karmashaya: (Sanskrit) "Holder of karma." Describes the body of the soul,

(See also: Karmashaya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Karttikeya: (Sanskrit) Child of the Pleiades, from Krittika, "Pleiades." Second son of Siva, the brother of Ganesha. A great Mahadeva worshiped in all parts of India and the world. Also known as Murugan, Kumara, Skanda, Shanmukhanatha, Subramanya and more, He is the God who guides that part of evolution which is religion, the transformation of the instinctive into a divine wisdom through the practice of yoga. He holds the holy vel of jnana shakti, which is His Power to vanquish darkness or ignorance.

(See also: Karttikeya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

karuna: (Sanskrit) "Compassionate; loving, full of grace."

(See also: Karuna, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

karunya: (Sanskrit) "Compassion, kindness, love." In Saivism, an alternate term for Siva's revealing grace, anugraha shakti.

See: anugraha shakti, grace.

(See also: Karunya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

kashaya: (Sanskrit) "Brownish-red." The color of sannyasins' robes.

See: kavi.

(See also: Kashaya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kashmir (Kashmira): (Sanskrit) The Northernmost area of India, part of the present-day state of Jammu and Kashmir. It figures prominently in the history of Saivism. Area 115,000 square miles, under dispute between India and Pakistan. Population is six million in the Indian sector.

(See also: Kashmir, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kapalika: (Sanskrit) An ascetic sect which developed out of the Pashupatas around 500 ce and largely vanished around 1400. They earned a reputation for extreme practices. Possible predecessors of Gorakshanatha Siddha Siddhanta yogis.

See: Pashupata Saivism.

(See also: Kapalika, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

kapha: (Sanskrit) "Biological water."

One of the three bodily humors, called dosha, kapha is known as the water humor. Principle of cohesion. Kapha gives bodily structure and stability, lubricates, heals and bestows immunity.

See: ayurveda, dosha.

(See also: Kapha, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kapila: (Sanskrit) Founder (ca 500 bce) of the Sankhya philosophy, one of the six darshanas of Hinduism.

See: shad darshana.

(See also: Kapila, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

karma: (Sanskrit) "Action, deed."

One of the most important principles in Hindu thought, karma refers to

á      any act or deed;

á      the principle of cause and effect;

á      a consequence or "fruit of action" (karmaphala) or "after effect" (uttaraphala), which sooner or later returns upon the doer. What we sow, we shall reap in this or future lives. Selfish, hateful acts (papakarma or kukarma) will bring suffering. Benevolent actions (punyakarma or sukarma) will bring loving reactions.

Karma is a neutral, self-perpetuating law of the inner cosmos, much as gravity is an impersonal law of the outer cosmos. In fact, it has been said that gravity is a small, external expression of the greater law of karma. The impelling, unseen power of one's past actions is called adrishta.

The law of karma acts impersonally, yet we may meaningfully interpret its results as either positive (punya) or negative (papa)- terms describing actions leading the soul either toward or away from the spiritual goal. Karma is further graded as: white (shukla), black (krishna), mixed (shukla-krishna) or neither white nor black (ashukla-akrishna). The latter term describes the karma of the jnani, who, as Rishi Patanjali says, is established in kaivalya, freedom from prakriti through realization of the Self. Similarly, one's karma must be in a condition of ashukla-akrishna, quiescent balance, in order for liberation to be attained. This equivalence of karma is called karmasamya, and is a factor that brings malaparipaka, or maturity of anava mala. It is this state of resolution in preparation for samadhi at death that all Hindus seek through making amends and settling differences.

Karma is threefold: sanchita, prarabdha and kriyamana.

-       sanchita karma: "Accumulated actions." The sum of all karmas of this life and past lives.

-       prarabdha karma: "Actions begun; set in motion." That portion of sanchita karma that is bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of one's bodies, personal tendencies and associations.

