On the Nature of Karma
The following article clarifies some little-known aspects of karma that are critical for our understanding as we strive to live in accordance with Swami’s teachings. Excerpted and edited from a talk given by Dr. Shivaram Kollengode at the Northeast Regional Conference on May 25, 1997, this is the first of two articles.
The law of karma is extraordinarily important for each of us, whether we accept it or not. We are “doing” karma from our first breath at birth until we die. Because we have karmic debt to pay, we come into the world. Earlier in the retreat, we heard a guest speaker say that he did not want to come back to this world to learn anything more. I am sure some others feel the same way. Yet, the only way to accomplish this is to bring our karmic balance to zero. Until we do that, we have to come back to this world, again and again.
One of the most important topics for any human being to address is karma. If we understand the law of karma, we can change our lives—our acts, our thoughts; everything will be different. Long, long ago, when Sai came in the form of Krishna, He said to Arjuna, “It is important for everyone to understand what action is? What is correct action? What is forbidden action?” He continued, “The ways of karma are mysterious. They are very intricate. Even great pundits and scholars do not understand the law of karma.” Therefore, it is important for us to understand the basic principles of the law of karma.
What is Karma?
First, let us define the word karma. Whatever we do, by way of our thoughts, words and actions, is karma. That is why Swami gives so much importance to the three manifestations of the mind—thought, word and action. Swami affirms, “A person who has harmony in his thoughts, words, and deeds is truly a mahatma.” On the other hand, a person who thinks one thing, says something else and does still another is a sinner.
The law of karma is a natural law like many other natural laws—the earth’s gravity, the earth rotating on its axis, or the earth going around the sun. Many natural laws affect the whole universe. On the other hand, our society has man-made laws and we are affected by them. In general, there are five distinctions between man-made laws and God’s laws.
First, God’s laws are eternal. They came into existence when God created the universe and will continue to exist until the end of the universe.
Second, they are universally applicable. If we say that the law of karma does not apply to us because it is stated in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu text, and we are Christian or Muslim—or if we argue that we do not belong to any religion—or that since we are in the United States of America these laws do not pertain to us—we are wrong. We will be affected by the law of karma whether we understand it or not, whether we accept it or not. If we think We can escape to the moon one day and live there, we will still be affected by the law of karma. The best approach is to understand it a little and change our lifestyle.
Third, there are no exceptions to the law. Even the families of avatars (Divine incarnations), when they come, are subject to the law of karma. As an example, King Dasaratha, who begot Lord Rama, was not excused for having accidentally killed an ascetic boy.
Fourth, the law of karma never makes mistakes. Remember we deserve whatever happens to us. It is all because of our past actions.
Fifth, there are no additions, deletions, changes or amendments to these laws because God is perfect and complete. Whatever comes out of God also has to be perfect and complete. At times, I have heard some devotees question Swami’s actions and words. There is never anything wrong in what Swami says; whatever God says is perfect. Then, where is the defect? If there is a full moon and we see two moons, the difficulty is not with the moon or with its maker, the difficulty is with us. If we ever think that Swami is acting wrongly, remember the defect is in our vision, not in His action.
Simply stated, the law of karma says that whatever we think, whatever we speak, whatever we do, must and will come back to us. The law of karma is based on the principles of action and reaction. If we have hurt someone today, be sure that we will be hurt in return to the same degree. Absolutely no doubt exists about this; the only question is, when is going to happen?
Good and Bad Karma
Good karma is easy to understand. Doing service activities or giving a glass of water to a person who is thirsty, food to somebody who is hungry, clothes to one who does not have clothes- these are considered good karma. Bad karma results from hurting someone or something, maybe an animal, or even nature; it comes from bad action in thought, word and deed. Know that eating meat is a bad action because those who eat meat are deliberately participating in causing indirect harm, suffering and even death to innocent, defenseless animals that cannot seek justice in a court of law. Swami says again and again that eating meat creates bad karma.
Unfortunately, our good deeds do not cancel bad actions. I used to think that doing more good deeds in a day than bad would keep my balance up. This is not the case. Here is an example. I borrow $10,000 from one person and I loan $20,000 to another person. I cannot tell the first person that since I have loaned $20,000 to another, I am not required to pay him back. When karma is between us and another, or between us and an animal, it is one-to-one, and whatever we do, it must come back to us.
Instant and Delayed Karma
The second type of classification of karma is based on time. Once a person performs an action, the reaction time is either instant or delayed. Instant karma is very easy to understand, since the reaction is immediate. For example, we drive 85 miles an hour on a 65-mile-per-hour road and a police car catches us; that is instant karma.
