LAW OF KARMA

hi guys here is small article by Swami Chinmayanandaji on "LAW OF KARMA" in his book 'THE ART OF LIVING'..



Man's diverse tendencies or vasanas are the prime movers of all his desires and actions. As long as vasanas exist, desires continuously spring forth in his bosom and create mental agitation and discomfort, resulting in actions. These actions in turn leave iprints in our personality as vasanas, which influence and propel our future actions. This cycle is based on law called the LAW OF KARMA, which is one of the significant contributions of the philosophy of vedanta to humanity.

It is a law based on pure scientific reasoning covering the past, the present and the future and is as applicable to mankind and life as any other law of nature. Many hasty readers have misunderstood the LAW OF KARMA as a mere LAW OF DESTINY and condemned it as a pessimistic and ineffectual theory dealing only with ones past experiences in life. The following analysis of it should clear the cobwebs of misunderstanding and reveal its original beauty and strength.

Man is what he is because of his past actions. If his experiences from the time of his birth to the present moment are pure and noble, he is today a man of chastity and dignity. If, to the contrary, they are vicious and immoral, he takes to those qualities. In short, he is a product or an effect of his own past actions or karma. This is the principle of destiny. It may be concluded from this that man is a mere victim of his past action over which he has no control. It then becomes an inert philosophy concerning the dead past which is incompatible with the modern scientific and progressive mind.

On the other hand, the LAW OF KARMA is a vital force in the VEDANTIC philosophy which enables man to be spirited and dynamic and to reach the goal of human existence. Destiny or PRARABDHA is the product or the effect of the past and it forms one aspect of LAW OF KARMA. Man is, in a way, influenced by his destiny since his present status is caused by his past. But, at the same time, he is gifted with the capacity to choose his present action which is called self-effort or PURUSHARTHA. All through his life, he has been exercising this power and an aggregate of all his past self-efforts has determined his present destiny. In other words, the sum total of all past Purusharthas is equal to his present Prarabdha. "What one meets in life is destiny and how one meets it, is self-effort."

The law of karma goes a step ahead of the law of destiny and states that the future lies in mans control, since he has the capacity to change it by regulating his self-effort from now on. Thus, if he had chosen the 'THE PATH OF PLEASANT' (PREYAS) in the past, he has no doubt to suffer the consequences of it at this moment, but his self-effort today may be exercised in choosing with the 'PATH OF GOOD' (SHREYAS) which when combined with the past will make his future better than what it is at present. The future, therefore, is a continuity of the past modified in the present. The freedom to modify the past and to create a future, either for the better or for the worse, is Purushartha or self-effort.

Though man enjoys freedom to choose his action, the effect of his action is influenced by the past. In other words, his self-effort, when exercised, mixes with his destiny to bring about an effect, resultant of their combination. The idea is better understood with the following example: The rate of flow of water in a river is two miles an hour. A log of wood floating on the water will also move at the same speed as the water in the river. If now the log is fitted with a motor with an independent speed of 10 miles an hour, its speed will, in effect, be conditioned by the flow of the river. Its independent speed is no doubt 10 miles an hour, but when it is directed downstream it registers 12 miles an hour and when diverted upstream, the speed is reduced to 8 miles. Similarly, man possesses the faculty of independent movement which is found lacking in the animal and plant kingdoms. Its effect in life, however, is modified by the play of his destiny upon it.

Looking back at the past, man is the product of the past, but looking into the future, man is at once, a producer. At the present moment, he is a product-cum-producer, i.e. he is the son of his father and a father of his son as well, at one and the same time. The Law of destiny only refers to his past and makes him a victim of it, while the LAW OF KARMA infuses the spirit of creation by focusing his attention of self-effort, lest he should get discouraged by the effects produced. Thus the law of karma is governed by the scientific theory of cause and effect. Extending the LAW further, the RISHIS declared that it would be unscientific and illogical to confine the theory to the present life only. The effect experienced in the present life must have had their causes in the past lives and the causes created in the present shall grow into effects in the future.

The law of karma applies not only to an individual but to a community, society or nation as well. Its application is not restricted to the present lives, but embraces those of the past and the future. Thus this law enables one to view life in its entirety which provides a meaning, a purpose and a rhythm to existence. To understand life without applying the LAW OF KARMA, is like seeing a life-size picture with eyes fixed at a distance of a few inches from the canvas. A vision of the totality is lost and one develops a narrow constricted view of life.

The law of karma is an important limb of religion. Religion therefore, is not a mere mechanical worship, but a scientific formula for right living. By adhering to it, man develops himself and enjoys a better and more purposeful life.



hope this article has served your purpose of understanding LAW OF KARMA