Karma, meaning action, is a term in yogic spirituality
for explaining the soul’s evolution from life to life. Karma is generally
portrayed as the effect of our individual actions, extending from past lives to
present and future lives. It is often regarded as a force of determination,
like fate or destiny. We speak of a person’s karma catching up with them, ‘what
goes around comes around’ or ‘as you sow so shall you reap’, indicating this
inescapable result of what we have done.
Yet if we look deeper, we see that karma reflects the
fact that we create our own reality. We fashion both ourselves and our
environment according to all that we do in life. Karma, therefore, means that
we are universal creators, not simply the helpless products of external forces.
Karma is the underlying process of the ‘self-creating universe’. It indicates
that the universe creates itself according to its own inner intentionality.
Through the power of karma, we are self-creating beings in a self-creating
existence. Even the forces of nature, like time or gravity, which appear beyond
our control, are manifestations of an intelligent reality in which we are
active participants.
The Evolution of Consciousness
Modern science recognizes an evolution of form, noting
how the bodies of different animals adapt over time, becoming more complex and
sophisticated through succeeding generations. It has outlined a physical or
bodily evolution from plants and animals to human beings. Since the time of
Darwin, science has gone into great detail trying to explain this movement of
bodily evolution in terms of the outer factors of natural selection, survival
of the fittest and adaptation to changing environments, as if it were a process
that occurred of itself by some sort of natural necessity.
Today’s science emphasizes genetics as the main mechanism
behind this evolutionary process. It has discovered an underlying ‘genetic
code’ behind the great diversity of life, linking all creatures together in the
greater evolutionary process. This marvelous genetic code is simpler, more
concise and yet more powerful in its results than any code or data base that
the human mind can invent. So one must also ask: Can such a physical
information code exist without any enduring intelligence behind it?
This scientific account of evolution leaves any
life-force or consciousness out of the picture except as a by-product of bodily
processes. It is as though we are following the tracks of an animal and
proposing an evolution of the tracks themselves without positing any creature
making the tracks, as if one track somehow manages to evolve into the next!
We can contrast this with the view of Yoga, the great
spiritual science of the East, which recognizes an evolution of consciousness
as well as one of form. Yoga neither denies evolution in order to justify a
religious view of creation, nor reduces evolution to a blind play of material
forces. Yoga teaches that form cannot evolve without consciousness. It is an
inner consciousness that brings about evolutionary change of form, not the form
itself, which is no more than a shell. The creatures that we observe in life
are the result of such an inner consciousness evolving in its own
self-expression through the great movement of time.
Karma and rebirth are the means of this evolution of
consciousness, its underlying modus operandi. Only an intelligence that is
reborn can truly evolve in awareness. Otherwise intelligence would die with the
body, letting the form disintegrate with nothing left to continue.
Vedic Astrology and our Karmic Code
The soul can be defined as our ‘karmic being’ as opposed
to our merely human personality that is its mask. The soul carries our karmic
propensities called samskaras from one body to another.
Our karma, we could say, is the DNA of our soul. Just as
the body has its particular genetic code, the soul has its particular ‘karmic
code’. The soul’s karmic code is based upon the life patterns it has
created-the habits, tendencies, influences and desires it has set in motion
over its many births. These karmic tendencies or samskaras like seeds ripen in
the soil of our lives, taking root and sprouting according to circumstances.
Our soul’s energy is filtered through our karmic potentials, which create the
very pattern of our lives down to a subconscious and instinctual level.
For the evolution of our species and
for our own spiritual growth, we must consider both the genetic and karmic
codes. We cannot
understand ourselves through genetics alone, which is only the code of the
body; we must also consider the karmic code, the code of the mind and heart.
Note how two children in the same family can share the same genetic pattern,
education and environment and yet can have very different lives, characters and
spiritual interests. This is because of their differing karmic codes.
Fortunately, there is a way that we can see our karmic
code as clearly as our genetic code. Vedic astrology, which is called Jyotish
or the science of light (Jyoti), helps us understand the laws of both time and
karma. The Vedic astrological birthchart is probably the best indicator of the
karmic code of the soul. The pattern of the birthchart is like the ‘DNA of the
soul’ behind the current physical incarnation. The positions of the planets in
the birthchart -not only relative to the twelve signs of the zodiac but more
importantly in regard to the Nakshatras or twenty-seven mansions of the Moon –
provides a wealth of knowledge through which we can read our karmic code in
great detail.
