what is 'karma'?

Question

i've heard of the phrase 'What goes around, comes around' but, when does this happen, do we get to know about it !

Answer 1

Well I personally love karma. OK lets see if I can explain this. Um, lets see OK I once had this job that I totally loved. Good money, good insurance, good co-workers, etc. OK, along came a new manager, (b*itch) and she hated on me because I was the number one employee. All the clients came to me even though she was "manager", and she fired me on some real stupid s*hit. I was so pissed off. I left of course and a few months later, someone who worked there called to inform me she was demoted. That's Karma baby!She fired me for a false reason because she didn't like me it came back to her and she got demoted. Like I said before gotta love that Karma.

Answer 2

I've answered this before so ... I'll try from scratch this time :). Karma has been made into this mystical force where it supports the concept of an eternal self (soul) that does good and bad things during many lifetimes and reaps the results of those good and bad things both within their current and future lives, getting freed when one achieves nirvana. This is a misinterpretation -- karma is just conditioning. The best way to describe this is with an example: if my father was abused (negative conditioning or karma) and he didnd't get any help for it (good conditioning or karma) then he'll be likely to continue the same negative cycle -- the 'negative karma' of his abusive childhood is such that he responds to the world that way and may become alcoholic, may abuse his own kids, etc. This negative karma can last for lifetimes because, of course, a dysfunctional family can have the negative cycle go on for generations. The root cause of all problems is the concept of a self - an individual identity - that can be conditioned. If one 'enters nirvana', this means that one has an enlightenment experience where the self is seen as illusory and, therefore, the conditionnig would have much less effect. In smaller degrees, when the ego is reduced through therapy or through any other mind training program, the conditioning is lessened. So ... if you were abused as a kid and you find that its effects are hurting your life (again, all this would be negative 'karma'), then working on yourself with spiritual mind training ('good karma') would serve to undo this.

Answer 3

The law of Karma is a universal Law of cause and effect, it simply means "as you sow, so you shall reap", the same as it says in the Bible, the difference is that Karma refers to past lives and future lives.

Due to individual freewill, the living entity chooses to exist separately from the spiritual world, that perceived independence means that each individual is responsible for their actions, the universal form is in a state of perfect duality, as soon as there is interaction to displace that perfect synchronicity, then an equal and opposite effect will occur to reinstate the original status of the creation.

This does not mean that when we see suffering in the world, that we do nothing about it, quite the contrary, acts of charity and compassion purify even the great souls, whatever level they are performed on, of course the greatest act of compassion is when you can give someone the knowledge by which they can transcend the universal law of cause and effect or Karma.

There are three stages of Karmic activity, the third stage is the "reaping" of the manifested results of previous activities, for example, simply by taking birth, we are reaping so many things, there is the secondary stage, which is the frutifying activities, those reactions that are developing and are being arranged, thirdly there are the reactions that are being performed currently, which will frutify in the next stage and manifest in the third stage.

Karma or cause and effect is produced with every material activity, these activities are varied and are perceived to be either good or bad, based on individual perception. There is however a type of activity that produces no reaction, these activities are spiritual and devotional activities, that are performed to please God and not the individual self. These activities are "a"karmic, these activities reconnect us to the Supreme and liberate us from the unavoidable cosmic law of Karma or cause and effect.

For further discussion:-Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari ([e-mail])

Answer 4

' Karma ' is a Sanskrit (mother of all the Indian language) word. It means ' action '.
According to Indian Hindu philosophy, human beings are the greatest creation of God. Who has the Karma in their possession.
Now karma is not only confide with action but it is combine with use of wiseness, morality, duty, responsibility etc.
Other creation of God, like animal, birds, fish, nature does not have those obligation of wiseness, morality..................etc. So they do not have this Karma in their hand.
For animal, bird, fish, when they are hungry they have ot eat and that means they will kill other creature.
From this point of view, human beings are the greatest creation of God. Because they have the power of thought.
As in normal society when a person does a wrong action, like stealing, fraud, criminal act. etc. we have law for that who decides the case and gives punishment for that.
Similarly when a person does a wrong action (Karma) which is done privately and nobody has seen or has been manipulating such a way that nobody can say anything about it.
Then law of Karma takes over. Which is actually inside of every human being it self. That we can see or feel, when someone repents for some action or feels immense guilt about something.
It is a very vast subject, it is quite difficult to explain in a short term.
It depends on believe. If one believe in it, it shows. Like when you believe that your friend loves you, your love for the friend opens up.
Hope this short explanation gives you a little bit of understanding of the nature of ' Karma '

Answer 5

Hi there....

Karma, a Hindu term, literally means "what you give is what you get in return". So, you dont wanna mess with it. This principle is usually used to guide people from doing good, to avoid doing anything evil. Sadly, we do see bad things happen in this world frequently.

You may wonder if these things go unpunished. Well, if Karma really exists, it will never go unpunished. Its just that you may or may not be around to witness punishment. However, the person who does harm, when harmed or helpless, will never forget to remember what he/she has done, and what state they are in. Thats when Karma appears in the form of regret.

In Christianity, you can go to the Lords court to ask for forgiveness. In Hinduism, the theory is not even God can help your bad actions.

Karma also doesnt mean that the person you help will help you in return. He or she may not be around. But you will in return be helped by someone.....and it goes like a chain. Or, you may help someone....and someone will help your child. Etc.

Overall, Karma boomerangs. And if one is at fault, it boomerangs without pardoning, so people are advised to have a clear conscience.

Personally, I believe in it, even if I think some things are unfair. I may not see what people are getting in return. But if something bad happens to me, I know Karma is active.

I hope this explanation helps. :)

Answer 6

i'm a great believer in karma and have experienced it many times, it is much better to treat people in a way that you would like to be treated. I believe that if you cause harm to a person it will come back on you. there are times when i've been particularly nasty to someone and something bad has happened to sort of pay me back for it. I also believe if you do good then good will come to you, basically what goes around comes around.

Answer 7

Karma is a Buddhist term... it means basically what goes around comes around. Buddhists believe that we are reincarnated after death until we have "figured it out" basically, if you were to hurt someone in this life, you would be hurt in your next life and so on until you learned not to hurt people (If Buddhism was true though, there would be a lot less jerks around today)

In Christianity there is a similar phrase "we reap what we sow"

Answer 8

You know the phrase "Treat others as you would like to be treated."? It's the American version of Karma. Karma can be good or bad depending on whether you're "good" or "bad". It's a belief system that basically means you get what you deserve.

Answer 9

Karma is believed 2 be when you do something bad 2 a person, it comes right back @ you, meaning some worse will happen 2 u than what u did 2 that other person. hope i helped, i myself DO believe in Karma, not all people believe in it though.
=]

Answer 10

I think Karma is like the old saying "What goes around comes around" I suppose it's to make you think about what your doing before doing it. But as a rule also if you do good (without expectancy) then it shall return.