Effects of Karma

 

Effects of Karma

Anuradha: Do specific karma have specific effects?

Sage Agastya: You have asked a question that I think will be posed to you when it comes to explaining some points regarding righteousness.

You are asking this question, not for yourself, but for others. Let me give you the answer in a simple manner, so it is easily understood by everyone.

Karma is the actions of human beings. The results are good or bad according to the type of action. It is an accepted fact that karma is carried over to the next incarnation since the fruit of these actions will need to manifest itself in the ensuing incarnations.

Vedas call this ‘Prarabdha karma.’ It is the karma carried over from previous births. There is also karma that results from actions in the present life as well. The effects of these actions can be felt either in the same lifetime or future births.

Karma is an action that stems from feelings and thoughts. These in turn are directed towards others.

Before answering your question, let me explain why a person commits bad actions.

It is important to remember that action and reaction are different. Action is what a person performs. Reaction is in response to the action.

This can be compared to a stone thrown into a pond. Throwing is the action. The sound of the splash and the ripples are the result of the action. It is the response of the water in the pond to the impact created on its surface.

Once again, it is important to analyze who aimed the stone and for what reason?

Imagine a person sitting on a mound and throwing a stone into the water in dejection. In this case, the action is not intentional. The person has performed this action without awareness. Such actions are excused.

Take a second example. A person picks up a stone and throws it with full strength into the water. In this case, he is aware of what he is doing, and also knows that the particular action was not necessary. Therefore, such an action is subject to punishment.

Keeping these two examples in mind, you can analyze the actions of humans and discriminate between the two types of actions. A person need not give much thought to unintentional, innocent, and spontaneous actions.

In life, many people unnecessarily react to such negligible and pardonable actions of others. Take the example of a small child. The child is walking through a street and sees a flower growing in someone’s yard and plucks it. What is your reaction? Would you scold the child or ignore the action? People ruin their peace by reacting to such trivial actions of others.

Let us take another example. A person throws a stone at a rock. What happens? Nothing. Nothing happens to the rock. The stone itself may break if it is brittle. If you are calm and do not resist another’s action, the deeds that are aimed at you will dissipate like a broken stone. The lesson here is not to react to the actions of others even if you think such actions hurt you.

There is a third category where if the stone is thrown into a mud, the mud allows the stone to sink into itself. In this process, the stone is not broken, the mud is not shaken, and everything remains calm. Such an attitude requires a refined personality to absorb insults and criticism of others. Such a person will take everything calmly. Once a person who aims the stone knows that he cannot hurt the mud by his actions, he will not attempt it again.

In short, I have explained three categories of actions. Now, let us see how reactions are produced.

In the first category, if a person is sensitive, he may react in several ways. He may respond with a sudden reaction to the action. This is when such a person loses control over his mind. Such a person is not able to discriminate. Such a person’s actions are uncontrolled especially if he is both emotional and sensitive. These types of actions result in fights, whether they are verbal or physical. Many murders are committed owing to such actions.

In the second category, the person is sensitive, but does not react outwardly. This is more damaging. Such a person keeps ruminating over the incident. Since he is unable to react, this may influence his actions and lead to misunderstanding in the family, thereby ruining the peace in his house. Ultimately this destroys his mental health and the happiness of his family.

The third category absorbs the action and remains unruffled. This is how Gods react to millions of abuses aimed at them by ordinary human beings. This is also the way a mother absorbs the tantrums and complaints of her children.

What is it that makes a person act? Consider what makes a person act keeping in mind the example I just gave you of a person throwing stones. We need to observe every action that we perform in our daily life and understand the intention behind our actions.

The mind is always active. Many exponents have compared the mind to a drunken monkey, and they are perfectly right. If not properly reined in, the mind can cause havoc. An uncontrolled mind, similarly, is agitated and reacts to its surroundings, and commits mistakes that are unwarranted.

Let us understand how actions originate. The mind is controlled by thoughts. Thoughts arise in the causal body. Thoughts are all around us. These are not our thoughts, but the thoughts of the multitude on earth. It is these thoughts either internal or external that function as an intoxicating drink to our minds.

Depending on the strength or the weakness of the person, the potency of thoughts, actions are performed. A person with a predominantly ignorant and lazy character (Tamo Guna) commits an act without much planning. A man with an intense character (Rajo Guna) acts fast. Therefore, the sins committed by these two types of people are grave. On the other hand, a person with pure character (Satva Guna) knows how to overcome a situation and avoids making mistakes by firmly controlling his thought process that leads to actions.

In short, it is best to use discrimination when reacting to any event. Discrimination is possible only if you have good samskaras and persevere in the path of righteousness. One effective way to develop is to start meditation.

However, you cannot meditate without first acquiring knowledge. That is the reason that meditation and knowledge have to go together.

How does one gain knowledge? For the most part it is through books, Satsang, and Gurus. However, there are some that are beyond this. They connect directly to cosmic knowledge and become Gnanis without books or Gurus. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharishi and many such Gurus of Kaliyuga belong to this category.

Now, let us examine your question. There is an atonement for every karma. Your question is whether there is a relationship between a specific bad karma and the atonement for it.

The fruit of karma is just a punishment to help the person understand that the actions committed by him are wrong. This helps him understand that he must not commit such actions again. In such an instance, punishment may be in any form. It is not necessarily the repetition of the deed. In some cases however, there is a correlation between the karma and the atonement.

Let us take some examples. A person is responsible for the death of another. While dying the victim is aware of the person who has killed him and that thought carries over to the next incarnation. Without his knowledge, the victim may try to take revenge on the person.

Take another example. A person kills a sacred animal like a cow. Such a person has to go through suffering owing to diseases in the next life. These are what we call ‘Naga dosha,’ ‘Sarpa dosha’ or ‘Stree dosha’ – limiting factors, or those that cause problems. These manifest as suffering.

Anuradha: If a person takes revenge in his next incarnation, will he not, in turn incur bad karma?

Sage Agastya: In this particular case, the person who takes revenge commits a similar mistake for which he too has to undergo atonement. Who is responsible for this revenge, the cause of which he does not himself remember in this case?

It is difficult to explain whether the actions are prompted from within or without. If the divine plan wants you to conduct a mission like killing someone in the battlefield like the epic wars of the yore, then you are only an instrument. Your actions do not fall under the category of sin. Innocent sins of the body do not pollute the soul.

Anuradha: Is it necessary to remember the sins of past lives?

Sage Agastya: You cannot ordinarily recall past lives. This is where the law of dharma takes over. That is the meaning of the phrase: God sees the truth but waits.

Why do you want to remember your past life? For a person like you who has chosen the path of right knowledge, it is not important to know the biographical background of your actions. You must feel that you are on the right path now. You are under the guidance of your Guru.

You are like a child being led by its mother. When it stumbles, it is not aware of it, but the mother knows how to lift the child up so it can walk again.

When that child grows up, it will not recall that it had stumbled. Likewise, it is not necessary to remember past lives. When you have the knowledge of causes and effects of karma, and when you believe in destiny, keep walking, and let your Guru guide you on the righteous path.

To be continued: More discourses on the topic Karma from the discourses will be posted...