Your Karma Empowers You

17 July 2001, 08:42am IST
By SURESH JINDAL.

Recently, his holiness the dalai lama has observed that hinduism and buddhism are siblings born of the same mother. their views of the nature of ultimate reality are similar to each other. the buddhist view of shunyata is very close to those propounded by the advaitya schools of hinduism. it is from this that they both derive belief in karma and reincarnation. karma very often, due to early misunderstanding of western scholars, is understood to be passive, impotent, helpless and defeatist. this view is a misleading, and is the very opposite of the real import of karma. karma is dynamic, ever-changing, self-actualising and self-transcending. rather than being a helpless pawn of kismet wafted about by an arbitrary god, karma allows one to recreate oneself in one's own image and aspirations. rather than being arbitrarily moulded and slave driven by another, karma puts the responsibility of your destiny on yourself. in the traditions that believe in eternal rest, in either heaven or hell, the question as to why people are born in extreme diversity - of fortune, riches, physical beauty, in the super rich countries of the west or the living hells of africa and siberia under totalitarianism - are not adequately answered. except by blind faith and belief in a mysterious and inscrutable god that works in inexplicable ways that can neither be questioned or answered, they offer no acceptable explanation. karma literally means action, work, and activity. we act as form in a physical body; and we also act as mental continuums of the wisdom of our feeling, perception, actualisation and accomplishment, within a world view of the nature of ultimate reality. the results of these acts leave imprints that ripen into future results. buddhism postulates four laws that govern karma. 1. karma is definite in that good karma will yield happiness and afflicted karma will produce suffering. 2. karma always increases. just as multiple fruits come from a single seed, karma too multiplies. a small act of virtue blooms manifold as does a small act of meanness. 3. the results are similar to the cause. or, you can not make silk out of a sow's ear! 4. like the laws of energy that govern the external world, in the inner space of one's mental continuum karmic causes once created cannot be lost or denied. karmic acts leave imprints (vasanas) in our mental continuums whose results will bear fruit - both bitter and nectarine - into inexorable ripening. like a minor humiliation to another fertilises vast fields of resentment, spite and hatred, a single karmic seed gives birth to a vast tree of fruit. like a seed of spinach will not yield a tree of guavas, an act of compassion will not produce hatred; an act of abuse will not produce love. similar seeds will give similar fruit. it is a universal experience that `luck' or `destiny' or `kismet' can make a sudden about-turn. gain turns to loss, fame to disgrace, profit to loss, and happiness to sorrow in a single instance. glowing radiant health can find itself being silently eaten by cancer or heart disease. the buddhist view of impermanence observes that objects give the illusion of appearing solid and permanent due to a dependence on various causes and conditions. they exist when the causes exist and cease when the causes cease. the causes and conditions of our physio-psychological aggregates of form, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness are the results of our karmic actions. and in turn every act we perform every moment impacts upon the subsequent moments of our being and consciousness. all phenomena are in an intransigent state of dynamic flux, and changing from moment to moment. nothing is permanent and forever, including misery and suffering. it is possible to abandon this endless cycle of conditioned existence by one's own efforts and without the intervention of some superior being. we ourselves create the causes and conditions of our own misery. and it is we alone that can get us out of it. our acts must create those causes and conditions that can give us happiness and liberate us from suffering. by creating deserts of hatred and greed we cannot harvest groves of love and kindness. to eliminate suffering you have to uproot the roots of the causes and conditions of suffering. this wisdom is available to every being, for as the shakya muni said every sentient is a potential buddha. our negative karmas obfuscate us from seeing this profound truth.