In this regard, the Vedic astrological chart is probably
the most important document that we have in life and more important than our
genetic code. Yet like our DNA it is a code written in the language of nature
and needs to be deciphered by a trained researcher in order to make sense of
its indications. Through the Vedic astrological chart we can understand the
greater purpose of our lives and their potentials, our vulnerabilities and our
hidden strengths that can help us fulfill our true destiny.
In addition to showing our karmic code from birth, Vedic
astrology can plot its unfoldment through the changing course of our lives
using its system of planetary periods, annual charts and transits. That is why
Vedic astrologers can be so amazingly accurate both in their delineations of
character and in determining the events of our lives. On top of this, through
the use of planetary gems, mantras, yantras and meditation on planetary
deities, Vedic astrology also provides us many methods that can optimize our
karma and take us beyond the limitations of our karmic code.
It is imperative that each one of us is aware of our
karmic code and learns the tools to work with it and bring out it optimal
potential. Vedic astrology is probably the best tool in this regard. This
doesn’t mean that the birthchart will answer all our questions. We still have
to act, but it will show us how to act in the best and wisest possible manner.
In this regard, the birthchart is our karmic guide to life.
To change ourselves it is not enough to alter the genetic
code. We must learn how to alter our karmic code as well. However, to change
our karmic code is not much easier than to alter our genetics! The required
efforts must be done within ourselves rather than in an external laboratory. It
requires that we change the very way we live, breathe, see and think, such as
the methodology of Yoga and other Vedic sciences instructs.
To transform our karma requires that we expand our
connections with the conscious universe-that we live the life of the soul that
is one with all life. As the soul holds the karmic code, only the soul can
change it. Once we awaken at the level of the soul, conscious of ourselves as
children of immortality, we can modify our karma in a spiritual direction for
the higher evolution of all life.
Our Karmic Fire Body
The karmic code requires a vehicle to contain it and to
carry it from birth to birth. For this we also have a ‘subtle’ or ‘soul’ body,
an inner flame that serves as a receptacle for our karmas. We could call this
our ‘inner fire body’ as opposed to our ‘outer material body’, or we could simply
call it our ‘karmic fire body’. This subtle body, serving as the vessel for the
soul, enters the physical body like a flame, taking up its station in the heart
and warming the entire organism. Like a flame, it leaves the material shell of
the body at death taking its karmic capacities along with it.
Advanced yogis can perceive this inner flame and observe
its movements. They know how to enter into it and work directly with it, using
it to travel to various planes or lokas, higher realms beyond this material
universe. At death they merge into it and consciously leave this world, having
no fear of death. Their inner flame is no metaphor but more real to them than
their own flesh.
The Soul as Nature’s Evolutionary
Intelligence
The soul, therefore, is nature’s evolutionary
intelligence. Its code or record is karma, which is the inner DNA of the
evolutionary process. On a general level, the soul carries the karmic code of
nature, like the abilities to breathe or to perceive that we share with related
creatures. On a more specific level, the soul carries the karmic code of the
individual and his or her particular tendencies, urges and desires. The
individual soul is the primary vehicle that nature has developed for purpose of
conscious evolution. The individual provides a focus that allows consciousness
to grow through various bodies and gradually manifest itself in ever more
intelligent living forms.
The basis of all consciousness is the sense of self, the
core feeling of ‘I am’. You can observe this for yourself by watching your
thinking process.
Ø Meditate for a few minutes and watch the endless parade
of your thoughts, concerns and imaginations that arise habitually in your mind.
Try to find the root from which your thoughts arise.
Ø You will discover that all your thoughts go back directly or indirectly to
the I-thought that is the source of your identity and vitality, just as the
moving of a wheel turns around an axis. You cannot think about anything without
first thinking about yourself.
This sense of self is the source of all our motivation
and action. Consciousness automatically projects a self or sense of am-ness.
This self-sense underlies all the five senses as our most immediate feeling of
being alive. It is more intimate and powerful than our senses of sight, hearing
or even touch. It is our very sense of being that makes all the other senses
possible. Even when the other senses are not functioning it remains.
Our soul is our underlying sense of self, which is the
flame of awareness behind all our states of body and mind. The soul is the pure
‘I am’, the natural or spiritual self behind the ego or socially-conditioned
self, which is like an artificial accretion built upon it. Within that ‘I am’
is the evolutionary power of all nature and the very vision of God. This
Self-God is the supreme deity behind all religious and spiritual striving. It
is the basis of true immortality. Underlying the self-creating universe is this
self-creating consciousness of the higher Self, the supreme Atman.
Our soul is the fire seed not only of our own bodies and
life-experience but of all life on earth and, ultimately, of the entire
universe. It is the sun seed or seed of the cosmic light and infinite
consciousness. It contains within itself the developmental code of the entire
universe. This code of existence or the God seed is present in the soul,
pushing its karma forward towards Self-realization.
