Laws of Karma

What is Karma? Karma is the Sanskrit word for action. It is equivalent to Newton’s law of ‘every action must have a reaction’. When we think, speak or act we initiate a force that will react accordingly. This returning force maybe modified, changed or suspended, but most people will not be able eradicate it.

This law of cause and effect is not punishment, but is wholly for the sake of education or learning.

A person may not escape the consequences of his actions, but he will suffer only if he himself has made the conditions ripe for his suffering. Ignorance of the law is no excuse whether the laws are man-made or universal.

To stop being afraid and to start being empowered in the worlds of karma and reincarnation, here is what you need to know about karmic laws.

1. THE GREAT LAW

  • “As you sow, so shall you reap”. This is also known as the “Law of Cause and Effect”.
  • Whatever we put out in the Universe is what comes back to us.
  • If what we want is Happiness, Peace, Love, Friendship… Then we should BE Happy, Peaceful, Loving and a True Friend.

2. THE LAW OF CREATION

  • Life doesn’t just HAPPEN, it requires our participation.
  • We are one with the Universe, both inside and out. – Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state.
  • BE yourself, and surround yourself with what you want to have present in your Life.

3. THE LAW OF HUMILITY

  • What you refuse to accept, will continue for you.
  • If what we see is an enemy, or someone with a character trait that we find to be negative, then we ourselves are not focused on a higher level of existence.

4. THE LAW OF GROWTH

  • “Wherever you go, there you are”.
  • For us to GROW in Spirit, it is we who must change – and not the people, places or things around us.
  • The only given we have in our lives is OURSELVES and that is the only factor we have control over.
  • When we change who and what we are within our heart our life follows suit and changes too. THE

5. LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY

  • Whenever there is something wrong in my life, there is something wrong in me.
  • We mirror what surrounds us – and what surrounds us mirrors us; this is a Universal Truth.
  • We must take responsibility what is in our life.

6. THE LAW OF CONNECTION

  • Even if something we do seems inconsequential, it is very important that it gets done as everything in the Universe is connected.
  • Each step leads to the next step, and so forth and so on.
  • Someone must do the initial work to get a job done.
  • Neither the first step nor the last are of greater significance,
  • As they were both needed to accomplish the task.
  • Past-Present-Future they are all connected…

7. THE LAW OF FOCUS

  • You can not think of two things at the same time.
  • When our focus is on Spiritual Values, it is impossible for us to have lower thoughts such as greed or anger.

8. THE LAW OF GIVING AND HOSPITALITY

  • If you believe something to be true,then sometime in your life you will be called upon to demonstrate that particular truth.
  • Here is where we put what we CLAIM that we have learned, into actual PRACTICE.

9. THE LAW OF HERE AND NOW

  • Looking backward to examine what was, prevents us from being totally in the HERE AND NOW.
  • Old thoughts, old patterns of behavior, old dreams…
  • Prevent us from having new ones.

10. THE LAW OF CHANGE

  • History repeats itself until we learn the lessons that we need to change our path.

11. THE LAW OF PATIENCE AND REWARD

  • All Rewards require initial toil.
  • Rewards of lasting value require patient and persistent toil.
  • True joy follows doing what we’re suppose to be doing, and waiting for the reward to come in on its own time.

12. THE LAW OF SIGNIFICANCE AND INSPIRATION

  • You get back from something whatever YOU have put into it.
  • The true value of something is a direct result of the energy and intent that is put into it.
  • Every personal contribution is also a contribution to the Whole.
  • Lack luster contributions have no impact on the Whole, nor do they work to diminish it.
  • Loving contributions bring life to, and inspire, the Whole.

In medio stat virtus : Virtue stands in the middle

In medio stat virtus : Virtue stands in the middle.

Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme position. – Horace

Voltaire said : The better is the enemy of the good.

Variant translations:
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
The best is the enemy of the good.

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defined a virtue as a balance point between a deficiency and an excess of a trait. The point of greatest virtue lies not in the exact middle, but at a golden mean sometimes closer to one extreme than the other.

For example:
* Generosity lies in between miserliness and extravagance.
* Courage lies in between cowardice and foolhardiness.
* Confidence lies in between self-deprecation and vanity.

Virtue, by definition, is a characteristic that promotes individual and collective well being. A vice, on the other hand, does not promote well being. What is surprising to me is that a virtue stands between two vices.

Now, this is something to think about. The present day paradigm is being the best. We all are told that we have to be the best at what we do. And we even strive for it.

We give up things just to be the best in what we do. We encourage children to be first in class. In fact our lives are so competitive that we call it a rat race. We drive ourselves hard and get burnt out.

No wonder this puts things out of perspective. We feel miserable when we cant be the best. We don’t forgive our own mistakes.

Pushing to extreme cant be a balanced way of life, even if the extreme is perfection. Being the best may be good for business, but it may not be good for the spirit.

====

Note:
Arriving at a middle position is sometimes equated to striking a balance or working a compromise. These can be powerful approaches to mitigate situations that are otherwise held in extremes.

=====

Note:
In the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, the term “Middle Way” was used in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta [Sanskrit: Dharma-chakra-pravartana Sūtra; English: Sutra to set in motion of the wheel of the dharma], which the Buddhist tradition regards to be the first teaching that the Buddha delivered after his awakening. In this sutta, the Buddha describes the Noble Eightfold Path as the middle way of moderation, between the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification:

Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. There is an addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is an addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.
Avoiding both these extremes, the Perfect One has realized the Middle Path; it gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to enlightenment and to Nibbana.

And what is that Middle Path realized by the Tathagata? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.