Does the Present Moment Awareness affect Karma
Example from Daily Life
WHAT IS KARMA REALLY
In simple words, Karma is Action. Any and every action is Karma. Eating, drinking, sleeping, reading, all are actions and therefore are Karma. Do we have any doubt about the existence of the ‘action’? I don’t think so...therefore we may reframe the question, ‘Does Karma exist’ to ‘Does the Law of Karma exist?’
Let me ask you a question, ‘What do you think about the Law of Gravity? Do you think it exists?’ I know you would probably be thinking, ‘is that even a question?’ right?
well, that’s the same case with the Law of Karma, whether we believe in it or not, it doesn’t really matter. It will *not cease to exist because of our believing in it or not believing in it.
You see there’s a reason it is called a ‘Law’; a concept is called a Law if it is applicable to all human beings irrespective of their country, caste, colour, religion etc.
So what is the Law of Karma? In very simple words, the Law of Karma is ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’. It is also called ‘Cause and Effect’.
This Law is also mentioned in the four major holy books namely The Bible, The Geeta, The Guru Granth Sahib Ji, The Quran, just by different names and ways.
The Law of Compensation in the Bible states :
Exodus 21:24
23But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life — 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.…| Source |
Gurbani ( teachings from the compositions of the Sikh Gurus) states, ‘Karmi aapo apni key nede key door’ which means ‘It is according to one’s karma that a Human Being is nearer to Or away from the Creator’.
The Bhagavad Gita points out (ref. BG 14:16)
The fruit of good action
is said to be good and pure in its nature,
While the fruit of passion is pain
and the fruit of dullness is ignorance.
The Buddha says (ref. Sutta Nipāta 654, p.120)
By Karma revovles the world,
by karma revolves humankind.
Like the axle holding the rolling chariot-wheels,
beings are held by karma.
The Buddha also says, “ As a person does, so does he reap…Beings are inheritors of their karmas.” (ref. MN.i, p.390)
Buddhists point out that putting the responsibility on a supernatural Creator for the events of our lives is detrimental to moral incentive and self-effort. Such people abandon their efforts to live their lives righteously and instead rely on prayer for the fulfilment of their desires.
KARMA IN DAILY LIFE
Let me reduce Karma to a most simplistic example from daily life. Let’s assume a series of events and how one Karma affects another and becomes a chain for things to happen one after the other.
Suppose, a fine morning you talked to a friend who expressed his thoughts over how worse the world was becoming and how bad things were. You listened to him for almost two hours.
The next day you woke up with a very bad dream (the thoughts of which your mind took from your last conversation) about the occurrence of an earthquake in your area and in the dream, you saw your loved ones leaving you and that affected your mood big time when you started your day on your job.
This affected mood showed itself to your customers while you gave them a presentation and they weren’t happy with the way you treated them.
As the customers were not converted, your boss was unhappy with you and the same day he decided that he should change your job role or cut down your salary.
In this example, we can see how the karma of a small conversation actually led to something that affected one’s life in a big way. One thing led to another and yet another. One Karma created a chain of Karmas.
(Thoughts: do you think this chain of Karmas leading to this end could have been broken somewhere in the middle?…am suddenly reminded of the series Dark on Netflix…I might write a separate blog on that although)
PRESENT MOMENT AWARENESS AFFECTING KARMA
Sometimes, we just do not realize how intricately things are connected to each other. We do not live life in complete awareness of the choices we make and how those little choices of ours can affect our lives in a very big way.
There’s a reason that so many messengers that have existed in our world at different times and in different religions have taught us the same concept of Karma.
Karma is all about the choices and better choices can only be made when we are in complete awareness of the present moment and when we often ask ourselves a question before performing any karma…
questions such as, ‘which friend am I talking to?’, ‘ what conversation am I a part of?’, ‘would this meeting really add any value to my life?’, ‘is this expense really necessary?’
This is my Mantra in life that helps me make better choices in life and therefore, better Karma -
Before any decision, take a Pause. Think over the choices that you have. Weigh the results of these choices in your mind. Choose your Karma according to the result that you want. Now Act.
So does the Present Moment Awareness affect our Karmas and our life?
You decide this for yourself.
Observe life.
Observe how one act of yours is connected to another.
Become the Creator of your life.
Namaste.
(Note: Karma is an extremely vast concept that includes many other concepts within itself. Naturally, one blog can not cover the concept in its entirety. The seeker must be curious enough to get answers to all his questions before coming to any conclusions about the existence or non-existence of the concept)
