Most
people have some familiarity with the Vedic
concept of karma. Many such exotic concepts entered the consciousness of
Westerners during the Romantic period of the 1800's. The countercultural
revolution of the 1960's reintroduced the use of these spiritual and
philosophical terms, and the New Age Movement has continued the legacy.
More
recently, the award-winning television series My Name Is Earl has
contributed to making karma a household word. We have come to speak of good karma, bad karma, your karma, my karma. We say that something or some
relationship is karmic.
However,
most people use the word karma [English—action] when they are actually
talking about karmaphala—the results of one's actions. There is
considerable confusion as to the true meaning of karma, leading many to suppose that the information on the subject
is generally inexact and speculative—a mere hypothesis incapable of definite
proof.
Karma is a term borrowed from the religions native
to India. Outside of its original context, the word karma has been most associated with the idea that one is the
ultimate recipient of his or her actions. But some call this the law of karma. Which is it? Is it karma, the law of karma, or maybe both, or neither?
And how
does it work? How does the source of the action—the actor—become its recipient?
Is the law of karma a physical law, a
spiritual law, or some act of God? Can or does God ever intervene when it comes
to karma? What is the place of karma in religions other than those of
India?
My intent
here is to present the detailed mechanics of karma and the karmic cycle as
they have been known for thousands of years. I intend to show how karma is expressed precisely in our lives every day and how we can make positive changes in our lives that bring the benefits we desire.
Karma is not the simple subject that many take it for. Its complexities
have been preserved by the dharmic traditions
of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In comparative religion, the
religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent are referred to as the dharmic religions. Each of these great
traditions has its own particular metaphysics and offers slightly different
perspectives on the topic of karma.
I
mentioned here the word dharmic. Few
Westerners are familiar with this closely related concept of dharma.
There was the television series Dharma and Greg that ran from 1997 to
2002. More recently, there was the "DHARHA Initiative," a secret
project on ABC's Lost. But dharma
just hasn’t caught on like karma has.
The
Indian concept dharma is a fundamental principle found in the same
central Asian philosophies that brought us karma. In fact, the notion of
dharma may be even more fundamental
than that of karma.
At a deeper level, dharma refers to the essential truth of a being as well as the essential truth of all being. Our dharma tells us what we should be doing, and karma is the feedback we receive regarding how well we are fulfilling our dharma. In short, dharma is RESPONSIBILITY and karma is ACCOUNTABILITY.ma play in your life?
