motive of the act, which provided him with decent external conditions of life.
The motive of the act characterizes the spiritual qualities of a person and determines the goal of the accomplished one or another act.
For example: a person can sow a field with wheat in order to sell the crop, earn money to carry out malicious intent, say, to start a drug business; or maybe it can be done with a noble goal: to feed the hungry orphans, build a school or hospital with the money earned from the sale of grain, and again, not for the sake of ambition and glory, but simply because of compassion and mercy for the unfortunate and the desire to sow the light of knowledge for the sake of the common good and salvation of mankind.
The first case is the act (+), and the motive (-), with a negative motive of the act, in the future this person can get good external living conditions, but nothing more. He will not have spiritual joy and satisfaction with life and well-being.
The second case - an act (+), and a motive (+) - a person was guided by noble impulses of the soul, he will receive not only good conditions, but also spiritual grace, which can be expressed in the selection of good friends, in professional success, talents, in accelerated spiritual self-improvement etc.
Or it may happen that a person with a beautiful noble soul will be born in the most unfavorable conditions, if in the past, by his rash actions, he caused need for others, but at the same time he was possessed by a pure disinterested motive. He will justly earn himself difficult, constrained, maybe disastrous external conditions of life, but the noble qualities of his soul will help him endure need patiently and easily, and feel himself a happy person.
The motive of an action is a combination of desires and thoughts, and the action itself is the result of desires and thoughts.
And it is thought that is the main force that composes Karma.
There is nothing more responsible than the thoughts of a person, because no force is so easily transmitted and does not connect us with other beings and things as our thoughts. Thought is material, it is the finest, mental energy-matter, faster than light and electricity, it is instantly transmitted from one person to another, to a third, etc., easily tying karmic threads that bind people in good and evil. They can connect us with such people with whom in past lives we have not met, but with their thought helped them or provoked evil actions.
For example, it may happen that at the same time at different ends of our planet there may be two completely unfamiliar people, one of whom is in a state of severe depression with thoughts of committing suicide, and the other person at the same time complains to someone on his fate and says that he is tired of living and it would be better to die. And this irresponsible thought, similar to the thoughts of the first unfortunate person, becomes the last straw in the cup of the first unfortunate person, and the crime is committed. Here one can see the manifestation of her one Cosmic Law - the Law of Similarity, acting in the world of subtle energies - feelings and thoughts: like is magnetically attracted to like. As a result, two, not knowing about each other, become accomplices in a crime, in the case of murder. In the next incarnation, these two will certainly meet and find themselves in such circumstances where both of them will be punished. They can find themselves in the same tragic situation: war, shootout, car accident, etc., in which both will die, will suffer well-deserved punishment. "Eye for an eye, life for life."
A kind thought, which is filled with love and compassion for another being, can prevent a crime, on the verge of which some desperate person is, and then these two will meet in the next life as friends or good friends, one of whom can patronize the other, returning his karmic debt for the help ever rendered. Thus, control over thoughts and desires is a necessary condition for everyone who wants to create favorable conditions for themselves for spiritual evolution in the future. Man is the creator of his future.
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