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..:: Karma ::..
By
Alan Schneider
The literal translation of the meaning of Karma is
“action” in Sanskrit. In one sense, this is specifically any action or
physical movement occurring on the material, physical plane – any
activity of any kind producing a result – and, of course, all
activities, however innocuous they may be, produce results of some
nature. And these results are frequently themselves further actions,
which produce more results, again frequently in the form of more
actions, and so on indefinitely. The esoteric implication of “action” is
revealed by the subsequent inclusion of another term from Vedic
philosophy in our discussion – Dharma – “enlightened devotion”. This is specifically
spiritual devotion to God, in the form of observances, rites, and
rituals, and, most importantly, that form of “action” known as the
performance of good works, e.g. feeding and/or educating the poor and
disadvantaged. For Vedanta, the ancient spiritual philosophy of India,
Karma and Dharma are the moral twin brothers of manifestation in life.
It is perhaps of the greatest significance that “karma” has become an
inclusive term in English today, while ‘dharma” is virtually unheard of!
Although “karma”
is assumed to mean “the eventual moral consequences of our actions
manifesting in our lives” in today’s common parlance, and this is only
somewhat accurate as an interpretation. The true meaning of this term
cannot be understood without also understanding dharma.
Karma is a
specific kind of action – the unenlightened kind. It is presumed in
Vedanta that this is the default mode of all human activity, and
probably of all activity exhibited in the animal kingdom in general.
Human beings represent a special circumstance in manifestation – we are
capable of understanding the meaning of our actions from the moral
perspective through Enlightenment. This form of consciousness is
considered a great gift from the Vedic perspective, provided that the
Enlightenment takes place! As previously noted, in many cases, it does
not, and we remain in the condition of ignorance – spiritual darkness
and lack of higher consciousness and awareness. Even in the most sincere
wish to assist others in difficulty from the most altruistic of motives,
if the interplay of karma and dharma is not clearly understood from the
Vedic view of human events, we are doomed to be only partially
successful at best in controlling the extent of suffering on this Earth.
Why? Because we are still acting through ignorance of the Truth, and
without Enlightenment. With Enlightenment, Dharma becomes possible, and
Karma is extinguished through Divine Love and Compassion.
Think about all
of the actions that we all perform daily, frequently without any thought
or contemplation, through habit, or on occasion out of fear or
resentment, or greed and gratification, or any other of a wide range of
selfish personal motivations. Most of us perform hundreds of such
actions everyday. All of these have the common effect of building up
more Karmic debt, and all of it is negative, not even neutral. Karma is
the result of a lifetime of thoughtless, heartless action, committed out
of exclusively selfish motivation for personal gain. It’s as simple as
that. No level of malicious intent is required – just an absence of
benevolent intent, with “benevolent” understood to mean “directly
dedicated to God in love”, not simply compassionate or empathetic alone.
Obviously, in order to dedicate our actions to God, we must first be
aware of God – believe in God – and see God as the Divine Source of all
Love, Light, and Truth. Agnosticism is not an option. Atheism is
certainly not an option. And weakness and uncertainty are not options,
either. Only a firm belief supported by deep religious conviction is
going to work for the accomplishment of Dharma. And the key to this
process is spiritual Enlightenment. How is one to attain this condition?
The Vedas and
Vedanta amount to an extended list of prescriptions for the attainment
and maintenance of Enlightenment. Now, this is a literary record of many
volumes of discourse, extending over millennia of time – perhaps back to
prehistory – and it is well beyond the scope of this little essay to
synopsize that much material! But, some basic guidelines, along with a
definition or two, can be given here.
Enlightenment is
the state and process of coming to successively more sensitive and
compassionate levels of understanding of human motives, actions, and the
consequences of both, operating in the material world, culminating in
the “level” of compassion and understanding held by God. This level is
not attained immediately, but customarily over a life time, or
lifetimes, of struggle – and the suffering every kind of setback – along
the way. The Vedas teach that this process is ongoing and cumulative –
Enlightenment will result eventually as we progress through the learning
experience of the flesh – it just takes awhile! The attainment of
Enlightenment is seen in Vedanta as the ultimate meaning and purpose of
life in the flesh, and all its attendant sufferings. The body is seen as
the vehicle of Karma and Dharma, as the balance slowly shifts from the
former to the latter. We all begin at God in Love, and eventually return
to God in Love through the progressive attainment of Enlightenment.
The Vedic texts
are filled with recommendations for the attainment of higher
consciousness, or, in other words, Enlightenment. Perhaps the single
most critical recommendation concerns the understanding and acceptance
of the principle of detachment from the consequences of our actions,
particularly the apparently positive consequences – or fruits – of our
actions.
This detachment is not to be seen as an abdication of responsibility for
the outcomes of what we do in life – in the corporeal sense, I must
remain the agent of my actions in life. On the contrary, the doctrine of
detachment is an affirmation of the reality that God is the originator
of all action, no matter what the outcome appears to be on the Material
Plane. Frequently, the most horrendous events can have utterly positive
outcomes if viewed in the correct fashion. I myself have seen this
confirmed time and time again in my life, through a progression of
daunting challenges, as I refused to surrender to despair and continued
to pursue Enlightenment. In fact the glass is always half full when the
contents are Divine Love! Learning to practice this state of humble
acceptance of the Divine Will is easily half the battle – God does not
make mistakes – we are mistaken if supposing that He does. It is
literally up to us to find the wisdom of God’s actions on the Material
Plane – even though those actions occasionally appear irrational from
the human viewpoint.
And we must avoid the trap of egoism. When we become very prideful of
our secular achievements in the world, we are forgetting that the action
of God makes all achievement possible, makes the world itself possible.
When we remember God, Dharma becomes possible by enabling the
realization that He is the One to be credited – not the mortal little
ego inside our personal perception. This is the essence of detachment –
understanding that we are not the source of achievement – God is. In
Dharma, we simply correctly identify and give credit to that source. In
Karma, we mistakenly assume that we personally are the source of our
apparently personal actions in what is really the illusionary experience
of the senses occurring in the transitory state of the body. Since the
body eventually dies, taking the ego with it, we are left with
Enlightenment as the only possible expression of consciousness that may
remain intact, and is therefore to be regarded as best option available
for the attainment of immortality.
So, detachment
means disconnecting from the ego-involvement that keeps us grounded in
the worldly illusion of the senses by remaining aware of the Truth of
God as the most ultimately real consciousness we can attain to. By
detaching from the ego, we simultaneously attach to the real condition
of Dharma, and through Dharma, to higher consciousness and God. This is
the mechanism of Enlightenment, and the explanation of the spiritual
effect of our physical activities in the material world.
To be sure, there
are many other features of the Enlightenment process that have not been
presented here, and mores the pity! Enlightenment involves a
comprehensive lifestyle of compassion and self-sacrifice, with all
actions dedicated to God as the source of everything knowable. As we
learn to be loving, caring people who have observed the value of living
a God-centered – not ego-centered – and profoundly spiritual life, we
move away from the ongoing accumulation of Karma, and toward the Divine
Life of Dharma, and are Blessed in the spirit as our reward. What could
be a better use of this life?
- With Love, Alan -
(CR2007, Alan Schneider)
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