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What is karma?
Simply put, karma is where if you do something good for some person or creature and something good will happen to you in return. If you do something bad to someone or some cre…ature, something bad will happen to you in return. "Do unto other as you would have them do unto to you." The golden rule in Christianity. Same principle follows. What goes around comes around. If you live your life exercising kindness and compassion to all people and all creatures, something good will swing around your way. And vise versa. Another view I am presenting here an alternative theory of karma that I think is more logical and acceptable. According to the most widely believed karmic theory, a good action has a good result for an individual. This theory totally ignores psychological and sociological facts. We cannot take an individual in isolation and study him. The whole world is interconnected with each other including the individuals. This interconnectedness is karma. The individual is not an island unto himself; he is part of the whole and thus will be affected by the whole. Karma has both psychological and sociological implications. Suppose a person becomes a thief and is successful in his act, this will reinforce his samskaras or inherent negative tendencies and will encourage him to further wrong acts and in the process one day he will get caught and suffer for his actions. In the process, he has influenced both his psyche and the society by his actions. Envy, greed, hatred, impatience are feelings that denote disharmony in the mind and if you observe whenever you have taken a wrong decision, a wrong action, its always under the influence of these factors. Encouraging them causes psychological disturbances and this is your karma and you will fructify it. We have to understand that our actions affect others as much as they do to us. When we realize this, we can develop a lot more sensitivity towards our environment and do our best to keep it in perfect order. Everyone, directly or indirectly, contributes to the negative sociological circumstances, because society is formed of individuals and depends on how individuals behave. The advantage of this modified karmic theory is that this makes karma theory verifiable and dissolves the mystery around karma, making it understandable for anyone. In addition, it creates a stronger feeling of responsibility for our actions and increases our sensitivity towards our environment, towards the whole world and humanity. More input Karma is a highly misunderstood term. This is because it is based on logic and we use reasoning. Practically, this means that Karma enables us to improve all the activities of our life simultaneously . However, Since we are modern we try to improve one action at a time, through what we wish to call as good deeds. Karma is an adjective and not a Verb. Thus, it has nothing to do with deeds. CONVENTIONAL CONCEPT OF KARMA: Karma is supposed to be the entity that causes Reincarnation. Good deeds are supposed to result in a better next life and bad deeds a worse life. In Hinduism good deeds are supposed to result in a higher castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas) KARMA - ACCORDING TO BRAHMAJNANA: Karma means fluctuations in facilitating/ retarding forces. This makes an activity inefficient and unpredictable. Reincarnation is symbolic representation of transformation of the activity every time it is repeated. ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF KARMA: All the skeletal muscles of our body can isometrically contract (temporarily harden) and relax (temporarily soften) as though it were a single skeletal muscle. This entity is what is known in Hinduism as Purusha . Karma is caused by Isometric contraction and isometric relaxation of Purusha. Thus, Karma would distort activities executed by isotonic contractions caused by shortening of muscles. KARMA AND VARNAS: Karma is the highest in the Shudra Varna and least in the Brahmana Varna. This is because in the Shudra Varna there is unlimited freedom and in the Brahmana Varna there is no freedom at all. REDUCING KARMA: The best way to reduce Karma is Vedic meditation. This is a set of isometric exercises. Thus, it would enable us to make us become one with our Purusha and and alter its tone at will. BUDDHISM AND KARMA: Karma is the concept of action or deed. In the west, this is confused as the payback to your actions (Fate, e.g. It was my karma to get yelled at because I yell at everyone). This is an incorrect understanding. The reactions to your actions is called the Karmic Fruit (Pali:vipaka) and they are the ups & downs. Your karma is the way your typical reaction to a given situation each time it happens. The karmic fruit will bring about a reaction in either the present life or a future rebirth. This Buddhist perspective on Karma is ever slightly more different than that in Hinduism. Karma and its effects . Karma is hard to pursue, because it is constituted as the kernel of every living being. In ABHIDHAMMA karma concealed and cannot be revealed until someone attain Nirvana (Pali:-Nibbana). Karma is obliged in reincarnation. Consequences are like it will place you @ right place on the right time. Karma is the belief that what an individual puts out in to the universe will come back to them in the exact same manner. (MORE)