The Fire of Self-Realization
What is the goal of evolution? Is it simply the
proliferation of life-forms and the development of species complexity? Or, as a
mechanical process, can evolution have any goal at all, which after all
requires some sort of conscious intention? Clearly, evolution presents a
progressive unfolding of life, intelligence and consciousness, just as leaves,
flowers and fruit evolve from a seed.
Self-realization is the real goal of all life. All
creatures are striving to unfold their particular potentials, which are not
simply outer capacities of movement but inner feelings and perceptions. Behind
all evolutionary striving is an effort to further the manifestation of
consciousness.
The universal principle is not survival of the fittest
but survival of those who are most aware. Awareness at an inner level creates
the capacity for adaptation at an outer level. Survival of the fittest is a
rule only for carnivores. Yet even on that level, small creatures who know how
to hide themselves can outlast large creatures who cannot adapt.
Self-realization, however, is not simply the realization
of our isolated creature-based potentials. It is the self-aware, self-creating
universe discovering itself within its own creatures. It is the universe
becoming aware of itself, the individual recognizing his or her unity with the
All. The individual carries the sacred fire, which is the seed of universal
consciousness. This is the seed of the Self, the God-seed hidden in the heart
in the form of the sacred fire.
Karma as an Evolutionary Force
Karma, therefore, is an evolutionary force. Our own human
karma is part of the evolution of consciousness on the planet, not simply part
of our own personal growth and development. Karma prods us to a greater sense
of unity by making us responsible for all that we do both to ourselves and to
others.
As karma is an evolutionary force, there is nothing
fatalistic about it. It is a natural power designed to ensure the full
development of consciousness in creatures. Karma, we could say, is the
self-rectifying power of the self-creating universe. The individual remains the
vehicle for its workings, but karma is not simply working for the sake of the
individual.
Behind the unfoldment of karma is not a mere
deterministic judgment of good or bad actions, but a conscious force for the
growth of intelligence. Karma compels us to develop our awareness, not simply
internally but in the field of action where it really counts. It makes us
cognizant of our dynamic interrelationship with all of life. We cannot eat, breathe
or think apart from other beings or the universe. In everything we do we
partake of the universe and the universe partakes of us as well. Each one of us
is a sacred offering to all life, just as life is continually offering itself
to us in various forms from food to breath to relationship. The question is
whether the fragrance of our offering is sweet and uplifting or whether it is
bitter and obstructing to the upward flow of life.
When we act with unity, not dividing ourselves off from
others but seeing our Self in all beings, then there is no binding karma. What
binds us to karma is our personal limitation of the universal creative force.
If we let our actions follow the universal force, then our action is no longer
restricting but becomes liberating. Action with the awareness of unity creates
the ‘fire of karma’, which burns up all negative karmas.
Today we must redefine the spiritual quest in an
environmental way, as the urge of all nature to grow in consciousness. The
spiritual urge is not just a human urge but the evolutionary imperative
inherent in all life. We can only develop spiritually if we recognize our
greater unity with all. We can only liberate ourselves if we become one with
the entire universe.
Yet if karma is an evolutionary force, then there is a
positive goal to its development. It is not merely sharing a common suffering
but developing a common joy, in which we help others become free, independent
and happy in their own natures. Evolution is an expression of the very joy of
life from which creation naturally arises, what Yoga calls ‘Ananda’ or Divine
Bliss. We must follow this deeper bliss if we want
to discover true happiness and understanding in life. That true delight is not
a personal achievement but the joy of unity, the power of love. If we look to
the wisdom of karma, it will take us to that greater oneness in which all our
sorrows disappear, in which the very possibility of sorrow will cease to exist.
Karma as an Ecological Teaching
The law of karma contains an important ecological
teaching. It shows that our individual action is linked to the fate of the
entire world. As we act, so our world becomes. As we act, so the world reacts
and shapes us in turn. Karma represents the self-harmonizing power of cosmic
intelligence that keeps the evolutionary movement aligned with its greatest
good. As the planet is a single organism, our individual actions affect the
entire web of life, which works to return us to harmony when our actions become
harmful. While we might experience this harmonizing action as pain, it is only
meant to awaken us to our deeper connection to life and the need to act for the
greater happiness of all beings.
A spiritual or ‘yogic ecology’, an ecology of the soul,
must base itself upon an understanding of the law of karma. It requires that we
cultivate a consciousness of the sacred as the basis for all our interactions.
