Karma and Reincarnation

Human suffering is one of religion's most compelling mysteries- Why do the innocent suffer? Why does the Higher Power permit evil? Is the Higher Power helpless to act or does it choose not to? And if it chooses not to act, does that mean it is cruel? Or merely indifferent? No of course not!

I will start off by talking about Vedanta. Vedanta is one of the world's most ancient religious philosophies and one of its broadest. Based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India, Vedanta affirms the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of religions. Vedanta is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism, but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures, and all religious backgrounds whether it would be Christianity, Judiasm, Buddhism, Islam, Wicca, etc.

A closer look at the word "Vedanta" is revealing- "Vedanta" is a combination of two words- "Veda" which means "knowledge" and "anta" which means "the end of" or "the goal of." In this context the goal of knowledge isn't intellectual —the limited knowledge we acquire by reading books. "Knowledge" here means the knowledge of the Higher Power as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for the Higher Power.

Vedanta takes the problem out of the "hands" of the Higher Power and places it firmly in our own. We can blame neither the Higher Power nor an evil spirit. Nothing happens to us out of no where, we ourselves are responsible for what life brings us, all of us are reaping the results of our own previous actions in this life or in previous lives. To understand this better we first need to understand the law of karma.

The word "karma" comes from the Sanskrit verb kri, to do. Although karma means action, it also means the result of action. Whatever acts we have performed and whatever thoughts we have thought have created an impression, both in our minds and in the universe around us. The universe gives back to us what we have given to it! You know the saying "you reap what you sow". Good actions and thoughts create good effects, bad ones create bad effects. It took me a LONG time to learn it. In fact at one time if I had been wronged by someone, which unfortuantely has happened often, and still somewhat does. I would have at one time been sure to seek vengeange somehow! Big, big mistake on my part. Not only does the individual who had wronged me turn out smelling like a rose but you create your OWN bad karma, on top of being hurt by that individual. Not exactly a fun thing to have to experience. The best thing to do in that kind of situation, as difficult as it is since you may have the urge to "get back" at those who had hurt you in someway is to do NOTHING! Thats right. You can vent to your friends or what have you about the awful thing that person did to you (thats okay, releasing that energy is good, as long as you don't wish any kind of harm on that person) but whatever you do, DON'T SEEK REVENGE!! In fact, sit back and watch that person who had wronged you get what he/she had dished out! That would be the karma! In fact I have recently seen it, and to be honest, I am GLAD that I didn't seek revenge those times. Karma can come back instantly or back at a later time, perhaps in the next life. Until liberation is achieved, we live and we die within the confines of the law of karma, the chain of cause and effect.

Whenever we perform any action and whenever we think any thought, an imprint—a kind of subtle groove—is made upon the mind. These imprints or grooves are known as samskaras. Sometimes we are conscious of the imprinting process, just as often we are not. When actions and thoughts are repeated, the grooves become deeper. The combination of "grooves"— samskaras—creates our individual characters and also strongly influences our subsequent thoughts and actions. If we anger easily, for example, we create an angry mind that is predisposed to react with anger rather than with patience or understanding. As water when directed into a narrow canal gains force, so the grooves in the mind create canals of behavior patterns which become extraordinarily difficult to resist or reverse. Changing an ingrained mental habit literally becomes an uphill battle. That is very true because that is something I also struggle on a daily basis.

If our thoughts are predominantly those of kindness, love, and compassion, our character reflects it, and these very thoughts will be returned to us sooner or later. If we send out thoughts of hatred, anger, or pettiness, those thoughts will also be returned to us.

How I will talk about reincarnation. What happens at death if we haven't attained liberation? When a person dies, the only "death" is that of the physical body. The mind, which contains a person's mental impressions, continues after the body's death. When the person is reborn, the "birth" is of a new physical body accompanied by the old mind with the impressions or "grooves" from previous lives. When the environment becomes conducive, these samskaras again reassert themselves in the new life.

Thankfully, this process doesn't go on eternally. When we attain realization of a Higher Power or Self-realization, the law of karma is transcended, the Self gives up its identification with the body and mind, and regains its native freedom, perfection and bliss.

When we take a hard look around us, the world doesn't seem to make much sense. If we go by appearances, it would seem that countless people have escaped the noose of fate, many an evil person has died peacefully in bed. Worse, good and noble people have suffered without apparent cause, their goodness being repaid by hatred and torture. Witness the Holocaust, witness child abuse.

If we look only on the surface, the universe appears absurd at best, malevolent at worst. But that's because we're not looking deeply. We're only viewing this lifetime, seeing neither the lives that precede this one nor the lives that may follow. When we see a calamity or a triumph, we're seeing only one freeze frame of a very, very long movie. We can see neither the beginning nor the end of the movie. What we do know, however, is that everyone, no matter how depraved, will eventually, through the course of many lifetimes and undoubtedly through much suffering, come to realize his or her own divine nature. That is the inevitable happy ending of the movie.

Doesn't the law of karma make Vedanta a cold and fatalistic philosophy? Not at all. Vedanta is both personally empowering and deeply compassionate. First, if we have created through our own thoughts and actions the life that we are leading today, we also have the power to create the life that we will live tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, whether we want to take responsibility or not, that's what we are doing every step of the way. Vedanta doesn't allow us to assign blame elsewhere, every thought and action builds our future experience.

Doesn't the law of karma then imply that we can be indifferent to our fellow beings because, after all, they're only getting what they deserve? Absolutely not. If a person's karma is such that he/she is suffering, we have an opportunity to alleviate that suffering in whatever way we can- doing so would be good karma. We don't need to be unduly heroic, but we can always offer a helping hand or at least a kind word. For instance, sending someone who is having a rough time a kind email wishing him/her well would count for something positive. If we choose not to do whatever is in our limited power to alleviate the pain of those around us, we're chalking up bad karma for ourselves. In fact, we're really hurting ourselves.

Oneness is the law of the universe, and that truth is the real root of all acts of love and compassion. The Atman, my true Self, is the same Spirit that dwells in all, there cannot be two Atmans. Consciousness cannot be divided, it's all-pervasive. My Atman and your Atman cannot be different.