Hmm....Karma?

Question

i often hear people saying sh.it like
"ooh well i did (*insert deed here*) for so and so because i know itll come back to me eventually"

isnt the idea of karma kind of selfish?

Answer 1

the concept of god that people believe is of a selfish being, a being characteristic of human personalities, judging, hating, punishing and shallow

In any religion around the world, good deeds are done as attempts to please a higher being and achieve salvation or moksha or whatever you want to call it, but that just makes god (if it exists) sound superficial, nothing seems to be done or said out of sincerity

I personally think atheists and agnostics are more moral and genuinely nice because they act according to their minds and not as something they have to do because they don't believe in any supreme being

religion itself has become something selfish

Answer 2

I suggest you go to Wikipedia or any other encyclopedy, because you didn't get a clue what the word means.

Karma (Sanskrit kárman "act, action, performance"[1]; Pāli kamma) is the concept of "action" or "deed" in Dharmic religions, understood as a term to denote the entire cycle of cause and effect as described in the philosophies of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. The results or "fruits" of actions are called karma-phala. Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward. Karma simply deals with what is. The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings to others. In religions that incorporate reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well.

Throughout this process, many see God as playing some kind of role, for example, as the dispenser of the fruits of karma[2]. Other Hindus consider the natural laws of causation sufficient to explain the effects of karma.[3][4][5] Another view holds that a Sadguru, acting on God's behalf, can mitigate or work out some of the karma of the disciple. [6][7][8]

Karma is also a universal threshold of which we all (gods, spirits, humans, animals, vegetals, even stones) are given a fraction (called the "universal karma"). It is the force of nature!

Answer 3

While a complete discussion of cause and effect is more appropriate in another setting, believers in Karmic philosophy accept the concept that all actions cause reactions and that the total of ones actions will be reacted upon at sometime. This notion is an essential part of the Hindu and Buddhist dogma. While each person creates the action and effect, there is a strong concept that this process flows through many births and rebirths. In fact, a believer in Karmic philosophy would tend to be less selfish and more compassionate. I offer one link below as additional information.

Answer 4

There is selfish, unselfish and selfless Karma.
Karma is simply a law of energy. For every action there is an equal reaction.

Answer 5

The word "Karma" in Sanskrit just means "Action". It is belief of the Hindu, Buddhists and most of other eastern Religions, you will reap the fruits of what you sow. If you do good you will get good. But your evil deeds come back to you with equal force. You can compare this to Newton's third Law of Motion which states -" For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".

Answer 6

Karma is the accumulated impression of past activity, either of thought, emotion or physical action. The quality of the karma that you gather is not necessarily in terms of action alone; it is also in terms of the volition with which action is performed.

This moment, the very way you think, feel, understand and act, is a deep conditioning of past activity. That's karma.

When there is a clear space between you and your body-mind it is not that you are trying to watch this or that; you are simply here. Whatever karma that is in the mind, whatever karma that is there in the body or energy, everything has become separate from you.

For a few moments, if you experience this separation through the process of Dhyana, you know it's possible. If you can make this a part of your life, karma ceases to exist. Nothing touches you.

If you have an aversion to karma, and you're trying to push it away, in the effort to push it away, you end up building more karma. Once you come to a living experience that, "this body is not me, this mind is not me", then there is a different kind of wisdom and understanding in you.

When you understand only with the intellect, it leads to deceptive states. When you experientially know, it's very different.

A philosophy will give you some semblance of balance in your life, but it does not liberate you from the deeper karma, because you're only trying to avoid it, and in that avoidance you find a little balance in day-to-day life.

But slowly, if a person follows this philosophy, he will become joyless. He will become reasonably balanced and stable, at the same time he will slowly become lifeless. If you bring lifelessness into you, that itself is a very negative karma because you are just suppressing life.

Krishna says: "Hesitation is the worst sin". In hesitation you kill life. Suppression doesn't necessarily mean self- denial. When you hesitate you do not allow yourself to participate in your life; you are neither here nor there.

The ancient concept of "neti, neti, neti" — this is not me — is a process of creating awareness of what is you and what is not you, of what is you and what you have become identified with.

But denying what is happening within you right now is self-denial. If you deprive yourself of any experience, whether it is pain, suffering or joy, if you avoid it, that is big karma.

If you go through it, it is not so much of karma. Denying or suppressing or trying to avoid brings much more bondage whereas willingly going through all experiences of life with absolute involvement will bring a life of clarity and freedom.

Today, in the name of civilisation, education or etiquette, educated people are not able to experience any of their emotions fully. They cannot cry fully, they cannot laugh loudly. For everything, there is etiquette.

With this, slowly, they will become joyless. A deep sense of frustration will establish itself. You will see simple people who laugh and cry spontaneously, are so much more free.

They are less frustrated than the others. The very process of life is dissolution of karma. Every living moment of your life, if you live it totally, you dissolve enormous amounts of karma. Living totally does not mean partying every night or just having fun.

Anything and everything that comes, you just experience it fully, intensely. If one experiences every life-breath with utmost intensity, that one is liberated from the very process of life and death.

Answer 7

I believe Karma refers to the residual emotions you will feel after 'doing the deed'. If I do something good for someone...I immediately have a boost in my happiness level. That, for me, is good karma. If I have perpetrated a misdeed, I immediately feel guilt and other negative feelings...bad karma.

The old saying, "What goes around, comes around" is true. Although I believe that it refers to how you feel, rather than treatment by or from others.

Answer 8

You say that as though "selfish" were a bad word. We are all selfish to some degree, and quite frankly, to be completely UNselfish is pretty unhealthy, if you think about it - we all have needs and wants, and we have a right to take care of ourselves as much as anybody else.

The notion of putting something good into the universe appeals to me personally, although I don't specificially believe in karma; I just think it's what is right. In fact, if I understand the concept of karma correctly, you can't change it - it just IS; whatever is going to happen is going to happen, and you can't do anything about it. As I said, not necesssarily my philosophy, but that's the way I understand karma to "work."

Answer 9

Even good deeds ,done for an expected Karmic payback are still good deeds. Only a fool is truly selfless. BUT, ( you saw this coming, didn't you) good deeds still improve your Karma anyway, no matter why you do them.

Answer 10

no the idea of karma is to make you a better person by discouraging harming or wronging others. anybody who does good deeds cause of the karma pays back ten folds saying has the wrong idea about karma and should leave it out of their vocabulary.