KARMA-RELATED DEFINTIONS
Don't expect conventional dictionary stuff here!These are presented in an order that facilitates easy reading.Fuller explanations are given in the links for the last seven:
These terms are explained more fully in our other karma-related websites:
KarmicResolution.org – Rearranging karma in the pursuit of happiness.
KarmicAbsolution.org – Completing all karma and finding contentment in fulfilling life’s purpose.
SourceOfKarma.org – Access to the flow of the primordial wellspring.Can be used for karmic resolution and/or absolution.
CompleteYourKarma.org – The process of traveling to the source of karma, communing with the highest positive forces, and choosing to pursue either temporary happiness or permanent contentment.
ZeroResidueKarma.org – Systematic practices to lessen karmic burden (both “good” and “bad”).
Karma is action and the seemingly endless chain of cause and effect that goes along with almost all action. (To be specific, all action except zero residue karma produces a reaction and continues the cycle.)
There is a common misconception in the West that karma is just "bad" things, like debts we incurred either in this life or a previous one.Actually, karma is both "good" and "bad" -- accounts payable and accounts receivable. All our karmic accounts must be settled to become totally free of karma.
Although the term "karma" is of Indian origin, the concept of cause and effect is central to all the major religions and spiritual traditions of the world.All of their guidelines for living, such as the Ten Commandments of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, have only one purpose -- completion of karma.The implication, whether stated or not, is that completion of karma is the purpose of life.
Karma is a cycle that continues until we extract the final lesson from each type of experience.If we have trouble dealing with angry autocrats, we are confronted with one angry autocrat after another until we learn to deal with them.If we have trouble dealing with alcoholics, we are confronted with one alcoholic after another until we learn to deal with that symptom.Whatever we are faced with is the lesson of the day.How many lifetimes have we wasted without learning how to deal with the same knee-jerk emotional reactions, both in others and ourselves?Why do most people keep flunking Karma 101, and repeat the basic classes forever?
When your awareness is limited to the material world, you are oblivious to the karmic effects of your thoughts and actions.In this state, you are a prisoner of your body, and the world is your warden.You delight only in gratifying your senses and ego, and you dread old age, sickness, and death.You feel that what you get is based partly on your own efforts, and partly on circumstances beyond your control.There is no awareness of life before birth in this body, or life after the body is left behind.
Since the material world veils karma, thinking and acting solely through the laws of the material world increases karmic bondage.The material world, especially the commercialism of modern life, denies the spiritual world and karma.Even the best human law is inadequate to take care of spiritual law.Human law and ethics are too static and generalized to reflect the dynamic, highly personalized reality of karmic law.
In religious terms, action that produces more karma is sin.Action that eliminates karma (zero residue karma) is the opposite – good works, auspicious action, etc.
The first step out of bondage is to recognize the intimate link between your life and the universe.Selfish, egocentric thoughts and actions produce resistance and frustration.Unselfish thoughts and actions yield contentment and attract support from all sides.People who are caught up in material values may achieve great worldly success at the cost of lasting contentment.In our house (HolisticVegetarianHouse.org), we have come to the conclusion that selfless service is the most efficient means to reduce karma and expand awareness.
Loyalty is steadfast, heartfelt dedication to a noble purpose.It goes beyond commitment, which lasts only until a promise is fulfilled, and does not fully engage all aspects of the personality.Commitment leads to karmic resolution and transitory happiness.Loyalty leads to karmic absolution and lasting contentment.
The universe is always loyal to us because it always gives us the best possible gift:It gives us exactly what we need at exactly the right time to work out the next phase of our karma.No matter what happens to us, every circumstance we face presents us with the ideal combination of resources for that moment.
Loyalty to the universe is essential to reduction of karma.That means no whining or pining for something else, no cribbing or complaining about what we have.Feeling that we got a raw deal, or thinking that there is anything less than perfect justice in the universe, is disloyalty to the universe, which comes back to us in different ways.Sooner or later, we experience reversals of fortune, whether physical, mental, social, financial, or spiritual.
Perpetual gratitude and heartfelt prayer are a natural expression of loyalty -- prayer for help in extracting the full wisdom in every experience, and thereby complete all our karma and fulfill the purpose of our creation.
