Aditya, Thursday, January 21, 2016 4:47 pm

Law of Karma, Rebirth & Getting away with Murder

Here we shall further expanded upon the Law of Karma and some important implications of this law. The Law of Karma is probably the most important principle of Vedic teachings to be understood. Without understanding this thoroughly, many other connected topics do not make full sense. Hence it is important to dwell and expand upon this topic…

You do a deliberate action (karma). This action (karma) may be 'good' (dharmic/selfless) or 'bad' (adharmic/selfish), in simplistic terms. A good action produces a good result (Karma Phala). A bad action produces a bad result. The result of an action can be either seen (drsta) or unseen (adrsta). So a good 'seen' result (drsta phala)may be that you feel good and the fellow you gave some charity to feels good and has a bit of extra money for food. A bad seen result may be that you feel guilty and the fellow you just shouted at feels hurt and still has no money for food.   BUT, in addition to this seen result, there is ALSO an 'unseen' result (adrsta phala). The Veda reveals this. What are these unseen results of an action? 2 types: Good (Punya) and Bad (Paapa). A 'good' action will produce a 'good' unseen result called 'punya'. A 'bad' action produces 'bad' unseen result called 'papa'. So what? Who cares? Well..it may be unseen for now, but it will become seen (experienced) by you in the future. How? In the form of 'good luck' or 'bad luck'. In the form of pleasure (Sukham) and Pain (Duhkham) in your life. The Vedic example is that Punya/Papa is like sewing a seed in the ground. When the conditions and time is right, the seed will sprout/manifest/fructify. Similarly, your Punya/Papa is like a seed that has been planted by your good & bad actions. It MUST manifest (fructify) if it's been planted. No choice. It will manifest as pleasurable circumstances in life, or painful circumstances. You may win the lottery, or be riddled with difficulties in life outside your control. Or both!

So I commit a crime. I earn some papa. Which will fructify later as pain. So to avoid that pain later on, I decide commit suicide. Problem solved! A loophole in the law of Karma?! Well…not exactly – the law states that all seeds that are planted, MUST fructify as pain at some point. So the papa for that crime, must fructify – if not this life….then ANOTHER life is required just for this purpose. So he must be born again purely for 1 reason – to experience the fruits of his Punya/Papa (past unseen Karma Phala already created due to MY past actions). Here is where the concept of reincarnation directly links with the Law of Karma. Reincarnation is a natural consequence of the law – we must have had multiple births before this one. And we must have multiple births after this one. If not, then the Law of Karma does not work. It is illogical – you could get away with murder, literally. So we are born due to ONLY 1 reason- to experience our past Unseen Karma Phala (Unseen Results of actions). No Karma Phala, no Birth. This is the law. Krishna speaks of rebirth in Gita 2.27.

Why do I need to know this? It’s all theory? There are 5 reasons the law of Karma is useful for you to understand in everyday life: (1) Explains disparity between different people; (2) Helps me accept my problems and not blame others; (3) Faith in God is not shaken, else God seems unjust for 'imposing' suffering in the world; (4) You become directly responsible for your own future; (5) Explains why it seems that good people suffer & bad people can prosper.

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