-       - kriyamana karma: "Being made." The karma being created and added to sanchita in this life by one's thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. Kriyamana karma is also called agami, "coming, arriving," and vartamana, "living, set in motion." While some kriyamana karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births.

-        

Each of these types can be divided into two categories: arabdha (literally, "begun, undertaken;" karma that is "sprouting"), and anarabdha ("not commenced; dormant"), or "seed karma."

In a famed analogy, karma is compared to rice in its various stages. Sanchita karma, the residue of one's total accumulated actions, is likened to rice that has been harvested and stored in a granary. From the stored rice, a small portion has been removed, husked and readied for cooking and eating. This is prarabdha karma, past actions that are shaping the events of the present. Meanwhile, new rice, mainly from the most recent harvest of prarabdha karma, is being planted in the field that will yield a future crop and be added to the store of rice. This is kriyamana karma, the consequences of current actions. In Saivism, karma is one of three principal bonds of the soul, along with anava and maya. Karma is the driving force that brings the soul back again and again into human birth in the evolutionary cycle of transmigration called samsara. When all earthly karmas are resolved and the Self has been realized, the soul is liberated from rebirth. This is the goal of all Hindus.

For each of the three kinds of karma there is a different method of resolution. Nonattachment to the fruits of action, along with daily rites of worship and strict adherence to the codes of dharma, stops the accumulation of kriyamana. Prarabdha karma is resolved only through being experienced and lived through. Sanchita karma, normally inaccessible, is burned away only through the grace and diksha of the satguru, who prescribes sadhana and tapas for the benefit of the shishya. Through the sustained kundalini heat of this extreme penance, the seeds of unsprouted karmas are fried, and therefore will never sprout in this or future lives.

See: diksha, grace.

Like the four-fold edict of dharma, the three-fold edict of karma has both individual and impersonal dimensions. Personal karma is thus influenced by broader contexts, sometimes known as family karma, community karma, national karma, global karma and universal karma.

See: karma, anava, fate, maya, moksha, papa, pasha, punya, sin, soul, karma yoga.

karmasamya: (Sanskrit) "Balance or equipoise of karma."

See: karma.

karmashaya: (Sanskrit) "Holder of karma." Describes the body of the soul,

(See also: Karma, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

karmasamya: (Sanskrit) "Balance or equipoise of karma."

See: karma.

(See also: Karmasamya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kalyana: (Sanskrit) A town in Karnataka, South India.

(See also: Kalyana, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

kama: (Sanskrit) "Pleasure, love; desire."

Cultural, intellectual and sexual fulfillment. One of four human goals, purushartha.

See: Kama Sutras, purushartha.

(See also: Kama, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

kamandalu: (Sanskrit) "Vessel, water jar."

Traditionally earthen or wooden, carried by sannyasins, it symbolizes the renunciate's simple, self-contained life. The tree from which kamandalus are traditionally made is the kamandalutaru.

See: sannyasa dharma, sannyasin.

(See also: Kamandalu, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kanada: (Sanskrit) Founder of the Vaisheshika Darshana, author of the Vaisheshika Sutras.

See: shad darshana.

(See also: Kanada, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kannada: One of four modern Dravidian languages, and principal medium for Vira Saivism. It is spoken by 20 million people, mostly in Karnataka.

(See also: Kannada, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kanphati: (Sanskrit) (Hindi.) "Split eared," from the custom of splitting the cartilage of the ear to insert large earrings.

The name of the ascetic order of men and women founded by Gorakshanatha (ca 950), proponents of kundalini-hatha yoga still today.

See: earrings, Gorakshanatha, Siddha Siddhanta.

(See also: Kanphati, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

katha: (Sanskrit) "Story; discussion."

Also, the literary form involving the telling of stories. Kathakas are bards, storytellers.

See: folk-narratives, mythology.

(See also: Katha, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kaundinya: (Sanskrit) Author of a commentary on the Pashupata Sutras (ca 500).

See: Pashupata Saivism, Pashupata Sutras.

(See also: Kaundinya, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)