When the reaction is delayed, it is difficult and sometimes impossible, to correlate action with reaction. In the case of “early” delayed karma, such as when we take an examination, we know that the results will come within a specified period of time. However, with “late” delayed karma, the time span may be much longer, as happened to King Dasaratha, Lord Rama’s father. Long before he begot his sons, Dasaratha went hunting deep in the forest. Near a river, he happened to hear a gurgling sound. Unfortunately, he mistook the sound for that of an animal and shot an arrow in that direction. Since he was a master in the science of sound-directed archery, he could hit an object precisely through its sound alone. In this instance, however, he was horrified to discover that he had fatally wounded an ascetic boy who was collecting some water for his aged, blind parents. Dasaratha went to the parents and told them of this unfortunate incident. The parents were broken-hearted. Before their death they told Dasaratha, “Even though you committed this sin unknowingly, your death will come in the same manner. You will die because of separation from your son.” At the time, Dasaratha did not have any sons. But, later on, Dasaratha had four sons and died broken-hearted when Sri Rama left for the forest at the insistence of one of his stepmothers, Kaikeyi. What if Dasaratha had not had any sons? The karmic seed would have waited for any length of time to find an appropriate chance to sprout. It would come back even after a hundred lifetimes, but it is certain to come back. Vivekenanda said this universe has no force that can stop our karma from returning to us, so preventing it before we act is better for us.
“Early” delayed karmas usually happen during our lifetime; “late” delayed karmas may wait for several lifetimes to come back. The classic example of this principle is the story of Dhritarastra, the blind King in the Mahabharata. After the battle of Kurukshetra, all the wicked sons of King Dhritarastra were killed. Krishna, the master craftsmen, took the five Pandava brothers to King Dhritarastra to pay their respects. Dhritarastra was heartbroken because he had lost all one hundred sons. When Krishna came there, Dhritarastra asked Krishna, “Please tell me, what sin did I commit to suffer this sort of punishment? I was born blind in this life and I lost all my sons. Could you not spare me even one of them?” Krishna replied, “Uncle Dhritarastra, you committed a heinous crime fifty lifetimes ago when you were born in a hunter’s family. One day you wanted to catch some birds and you threw a burning net over a nest that contained a hundred young birds that did not even have wings to fly. All of the birds were burned to death. Though the parents managed to escape, they were blinded in the fire before they escaped. That is why you lost your one hundred sons.”
This explanation shook Dhritarastra. He kept quiet for a couple of minutes. Then he questioned Krishna, “I am sure this is what happened, but remove my doubt once more. Why did this not happen to me in that same lifetime or in the next? Why did it have to wait fifty lifetimes to come back to me?” Krishna said, “My dear Dhritarastra, to beget one son you need to accumulate a lot of good deeds. To get one hundred sons you needed to accumulate many more good deeds and it took you fifty lifetimes. In this lifetime all the circumstances were appropriate for this karma to come back to you, and it did.” Because of the passage of lifetimes in late-delayed karma, we find it almost impossible to connect the cause and effect when something happens to us.
Destiny and Mass Karma
All of us have passed through thousands and thousands of lifetimes. Each moment, we are doing karma, so you can imagine the mountainous amount of karmic seeds we have accumulated. In one lifetime of ninety or a hundred years, we can only burn off a minuscule portion of this karmic debt. Swami says when we are born, the Creator places an invisible garland around our necks, which has the codes for all those karmic seeds of good and bad deeds that we are supposed to endure in that particular life.
One can hardly do anything about destiny because the karmic seed has already started sprouting. Can you choose your parents? Can you choose your sex? Can you choose which family you are born into? Can you choose the country where you are born? Can you choose your brothers and sisters? The answer to all these questions is no. It is already decided; the seeds have sprouted, and you cannot do anything about it.
Mass karma is very interesting and demonstrates how God is exceedingly economical. He never wastes a single word or action. An example is when Swami speaks a word to a person and ten other people each hear something different and everyone is happy with what he or she heard. Different people also hear Swami speak in different languages at the same time.
Swami says that with mass karma, God works like a locomotive train; instead of using the engine to draw one filled compartment, He waits for hundreds of compartments to be ready and then pulls them all together. When 350 people get on a 747 and the plane crashes, this is mass karma. The same principle holds true for the effects of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and wars. But when many people are collected together, the odds are high that someone will be included who does not l have the same karma as the others. Suppose such a person is scheduled to fly that 747 plane. Owing to factors beyond his control, he is unable to catch the plane because of a traffic jam, or—as in the case of a recent flight to Chicago in which all passengers were killed—because of a child’s sudden illness, which prompted a parent’s cancellation. This is the explanation for “miraculous escapes.”
There is only one way to avoid a date with bad karma and that is through devout and sincere prayer. God alone can change mass karma. We have seen how in an earthquake thousands of houses may be destroyed, but one in the center remains without harm; this is only because of God’s grace. We will see later that God alone can change our karma.
Part II of Dr. Kollengode’s talk, which deals with paradoxes in the laws of karma, and the solution for bad karmas, will be forthcoming in next month’s issue.