More on loyalty
Karmic Resolution is rearranging our thinking and behavior in the pursuit of greater happiness.This includes all selfish action, and most of medicine and psychology, which alleviate the symptoms of distress, but fail to permanently heal the underlying cause.In fact, all action that is not oriented toward karmic absolution is an attempt to resolve karma, whether we know it or not.Action not motivated by selfless service only increases karmic burden, even if it produces happiness, which is always temporary.
(See next entry, too.)
As mentioned in the previous entry, karmic resolution is rearranging karma for greater happiness, which is only temporary.Karmic absolution is reducing karma for permanent contentment.Resolution does not reduce karmic burden.It is like juggling your loans without reducing the total amount due or the total amount receivable.Karmic absolution is paying down the debits and taking payment on the receivables, bit by bit, until you are completely free of both payables and receivables.Karma is complete when there is nothing left that must be done or undone.This is truly holistic healing that balances all aspects of life for the individual and the environment.
The source of karma is the primordial wellspring that gives insight into what karma is relevant at that time.Each direct glimpse into the source is more than our individual intelligence can comprehend.We need to meditate and pray for intervention to understand it and put it to use.Then we can choose to pursue happiness (karmic resolution mode), or lasting contentment through systematic reduction of karma (karmic absolution mode).If we choose absolution, we learn how to work out whatever karma is appropriate at that time.
Access to the source of karma is granted by "personal invitation only" to those who are completely loyal to the universe.Once it is comprehended with the assistance of higher intelligence than our own, this knowledge is eminently practical and personal.It enables us to distinguish between truth and illusion, and efficiently pursue either happiness or contentment.
Zero residue karma is action that works out karma from the past and leaves no residue, or karma for the future.The key is going to the source of karma to know what to do and when to do it.We can use knowledge from this source for either resolution or absolution, but only with prayer and an absolute resolve to complete all our karma can we practice zero residue karma and attain absolution.
Strictly speaking, completion of karma is the process of systematically eliminating all karma.It yields complete, perpetual contentment, with nothing left to do or undo.
The most efficient means uses guidance from the source of karma:
Completion of this cycle -- going to the source of karma, communing with the divine to understand and apply what has been seen, and following through with the specific action, no matter what the challenge – provides tremendous positive reinforcement to one’s loyalty to the universe.Love and contentment expand each time one repeats the process.Once it has been set in motion, the cycle of joy in living cannot be stopped until all one’s karma has been absolved.The whole universe becomes one’s family, every part as dear as oneself.Every part is one’s self.The distance between individual and God dissolves, and contentment is perpetual.The purpose of life is fulfilled, with nothing left to do or undo.
From a broader perspective, all action is completing karma.Even extremely negative actions, such as drug-peddling and murder, are part of the learning process for some people.Eventually, perhaps many lifetimes later, they pay a horrendous cost and finally learn the lessons from their ill deeds, and resolve to purify their lives.
"If yesterday's truths are not today's lies, you're not moving at your speed of enlightenment."This must be the most popular saying in our house (HolisticVegetarianHouse.org).Holding onto the same set of beliefs from early adulthood to old age indicates spiritual rigor mortis.Anyone who is rapidly reducing his or her karmic burden has a new view of life every day, and old beliefs are left behind for broader perspectives.
Practicing zero residue karma is the way to travel at the speed of enlightenment.
Sukumar’s mother (Sukumar inspired these websites) loved two other aphorisms.The first was “If it’s not practical, it’s not spiritual.”Reading and talking about spirituality accomplish nothing if not put into practice every single day.That connects to her second saying, “If you can only talk about it, it’s not spiritual.”
Practice these Principles ... Join our house in San Diego -- HolisticVegetarianHouse.org
Copyright 2001 by Ponani Narayanan Sukumar
These concepts are based on personal experience of over forty years. They are presented for public dissemination and review for the first time on April 10, 2001. Revisions are planned and older versions will be archived. Any similarities to any writings or teachings except as specifically mentioned herein is not intentional. We have not found the key concepts presented here in any other writings or teachings anywhere.