Karma

[Riverwolf]

Me personally, I do not place weight of a controlling entity that doles out good or bad punishment due to ones action.

Neither do I. Karma takes care of itself.

 

[Onkara]

It is an interesting topic

God does not dish out punishment, in my personal understanding and perspective of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), God doesn't need to, as you say, people's actions will have an effect.

I agree that it is an exaggeration to say that someone will be punished for being a bad person. That is more like "Judgement day" whilst living. What is curious is that people tend to seek pleasure and happiness, but whilst doing so they risk ending in sadness e.g. divorce, disease, financial ruin, due to their action to gain more happiness, pleasure or security.

 

[outhouse]

I don't worry about other peoples' karmas and just focus on my own

words of wisdom right there!

 

[Vinayaka]

Does Karma also act positively. Let's say I sponser a child in the third world (world vision or whatever). Will I receive positive karma through my positive charity work of equal value?

It's like it is a feedback loop. If positive karma works why isn't everybody doing it as everyone will gain the benefits?

Silver

Yes, this is called punya in Sanskrit , roughly translated as merit

 

[bhaktajan]

Rocks don't give a fig about Karma ---People do.

Karma = Acts.

Acts cause reverberations.

Past Karma comes back at us because karma accrues to the "Person" that set off the act/event.

There is no one else present to be affected by acts preformed except "Persons" ---we can attest to such events personally.

Karma is not Pre-destiny. Pre-destiny is what is scheduled on one's personal "Date Book".

Dharma is our personal ocuupational/obligated duty(s).

The rule of thumb is "To Preform (to act, ala, karma) your prescribed personally obligated duty is the only way to avoid accuring bad (un-platable) Karma".

IOW,
"Do your duty (Dharma) and avoid bad karma"
//or//
"Do your duty (Dharma) and obtain good karma"

 

[YmirGF]

Lets say someone does something out of the blue and their actions have negative consequences. Will this person receive karma and will the karma be a noticable change in their lives? Or perhaps you don't think karma exists?

Silver :rainbow1:

I am not a supporter of the concept of Karma, as it is generally conceived, due to the fixation on an imagined linear progression of consciousness. Consciousness is not as constrained as many would imagine. Most certainly, actions have ramifications however that does not mean that one carries with them the equivalence of a Karmic cheque-book of negative and positive transactions.

For example, 3 good swift kicks to the shins of another does not equal and or nullify saving a kitten from a tree. What holds back natural expansions of consciousness is how much people learn from their experience, not the actions they perform.

There is a lot more give and take in this system than is currently realized. I guess the problem is that people want things to be neat and tidy, so they invent concept like Karma to straighten things out. Unfortunately, for them, reality isn't quite so neat and tidy.

 

[bhaktajan]

the calculus here alludes me.

3 good swift kicks to the shins of another does not equal and or nullify saving a kitten from a tree.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy, as .... Insurance annuity logorythms are.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy, as .... International Money Markets are.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy as .... Winning the War.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy as .... a Project Managers Itenerary.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy as .... following the Ten-Commandments.

Karma is quite as neat and tidy as .... A Rocket Scientists check List.

BTW, for sub-numans Karma is quite as neat and tidy as it gets.

"God is in the details" //or// "The devil is in the details" ... depending on a persons POV,
Bhaktajan

 

[YmirGF]

BTW, for sub-numans Karma is quite as neat and tidy as it gets.

I will keep that in mind if I ever run across a "sub-numan".

 

[atanu]

there is absolutely nothing to karma

It is simply a interpretation of events


case in point not to be ignored.

bad things happen to bad people
good things happen to bad people

bad things happen to good people
good things happen to good people

end of story

Outhouse

Karma is not action-reaction only and at root there is no interpretation of bad karma or good karma. karma is work. It is held that the universe is result of karma. Not too lofty an idea but fundamental, nonetheless.

 

[bhaktajan]

bad things happen to bad people
good things happen to bad people

bad things happen to good people
good things happen to good people

end of story

NO.

bad things happen to bad people
good things happen to bad people

bad things happen to good people
good things happen to good people

It's the beginning of the story.

{ie: As a result of our acts, My wife just had a baby ---It's the beginning of the story.}

This is the basis of insurance company's Annuity Charts.
It is what makes the world go 'round ---starting with all sea going cargo shipment contracts since antiquity.

Karma is recorded and tracked and used to predicate furture investments.
When "Karma-management" is neglected ---all chaos breaks out.

 

[YmirGF]

Outhouse

Karma is not action-reaction only and at root there is no interpretation of bad karma or good karma. karma is work. It is held that the universe is result of karma. Not too lofty an idea but fundamental, nonetheless.

Which renders the idea down to the point of absurdity.

 

[Riverwolf]

Which renders the idea down to the point of absurdity.

Care to explain how?

 

[Marble]

Lets say someone does something out of the blue and their actions have negative consequences.

When Karma exists, you cannot do anything out of the blue as all your actions are determined by your Karma.

Question: I can understand that the outstanding events in a man’s life, such as his country, nationality, family, career or profession, marriage, death, etc., are all predestined by his Karma, but can it be that all the details of his life, down to the minutest, have already been determined? Now, for instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here. Can it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, I should move the fan like this and put it down here?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Certainly. Whatever this body is to do and whatever experiences it is to pass through was already decided when it came into existence.

source

 

[atanu]

Which renders the idea down to the point of absurdity.

It is so. But not until one grasps action in inaction and inaction in action.

 

[YmirGF]

Care to explain how?

It is so. But not until one grasps action in inaction and inaction in action.

It would appear that you two need to talk this out.

When Karma exists, you cannot do anything out of the blue as all your actions are determined by your Karma.

Oh good grief.

source

Oddly, I would agree with this description. Much is "worked out" prior to taking an incarnation, however, due to the unpredictable nature of probabilities, nothing decided is certain to occur. Karma, as it has been described in this thread has nothing whatsoever to do with this "process of becoming".

As an olive branch to those of you still withing the boundaries of "karma", if you think of "karma" as being what you learn from your experience then I would agree to meet you 1/2 way as it were. It is that knowledge that you take with you, from incarnation to incarnation, as once you are aware of any realization, that understanding is never completely removed. The last part to chew on is that incarnations do not necessarily follow a straight line, but rather, hopscotch around depending on personal interests.

 

[Riverwolf]

It would appear that you two need to talk this out.

So you're not going to explain how something that does make sense doesn't make sense?

 

[Otherright]

Lets say someone does something out of the blue and their actions have negative consequences. Will this person receive karma and will the karma be a noticable change in their lives? Or perhaps you don't think karma exists?

Silver :rainbow1:

Karma doesn't necessarily come back to you the same way it leaves you. From my point of view, it isn't necessarily mystical either. You can create karmic chains of cause and effect with simple things.

 

[YmirGF]

So you're not going to explain how something that does make sense doesn't make sense?

Karma makes sense? You're serious?

 

[atanu]

Karma makes sense? You're serious?

Nothing of whatever we do makes sense. Yet we do all that karma dictates.

 

[YmirGF]

Nothing of whatever we do makes sense. Yet we do all that karma dictates.

I guess what amuses me so much is that I believed in karma for several decades. Then I realized that there is only NOW. In that endless NOW, karma is quite irrelevant.