Karma

“For every event that occurs there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful.” (The Law of Karma).

What is Karma? It has been claimed that one explanation for unfortunate crisis or doses of good fortune in our existence is Karma which is due to us. The word "Karma" comes from an old Sanskrit word for "action". It is the law of cause and effect. For every action there will be reaction being positive or negative and it is assumed that Karma restores balance. What you give you will get in return.” As we sow so shall we reap."

According to “Aspects Group” run by John Fitzsimmons, Karma is action. Any action being positive or negative incurs some Karma which will come back to you, albeit not immediately and not necessarily from the person you gave it to. John says that if you are having difficulties in a certain area of your life chances are this is the result of negative Karma from possibly another lifetime which is manifesting for you now in order to learn and change from it. According to John, even sitting doing nothing can incur Karma such as the fact that you may not be helping someone who needs it and you may find you will not helped sometime down the track.

It is the intent behind every action that determines your Karma. Should you accidentally hurt someone you should not incur bad Karma because it would not have been your intention to cause harm which of course is in contrast to purposefully creating pain.

Hindus and Buddhists believe Karma can be passed on from previous lifetimes. They affirm that one's soul cannot ever die and that it is reborn in a new body when one's physical body dies and Karma works its way through all these life spans. The idea is that during each incarnation if one does good, creates positive Karma and gracefully settles his or her karmic debt, the next life will be much improved.
The goal is to eventually break free of the reincarnation cycle and achieve never-ending bliss of the soul. This is called Moksha.

Francis Bevan is a gifted clairvoyant, who also writes for several Australian Magazines and Newspapers and has appeared on various Australian television programmes. "Karma has many meanings depending upon the religion or faith of the person. However, I believe in the Buddhist concept of what you did in a past life affecting your present one. Of course you can have good Karma as well as bad Karma, so it's important to try to store up some brownie points this life time for your next. What you put out to the Universe comes back three fold," he says.

Michele Finey from “Celestial Insight” in Melbourne Australia agrees," Karma is basically the law of cause and effect, whether one believes in reincarnation or not. I often think of it as being akin to Isaac Newton's law of motion, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, only applied in a metaphysical sense."

There are 3 types of Karma: Sanchita, Prarabdha and Kriyamana.
Sanchita is Karma from past lives not yet resolved.Prarabdha is Karma planned for the present life. Kriyamana is the results of your immediate actions, which may balance out in this lifetime or stored for future incarnations.

I read an extract from an article by Charles H. Grooms on "Spirit Guide.com." It told the tale of a woman and her children. They were driving home one day and spotted a man, a woman and two young kids hitch hiking. She drove on home to have her evening meal with her family. They were not particularly affluent and only had dried beans and rice, although they were fortunate to have plenty. After dinner she began to think about the family she had passed on the road and decided to go out and attempt to find them and offer them some of her food. She did not locate them. She did not actually help these people, but she was touched enough to feel bad for not assisting them when she first saw them and made an attempt to aid them, therefore with her intentions she managed to generate good Karma for herself.

There are occasions when we can see Karma's consequences in a relatively short period of time. I have experienced instant Karma. One day I was driving along the road, and another vehicle, which had been traveling quite erratically veering in out of traffic, cut me off and because I sounded my horn in fear of my life the driver cursed me. He sped off dangerously up the road. Five minutes later I passed the same car parked on the verge behind a police vehicle and he was being issued an infringement notice by two officers. I was annoyed at the man for his negligence, but I did not have to react, the law of Karma took care of the situation. This is one thing to remember that what goes around (being good or bad) will eventually always come around.

I read this on “Answerbag.com.” I thought it was an amusing example of instant Karma, “I cheated on my boyfriend and the person I cheated on him with gave me the flu. I was in bed for days. Talk about karmic retribution!”

Not all instant Karma produces negative results of course, such as the lady who helped the blind man across the street and was rewarded later on the same day with a Jackpot win. These are also from “Answerbag.com”:
"I gave someone $5.00 for lunch, turned around to walk away, and found $2.00 on the ground. Went into a store (it was at the mall), walked down an isle way and found $3.00 more....NOBODY was around either time!"

"I put $20.in the contribution box then found a $20 bill in a book at home I'd forgotten about 15 years earlier."

Paddy Sterrett is a psychic and teacher from the UK and he has quite a different view in regards to Karma. "You are stepping into dangerous territory investigating Karma," he says," Karma surfaced in the movement during the latter part of the year 1946 and it was claimed that when any human suffered great difficulties or problems this was their Karma because of what they had done in previous lives. Today in the Spiritualist movement there are people who have all sorts of explanations to justify this description. It is a myth and I will explain why I say this. During the time that the Spirit is within the human frame, because the Spirit has no brain, it is the physical body that has the brain, it needs some means of storing it's experiences and the knowledge gained while in that body. It creates around the physical body from the age of five an Etheric Image of the body. Within that image is where it stores that which it wants to store for future use. Any evil carried out by the physical body against the wishes or influence of the Spirit is not recorded in the Etheric Image and dies with the physical Brain.
When the physical body's life comes to an end the Spirit along with the Etheric Image departs back into Spirit. Should that Spirit at sometime in the future decide to return to another physical body it leaves behind in Spirit part of it's energy field along with the Etheric Image until the day comes when it will again return to Spirit. The second body to which the Spirit has returned has no association or connection with the previous body that the Spirit had been part of and it cannot punish the second physical body for the evils or failings of the first body, hence Karma does not exist. It would be like a child in a family dying and the family of the next child born being punished because the first child was naughty or badly behaved. My knowledge of Spirit has been gained through personal experience so I know it to be fact every thing I teach my Students is based upon facts that I have experienced."

Regardless of what your understanding is, I think Karma is our teacher. Whether we attest to Karma itself, doing good in our lives will always create positive energy, without which we will never experience pure joy and there is a lot to be said about the power of thought.

"I am the owner of my karma.
I inherit my karma.
I am born of my karma.
I am related to my karma.
I live supported by my karma.
Whatever karma I create, whether good or evil, that I shall inherit."
The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya V.57 - Upajjhatthana Sutta
"I would never disrespect any man, woman, chick or child out there. We're all the same. What goes around comes around, and Karma kicks us all in the butt in the end of the day."
- Angie Stone.

"There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life - happiness, freedom, and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else."
- Peyton Conway March- Helen Keller.

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
- Dalai Lama.

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