We must recognize consciousness as the unitary force behind life and all its
different ecosystems. We must recognize the evolution of our own individual consciousness
as part of a greater evolution of the universe. This is not to deny our own
individual development but to facilitate it. Our true Self is what unites us
with all. Its body is the entire universe and its action is the very movement
of life.
Our spiritual practices must be recast in an ecological
light as a human expression of cosmic intelligence for the greater evolutionary
process. If we forget the ecological basis of spirituality, then we easily lose
contact with the very forces of the universe through which alone we can grow.
We lose our necessary foundation in the Earth that provides the support for our
ascension into the light.
Our Collective Karmic Crisis
Our present planetary crisis, our crisis in consciousness, is also a
‘collective karmic crisis’. We are setting in motion long-term negative karmic
consequences by our civilization out of harmony with life. Such powerful
collective karmas can bring about deep disturbances in the world of nature,
including alterations at geological and climatic levels that can go far beyond
what our species can control. The coming century looks like an era of karmic
rectification for the devastation already wrought by our current spiritually
immature civilization. We need the wisdom to take us through this coming fire
of collective experience and help minimize its potential destruction as nature
once more demands that the soul within us comes to the front.
The problem is that our culture does not believe in
karma. We don’t teach the law of karma in our schools and or even many of our
religions are ignorant of it. Many who speak about the law of karma act in
violation of it as well. We think that if we make money or become famous that
we have achieved the goal of life, regardless of the karmas we have set in motion
for ourselves or for our world.
Our soul is a karmic center of consciousness that we must
face sooner or later. When we die, the only thing that goes with our soul is
its karma. The bodily self does not continue but the soul – the sensitive core
of awareness within us that allows us to feel happiness or sorrow – goes on to
wherever its karma may lead, which we must eventually experience. If you have
harmed your world in one life, you may have to return in the next in order to
rectify the wrong that you have done, which pains the soul, even if the outer
mind can ignore it.
If you really want to avoid pain and suffering, not only
in this life but in the continued existence of your soul, you should strive at
every moment to act with an awareness of the law of karma and its consequences.
This is a sobering consideration unlike the promises of easy happiness, quick
salvation or instant enlightenment. While these fantasies appeal to our
desires, they do not address the actualities of how the universe works, and
leave us cheated and deceived in the end when the inevitable effects of our
karma must manifest.
Presently our species has not yet seen the worst of what
its collective karma has created. We blindly imagine that our consumerist
civilization can continue, with affluence and pleasure for everyone, or at
least for our own country. Yet if we look deeply at all, we can easily see that
our growing social and environmental problems must continue until we remove
their cause in our wrong relationship to life. To evolve as a species, we must
face and transform this collective karma.
The Action of Enlightenment
The truly enlightened or Self-realized individual brings
higher forces to the Earth from the power of his or her liberated
consciousness. That is how individual enlightenment can uplift the entire
world, even without any overt external actions. Such individual enlightenment,
however, is not the enlightenment of the separate self-which is a contradiction
in terms – but that of the soul, our universal being which is inherently one
with all. It does not occur through denying or ignoring karma but through
reaching a level of action that is no longer external or bound by time. An
enlightened individual becomes a secret Sun, pouring the radiance of awareness
out to all beings. His sacred fire is that of the sacred heart of all beings.
One cannot be free of karma without becoming everyone and
everything. That is why we hear of great saints and yogis in the wilderness
befriended by wild animals. They did so by honoring the sacred presence in all
beings, not by regarding themselves as more enlightened or better than other
creatures.
One is reminded the story of Ramana Maharshi, the great
sage of South India, who liberated his own cow when the animal died. When his
disciples asked him how the cow called Lakshmi had fared, he replied that she
had achieved Self-realization. Not believing that a cow could attain such an
exalted spiritual state, they asked if she gained complete Self-realization or
just a higher, presumably human birth. Ramana replied that it was the same
Self-realization that any human being could achieve, and which few even
dedicated disciples ever reach. At his ashram today, there are not only shrines
to Ramana and his great disciples but also to Ramana’s favorite animals – a
cow, a dog, and a crow. Such sages are aware of the soul in animals and can
communicate with them just as easily they can with other human beings.
While few of us can reach the state of supreme
enlightenment, we can all bring aspects of enlightenment into our daily lives.
We can bring a unitary consciousness into our greater environment, establishing
our relationship with all aspects of the conscious universe from greeting the
Sun in the morning to remembering the stars at night. We must respond to the
evolutionary message of our karma, which is to take responsibility for our
world and look upon all creatures as our own Self. All nature will support us
in this endeavor if we recognize its movement as the expression of our own
soul.
