Karma is the most widely used term in popular spirituality (with an exception of Semitic religions; Christianity, Judaism and Islam). Karma is believed to decide ones progress or failure both in the material as well as spiritual spheres, in terms of health, wealth and even attainment of enlightenment. Karma is one of the cosmic or natural laws governing the universe. Though cosmic laws cannot be defined and can only be understood through application and observation, we will try to define it as much as possible.

Read more here: » Karma: Creating Sat Karma

In YOGA Tradition, Karma has a much deeper meaning, which, to a certain extent only, is related to the western idea of Destiny or Fate. In this vision, Karma is the accumulation of our past actions. These past actions (triggering actions) are causes which determine other actions (triggered reactions) in exact accordance with the charge of the corresponding past actions.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma, The Law of Action followed by Reaction

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," declared Isaac Newton in the 1700s. "Garbage in, garbage out," say geeks. Sow a seed, reap a fruit. Plant a chilli, you get chillies back. Plant a mango, you get mangoes back.

But how is it that sometimes people sow chillies but get mangoes and others sow mangoes, but get chillies? There's no inconsistency in this; the chillies are simply fruits of some earlier actions or decisions and the mangoes are yet to come.

(See also: Law of Karma , Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Law of Karma: What You Give, You Get From Life  

Karma means not only action, but also the result of an action. The consequence of an action is really not a separate thing. It is a part of the action, and cannot be divided from it. Breathing, thinking, talking, seeing, hearing, eating, etc., are Karmas. Thinking is mental Karma. Karma is the sum total of our acts both in the present life and in the preceding births.

Any deed, any thought that causes an effect, is called a Karma. The Law of Karma means the law of causation. Wherever there is a cause, there an effect must be produced. A seed is a cause for the tree which is the effect. The tree produces seeds and becomes the cause for the seeds.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Karma: The Law Of Karma

We cannot discuss reincarnation sensibly without talking about the Laws of Karma. Karma is nothing other than the Universal law of cause and effect. It is a law that is embedded in this Universe and is not present in the same way that you in third dimension experience in the higher dimensions or the multi-dimensional realities.

Read more here: » Reincarnation Karma: The Relation Between Reincarnation

Whatever you sow by your actions come back to you. If you make others happy through service, charity and kind acts, you sow happiness like a seed; and it will give you the fruit of happiness. If you make others unhappy through harsh words, insult, ill-treatment, cruel acts, oppression, etc., you sow unhappiness like a seed; and it will give you the fruit of pain, suffering, misery and unhappiness. This is the immutable Law of Karma.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Karma: As You Sow, So You Reap

Karma Yoga Lesson I

What the West thinks of Eastern Yogi methods; History of Karma Yoga Buddhist and Jain views thereof; Their Law of Karma The Hindu view and caste system; "In the beginning was the Deed"; Free will and Predestination; The doubter dissected; The Power and Nature of Faith; Mantra.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson I (of XI )

Karma has quite a karma. Long after India's seers immortalized it in the Vedas, it suffered bad press under European missionaries who belittled it as "fate" and "fatalism," and today finds itself again in the ascendancy as the subtle and all-encompassing principle which governs man's experiential universe in a way likened to gravity's governance over the physical plane. Like gravity, karma was always there in its fullest potency, even when people did not comprehend it.

Read more here: » Karma: Meaning and Definition of Karma

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)

For more dictionary entries, see » Law Of Karma Dictionary

The doctrine of rebirth is a corollary to the Law of Karma. The differences of disposition that are found between one individual and another must be due to their respective past actions. Past action implies past birth. Further, all your Karmas cannot certainly bear fruit in this life. Therefore, there must be another birth for enjoying the remaining actions. Each soul has a series of births and deaths. Births and deaths will continue till you attain Knowledge of the Imperishable.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Karma: Karma And Rebirth

Hinduism and Karma

In simple terms, the law of karma suggests that a person's mental and physical actions determine the progress of his life on earth. What ever actions he undertakes, both his good and bad actions, impact his life in several ways and bring twists and turns in the course of his life. His bad actions lead him to suffering and unhappiness, while his good actions lead him to happiness and spiritual success.

