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We all talk a lot about Karma and Karma was one of the most marked indicators since ancient times of human life.
But the present world focuses on only one aspect of Karma, which seems true with this world.
“If you do badly, bad will happen to you and if you do good, good will happen to you.”
Open Instagram, Facebook, or any other social media site and you will notice posts that go something like this,
“What you did to others is surely coming back to you.” They are either accompanied by a skeleton, a child-like face with fire in her eyes, or an old woman looking grim and sad.
A tit-for-tat, an eye-to-eye model of expression!
But did we wonder that it will make the whole world blind? Never mind, since as long as we are blind, all should be blind- here goes the adage inside us.
I read in one of Paulo Coelho’s books where he mentioned an experiment. From what I recount, fairly healthy-minded individuals when kept in a prison-like environment can start behaving wildly. Is that what the world is becoming- a human world where humans are judging themselves wrong?
Is that how we should or must represent Karma?
The world seems to be obsessed with the fear, the word Karma, creates within our minds. It seems like a psychological trick we want people to be suffering from. As that too counts to be as suffering for many- the fear they instill brings many people down on their knees. Respect too is what arises from what we fear now.
What happens when we suffer from the fear of doing wrong?
Any guesses?
We start behaving ultra sweet and we become people-pleasing objects, someone can easily rob us just beneath our nose and I wouldn’t object to it. I am too influenced by the word Karma.
To begin this essay, all that I might want to start with is,
“Stand for yourself where people are wrong to you. It might get misquoted as Karma by anybody in this world. Tricksters are all around us. Do not be tricked and do not miss standing up for yourself when you feel the world is playing sly games with you.”
If this is not what Karma is, then what it is?
It’s mentioned in history and the karmic calculations are managed and overseen by our very own Lord Saturn. He watches us all, sees all, and judges all as goes the belief. But in the process, some try to hide their dark deeds under the cover of someone else. Some try to hide if they know they do bad karma while others who might be innocent in a lot of ways stand safe. Hinduism talks a lot about our karmic influences and it is one of the three pillars that make our life.
Now that I have shared a bit, let me tell you a story.
“Once there lived a mother and a daughter. They both loved each other very much. They stood for each other and they shared each other’s grief and happiness. But then there came a day when the daughter stopped liking the mother’s interferences- she too wanted to live her own life. How could she with all the restrictions her mother imposed on her? The daughter was not aware of the world’s vices as the mother had kept it away from her to protect her.
One day, the mother’s elder sister came to visit them. She had a permanent grudge against the younger sister but she kept it well hidden. When one day, the daughter burst out in front of the elder sister of the mother, the elder sister smiled and played a trick.
Soon after the elder sister left, the younger sister fell sick. She was very sick and only firm stable hands could win her back. The daughter did not know what happened. She was drawn by her sense of guilt thinking it was all her doing.
But then she understood what happened, how the elder sister had maligned the food of the younger sister, how all that the elder sister needed was just a scapegoat to bring down her younger sister she was always jealous of.
Knowing it, the daughter decided to protect the mother and she tried to prevent the elder sister from doing all the black magic tricks. Though the daughter could not prevent every trick the elder sister tried she did save some.
While the elder sister’s family flourished, her daughter bore children and her son flourished, the younger sister’s family struggled to even make ends meet.
Why did she have a grudge against the younger sister and why did she think she needed to be better off than the younger sister? Was she well off with all these troubles she took to enhance her life skills?
We will learn in the next article I do on the same topic. Now, going back to the topic we find that other religions, don’t typically mention it as karma.
Christianity believes in actions but they say karma can be truly forgiven if we truly repent. It means their people work in that way.
Even so does Islam, Judaism, and even the Parsi culture which flourished beautifully in our country.
Scientifically, Karma is nothing but the third law of Newton.
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Yagnavalkya was a sage who lived around 700 BCE. He exists in the Brihadararyanaka Upanishad and is known for his metaphysical discussions with King Janaka.
His origin is not clear as many quote him differently and associate different regions with his birth.
Yagnavalkya is one of the few recorded sages apart from a few others like Uddalak Aruni. He was the one who highlighted and brought forth Karma and its effects to Raja Janaka for the first time and thus, to the world. Many people to this day, affirm him to be the human embodiment of Lord Brahma.
In his sermon to Raja Janaka, he stated as mentioned in 4.4.5 of the Brihadaranyak Upanishad, that if you do good, you reap good and vice versa.
But do we see the same trend now? Or is it that the world has changed the notion?
How does the Yuga change us? What is it that Kali Yuga is for?
Or is it that it’s all twisted and backed by humans ever since?
You can find many people say, they did good but bad befell them. Is it so? Or is it otherwise?
Questions we will eventually answer.
But before we do that, we will find out the different types of Karma specified in the Hindu texts, and strangely, believe it or not, it is the only religion where they have written so much around Karma- what to do in a certain scenario, they also guide you. If you happen to kill a cat by mistake, the books tell you how to absolve the sins.
The books show how beautifully animals are bound to human lives.
Types of Karma
Hinduism segments Karma. There are four types in total.
- Sanchit Karma:
Those actions which are yet not done like the arrows which still sit in the quiver. They can also be actions that are accumulated actions like the ones you have already done.
It just does not include your present birth’s actions. It includes actions even of your previous birth (if you believe in previous birth).
Accumulated actions can be any kind of actions you would like to collate for your this life.
- Agami Karma
Those actions which you are about to do are your next set of karma.
- Praarabdha Karma
You have already done a part of it and it is an ongoing process yet to yield fruit.
- Kriyamana Karma
Your arrow has hit the target which means you’ve achieved what you wanted to. Defining karma and segmenting it makes a lot of things easier for humans.
But, why did they divide Karma into four different types?
We cover the rest of Karma in the next set of articles you can read here.
