The soul is its own friend and its own enemy. Hence if the soul performs good actions, it is rewarded with happiness, but if the soul continues with its sinful acts, it gets sorrow in return. Most of us usually forget this eternal law when there is a long gap between the sowing of the seed of action and reaping its fruit. By Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji
Hindu philosophy, which believes in life after death, holds the doctrine that if the karma of an individual is good enough, the next birth will be rewarding, and if not, the person may actually devolve and degenerate into a lower life form. Oxford Dictionary defines karma as the “sum of a person’s actions in one of his successive states of existence, viewed as deciding his fate for the next.” To make it more simple to understand, spiritual scholars have defined karma as any activity performed by the soul, for it is the soul that performs all actions, whether physical or mental. The soul expresses itself as well as gains external experiences through the body it acquires.
The theory of karma harps on Newton’s principle that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Hence every time we think or do something, we create a cause, which in time will bear its corresponding effects. Because of this ceaseless karmic cycle of action and reaction, happiness and sorrow, some souls become weary and seek ways to get out of this cycle for good, so that they can remain peacefully in the soul world forever, without having to suffer the unpredictable ups and downs of human life. But the Supreme Almighty says that no soul can get out of this cycle of birth and rebirth, and hence all have to play their role in the eternal drama of this world. Even the effort to end karma and attain moksha or liberation from the cycle of births is karma.
Humans are known to blame others, and even the Almighty, for their sorrows. But the law of karma makes it clear that if you experience sorrow, you are responsible for it. Illustrating this point, the Bhagawad Gita says that the soul is its own friend and its own enemy. Hence if the soul performs good actions, it is rewarded with happiness, but if the soul continues with its sinful acts, it gets sorrow in return. Most of us usually forget this eternal law when there is a long gap between the sowing of the seed of action and reaping its fruit. As a result, we are bewildered when misfortune strikes an upright, honest and charitable person and start thinking as to why a man, who has never harmed anyone all his life, is suffering. However, we forget that the record of our karmas goes back to our previous births, and any wrong deed done in a previous birth may bring us sorrow in this birth. Thus, when such an eventuality takes place, instead of lamenting our fate, we should be happy that we have got rid of the burden of our sin. Another advantage of getting proper knowledge about the law of karma is that it makes us more responsible in our actions. We know that we cannot get away with anything and we will have to face the consequences of our actions, either in the present or future births. So, be aware about your actions and always think about reaction, because you reap what you sow.
Sometimes, when we suffer the consequences of our wrong actions, instead of recognising the roots of the suffering, we commit further wrong deeds in order to mitigate our suffering and end up compounding our sins, which will only bring us more sorrow. This mistake, born of ignorance of the law of karma, is a major reason for the increasing suffering in the world today.
Understanding how the soul performs karma can help us avoid falling into the trap of sin and suffering. The soul consists of three subtle faculties — mind (which produces thoughts), intellect (which takes decisions) and sanskars or personality traits. Any action begins with a thought in the mind. The intellect weighs that thought and judges whether it should be transformed into action. Once that action is performed, it leaves a subtle impression on the soul, which shapes our sanskars. The sanskars form the basis of and influence our future thoughts. Thus, if a person performs a wrong action, the sanskar it forms will impel him to perform more wrong actions. Each time he does wrong, his sanskar will become stronger, and under its growing influence he will go on doing wrong. It is like a man digging a pit and sinking deeper into it as he digs.
The root cause of our sins is body-consciousness. We forget our true identity — that we are souls, not bodies. This makes us susceptible to vices, which are weaknesses of the mind. The major vices are lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego. All actions performed in the state of body-consciousness are influenced by one or more of these vices, and are sins, which cause sorrow to the self and others. When two body-conscious souls afflicted by the vices interact with each other, they only compound each other’s misery. Remember our wrong deeds can bring us great sorrow if they cause harm to a great number of people. Thus, those people who build nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction will become complicit in the killing of thousands of people. Such souls carry a huge burden of sin.
At the same time, when humans as a whole get afflicted by vices, as is the case now, they commit wrong not only against fellow humans but also against nature and other creatures. The result is environmental damage and climate change. When we realise the serious implications of our karma for our and others’ future, we understand how careful we should be in all our thoughts, words and actions, lest we do something wrong. In fact, it should be our aim to spread peace and true happiness with our actions, so that we can spread joy, earn the blessings of others and at the same time accumulate a stock of good fortune for ourselves. However, performing good karma is possible only if we become soul-conscious and finish the burden of our past sins. Soul-consciousness is just a matter of attention and practice — of constantly reminding oneself that one is a soul, and performing acts with that awareness. To wipe out our past sins, we need to draw power from the Almighty by practising meditation. This simply involves remembering one’s true spiritual identity, and then remembering God with love. Since HE is a spiritual entity, we have to first become soul-conscious in order to establish a link with Him. Through this link of soul with the supreme soul, flows all his love, powers and virtues, which will unburden and purify the soul by washing away the dirt of past sins. It also empowers the soul to resist the negativity of the world and perform good karma.
