Karma - The Universal Law
Karma is a Universal Law on earth,
It applies to one and all who take birth.
The law states, 'As you sow, so shall you reap,'
Those who commit sin, are sure to weep.
The world operates by certain Universal Laws. We are aware of the Law of Gravity. When we throw something up, it doesn't fly away into the sky. Why? We infer that this is because of the Law of Gravity. Just like the Law of Gravity, there are many universal laws that preserve life in the cosmos. The Law of Cycles ensures rotation of the earth exactly once in 24 hours, just as it manages revolution and the seasons that it causes. There is a Law of Opposites and several other Universal Laws.
One such law that controls everything that happens on earth, is the Law of Karma. It is also known as the Law of the Boomerang – what goes around, comes around. The law states, ‘What you give is what you get.’ How does this law work and what is the proof of its existence?
Have you ever seen apples growing on a mango tree? Impossible! The Universal Law will not permit it. This explains the simple principle, what you sow, you reap. It is not only the seeds that we plant which will bear fruit but also the deeds. ‘Whatever you do, will come back to you’ – such is the law!
Karma means Action. Therefore, the law has to do with our action. Every action of ours is recorded and will be redeemed. Either it will be redeemed in this life or if not, then it will unfold in the next life. This makes us understand that whatever is happening in our life today, is not what we popularly think as luck or chance. Everything that is happening in our life, is a result of our own past actions. It is not luck; we pluck our destiny based on the actions we perform. So, we must not regret whatever happens to us in life. It is our own Karma returning to us as per the law. We must realize this.
The Law of Karma doesn't end at death. The body dies, but the real doer of action is the ME – Mind and Ego. Thoughts of the mind and decisions of the ego make the body act. The body, mind and ego experience results of past Karma. Then the body perishes. But our Karma doesn't.
If our cumulative Karma is bad at the time of the death of the body, the ME will be reborn, either as a child that is blind or in utter poverty and misery. This is just an example as the Karmic Law can only be inferred and not fully known. However, we can clearly infer that birth happens for a reason. It is not chance - when, where and to whom we are born and in what circumstances is the unfolding of Karma. Thereafter, Karma continues to unfold every day that we live. This may be due to our past or present actions which accumulate to unfold as our destiny day after day.
While we have no control over our past Karma and it unfolds in our life as good or bad circumstances, we have complete control on our present actions. This will determine our future destiny. While the law is very simple and straightforward, many people do not understand it. They wonder how Karma is carried forward from one life to another. They do not realize that death is not the end, for the ME - Mind and Ego, which is reborn carrying its Karma. Thus, they celebrate life and make merry without paying enough importance to their actions. Such people eventually suffer because their bad deeds become the seeds that sprout in the future as their suffering.
The Law of Karma is a Universal Law. Nobody can escape it! We control our destiny through our own actions, but because we do not realize this truth, we become the cause of our own misery and suffering.
Those who study the Law of Karma, realize that it has 3 accounts. The first account is the corpus, the carry forward account, which is the cumulative Karma of all our lives. When we finish each life, our closing balance or net Karma gets added to our Karmic corpus. The second account of Karma is what we start at the beginning of every life. It can be considered as our opening balance. We take some portion of our cumulative Karma to start a new life, not all of it. It is as per this opening balance that our life unfolds. Everything happens in life based on the Karma that we carry with us. Then, there is a third account – our present actions. This is our current account. It keeps recording all our actions and adding it to our Karmic account. It merges with the opening balance and causes our life to unfold. At the end, whatever is the balance, it gets carried forward and added to the corpus at death. Based on the Karmic corpus, our next birth is decided.
Those who understand the Law of Karma, learn to live in Divine surrender, accepting everything. They control their actions and do their best so that they create good Karma for the future. However, the truly wise ones who will read the Life Manual and follow it, will learn to escape from this cycle of death and rebirth by dropping all the Karma in their corpus. This will happen as they will realize the truth that they are not the Mind and Ego, the ME, that is creating new Karma. They are the Divine Soul. This realization will lead to liberation from all past Karma and with it freedom from the constant cycle of death and rebirth. All of us who live in the world are controlled by the Law of Karma, irrespective of our religion or nationality. Our ultimate goal is to transcend Karma and unite with the Divine.
IN A NUTSHELL