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Karma - Page 4

© Kalyani Subramanyan

There is not a blade of grass, not a grain of sand which is not a sower of KARMIC seeds by the activity of its physical and psychic life, peculiar to its species, which we must in no way imagine as similar to our own.

Each of our physical, emotional or mental movements is the fruit of causes coming from the whole Universe and has its repercussions in the whole Universe. For instance, if you do a bad or good action toward someone, this triggers a reaction which will be equally bad or good, and which will be directed toward yourself. In this way, you experience the happiness or suffering that you have produced to other living beings. The paramount value of this subtle mechanism is that we learn and accumulate a certain ineffable wisdom that pushes us toward becoming good and perfect. Of course, this is a very simple and mechanical explanation; what really happens has a complexity and profoundness that overcomes even the most imaginative mind.

KARMA is the storage of our actions, recorded with exactitude in a special memory. These recordings are like time bombs that will explode in the future. The sight of an object, the thinking of a thought, the performance of an act, even though very transitory, leave a complex trace in the Cosmic Memory (AKASHA), which lasts beyond time, and leaves also an imprint in the subconscious mind. This subconscious imprint is called SAMSKARA (dynamic impulse). The character of a man, his moral or mental status, his "talents", his "likes" and "dislikes", all are determined by his SAMSKARAS, which are the product of his KARMA (past actions). The SAMSKARAS transmigrate from incarnation to incarnation, being never lost. They act like seeds that will develop according to a specific pattern, which characterize each of them and which is closely related to the charge of the action that produced them. .

Another important aspect is that the sequence of the triggered reactions is not necessarily the same as the sequence of the triggering actions. Some KARMAS (actions) trigger a very quick reaction, others need a long or very long time to trigger a reaction. The time of "ripening" of the fruit of an action has nothing to do with the time when that action was done, but with its nature only.

The result of an action is greatly influenced by associated ideas. When, for instance, a person practices certain austerities and desires that their fruit should go to the other person for whom he performs them, it is the other that gets the fruit, and not the performer.

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