The Law of Karma

Introduction to karma

Throughout all evolution , suffering has formed an integral part of human experience. Time and again, the question is raised: Why does suffering exist in a world created by an almighty and all-loving God? Allowing suffering he cannot be all loving. If suffering is outside his domain, he cannot be almighty. The question seems insoluble, but only as long as we maintain that suffering is bad. Could it be that suffering has a purpose, maybe even a loving purpose?

This question is also known as the problem of Theodicy in the Christian literature. Christians have always spoken of God’s incomprehensible will and believed that behind injustice there was a higher meaning which we simply couldn’t comprehend. But in the Old Testament there is a very clear assumption that suffering was caused by God’s punishment of sinners. The Neo-Platonists regarded this world as relatively imperfect because we live far from the first divine cause from which everything emanates. But through self-realisation we could rise above the imperfections and sufferings of this world. According to Plotin it is our longing back to this divine cause, which gives evidence of the everlasting existence of good.

People from the East have long had an explanation for the cause of suffering and how to terminate it. Even Buddha keeps returning to this crucial problem. In his four truths and teachings about the noble eightfold path, he emphasises that suffering is caused by earthly desires and that suffering only stops when a person has achieved complete awareness and has no desires at all. These thoughts seem odd to most Westerners. Let us therefore begin by describing the law that causes all this suffering. The initiates of the East call it the Law of Karma . In the West people call it the Law of Cause and Effect.

What is karma?

Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning "action". According to the Law of Karma, you shall reap in this life or the next as you have sown in this and previous lives.

Platon , who also believed in reincarnation, emphasizes the law of karma in his "Republic": "Your daimon will not be allotted to you, but you choose your daimon; and let him who draws the first lot have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he will have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser -- the god is blameless.". (X, 617e)

Every thought, feeling and deed impels a corresponding reaction. However, it is more the motive and intent behind a deed that impels a reaction rather than the deed itself. This is why a child only creates very little karma through his actions. This is also why deeds seeming good, but with an egoistic motive behind, only have a small positive effect. On the other hand, a police officer killing a potential evildoer to save a victim's life will only face little karma. Krishna tells us in the Bhagavad Gita: "One who acts by dedicating all activities to the Ultimate Truth, giving up attachment; is not affected by sin; just as a lotus leaf in water." ( 5,10).

The Law of Karma is also called the Law of Retribution. It is an all in all just law ensuring that all living creatures inescapably experience the result of their actions. The law applies to individuals, groups and nations. The organisation of our present life circumstances and personal talents is from a karmic viewpoint the result of seeds we ourselves have sown in previous lives along with seeds brought into our lives through our family and national inheritance.

Ignorance is to a far greater extent than malice the cause of human suffering. As long as we are attached to transient earthly things, we shall experience suffering when we lose them. Therefore, all great and enlightened souls, who have taught us humans about eternal values, first told us to seek the kingdom of God; then we shall be given all that we need. Still, we have a free will to choose and learn through our choices.

Patanjali was a great spiritual teacher from India. He lived about three centuries before Christ. In his famous Yoga Sutras, he describes three types of karma:

1. Latent karma. the seeds (causes) that are undeveloped and have to work their way to fruition in this or following lives.

2. Active karma. the seeds that are about to bear fruit and for the fruition of which this present life must generate the soil required.

3. New karma. the seeds that are laid in this life and which inevitably will determine the conditions of future lives.

It is important to emphasise that karma not only involves all the positive effects we have brought about through our many lives, but also the painful circumstances we have had to deal with and learn from. Bad karma results in suffering and the purpose is to help man get back on the right path. Good karma on the other hand opens up for possibilities, and the aim here is for man to use his good experience and qualities to help others. Thus he will help himself.