Read more here: » Hinduism and Karma: The logic behind the concept of Karma

About Karma. How to remove bad karma, and how to increase good karma? Physical sat karma is the positive karma that one earns through right words and action. The article describes the different actions that can be taken in order to influence the karma.

Read more here: » Karma: Physical Sat Karma

What would you say if I told you that you single-handedly have the power to end poverty on this planet? Well... you do. One commonly known axiom of love says, "It is in giving that we receive." Many have come to understand this universal truth through the Law of Karma: "As you sow, so shall you reap tenfold."
What is not known is that, because humanity lives in a consciousness of separation, most universal truths have been both taught and understood either as half-truths or as distorted truths. As applied here, what has for so long been understood as the primary Law of Creation: As you sow, so do you reap tenfold is actually only half of the Law of Creation.
The second half of the Law of Creation states: "As you reap, so do you return to Source one-tenth." This part is called the Law of Tithing, a law that few understand and even fewer practice in the manner which God ordained.

Read more here: » Law of Tithing: The power of giving and the Law of Creation

 Often when we suffer from a physical condition either minor or severe, it is a link in a chain of sequences that began centuries ago. Some illnesses and afflictions are Karmic. Knowing the cosmic relevance if it is karmic can lead to an understanding of the disease or illness on various levels. To consciously know this alone can have a transforming effect upon our lives today. Just understanding our situation can enable us to come to terms with it, which in turn can enable us to achieve vital equilibrium at higher levels of being and integration as well.

Read more here: » Karma: Karma in the Flesh

KARMA and REINCARNATION

The twin beliefs of karma and reincarnation are among Hinduism's many jewels of knowledge. Others include dharma or our pattern of religious conduct, worshipful communion with God and Gods, the necessary guidance of the Sat Guru, and finally enlightenment through personal realization of our identity in and with God. So the strong-shouldered and keen-minded rishis knew and stated in the Vedas.

Read more here: » Hinduism: KARMA and REINCARNATION

Karma Yoga Lesson II

Creed and Sradha, their etymology; Man defined; Fear and doubt, divisions of man, The dangers of inaction; The cant of Kant's categorical imperative; "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" the mantra here.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson II (of XI )

Karma Yoga Lesson X

The Karma Yogi that has got beyond selfishness; The modern problem; The substitute for Asceticism; Vicarious suffering; The East requires a different praxis; Schemes for the Western (Vani) social worker; His ideal to be the Sun; Sun worship; A mantra.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson X (of XI )

Death is the separation of the soul from the body. All the sorrow of man comes from the body. The sage has no fear of death, because he identifies himself with the All-pervading, Immortal Soul.
Karma and rebirth are the two great pillars of Hinduism as well as Buddhism. He who does not believe in these two great truths cannot grasp the essence of these two religions.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Soul’s Journey After Death: Karma And Reincarnation - I

The main principles of Buddhism: The Three Jewels, The Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eightfold Path, The Five Precepts, The three marks of conditioned existence and vegetarianism.

Read more here: » Buddhism: Principles of Buddhism

Gathas are the divine songs composed by prophet Zarathushtra, more than 3,000 years ago. Gathic verses reflect the communion which the Prophet received from Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Being. The Gathic verses are collected in 17 chapters, each called a Haiti, incorporated into a ritual text, the Yasna.

Ahura Mazda as the sole creator and protector of the universe. The Avestan Ahura means 'lord of life', and Mazda means 'all knowing, omniscient'. The Zoroastrian religion is based on the immutable and eternal law of Asha which signifies truth, order, discipline and progress.

Read more here: » Law of Asha: Zarathushtra and the Law of Asha