Karma and Freedom

The Nature of Karma

Karma is a term that has entered the modern vocabulary but is frequently misunderstood as a simplistic, mechanical law of cause and effect. Many presentations of karma make it sound as though it operates in a manner similar to the classic billiard balls example used to explain Newtonian physics. There, ball a hits ball b, which hits ball c, which rebounds back into ball a. The example is suitable for explaining cause-and-effect to the general public, but it does not accurately reflect the subtle nature of karma.

Karma is not primarily a matter of external phenomenon. External events serve as manifestations of karma, but events themselves are effects, not causes. The cause lies within consciousness. The karmic initiative is rooted in the vasanas, or “habitual tendencies,” which reside in an individual’s consciousness. Vasanas are the subtle patterns that stimulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Every thought, word, or deed is an expression, be it consciously or unconsciously held, of an individual’s belief about his personal identity and the nature of the world. By our thoughts, words, and actions, we continuously create and reinforce a subjective reality that validates our beliefs. Intention and behavior forge subtle patterns in consciousness. These patterns are the vasanas and can be likened to irrigation ditches. When rain falls, it follows the course of ditches that were previously dug. To change the course of irrigation, new ditches must be excavated. Similarly, the energy of consciousness will continue to flow in established, conditioned vasana patterns until new patterns are created.

Vasanas drive a person to manipulate his environment in order to fulfill the established energy pattern. This is karma in action; previously established patterns serve as causes for which present events are effects. The effects of the present events then serve as causes for future effects, and so on turns the wheel of karma. Although this may sound like determinism, it actually provides the answer for how an individual can gain control over his life. Because our experiences are the result of our own vasanas, we can change our lives by changing our consciousness. Again, just as changing the course of irrigation requires new ditches to be excavated, similarly, to change the flow of consciousness new patterns need to be created.

Karma and the Aspirant

In discussions with spiritual aspirants about karma, two questions inevitably arise: “How did karma begin?” and “How can I get out of karmic bondage?” As for the first question, some of history’s greatest spiritual teachers have refused to answer it! When asked, the Buddha did not respond at all, he maintained a “noble silence.” The sage, Ramana Maharshi, responded to the nature of the questioner rather than the question. His answer was to ask the questioner, “Who is it that is asking the question?” The aspirant was to seek his own identity, and in the resolution of that quest, all theoretical questions would be answered. “A Course In Miracles,” a modern synthesis of psychology and spirituality, answers by saying that pondering metaphysics is an example of “senseless musing.” The answer to all spiritual questions is to be found in experience, not theology.

Having said that, it is this author’s experience that contemporary Western aspirants frequently have a psychological need for some answers, even if they only satisfy the intellect. For many, a reasonable answer to the question about karmic origination is necessary before they feel comfortable undertaking the practices that will answer the question about freedom from karmic bondage. Let us, then, explore the origin of karma. Since karma originates in the consciousness of an individual, it is valuable to probe the relationship of individual consciousness and karma. As we do, we find that karma and individuality are mutually dependent, two sides of the same coin. The individual falsely believes himself to be a separate person who “has” thoughts, feelings, and ideas. In fact, however, the sense of individuality arises simultaneously with these mental phenomena, in the same way that a wave and a trough arise together.

For karma to occur, it takes “someone” to generate karma. It takes an individual to produce a cause and later experience an effect. When no individual ego is presently creating a cause, there exists no karmic reaction, for the chain of individuality which links cause and effect is broken. Phenomena — thoughts, words, and deeds — continue to occur, but these are realized to be unrelated to one’s true Self. One sees that bodies, minds, and egos are part of Nature’s process, in the same way as flowers, rain, or thunder. The individual has no more substance than a fascinating image formed by clouds in the sky. Though we may protest that without our individuality we would be faceless robots, the fact is that until we reach Soul consciousness we do not know what it really means to be a unique individual. Our egoic individuality is not much more than the result of biological and social conditioning. The pride of egoic individuality is like a prisoner bragging about his chains.

Transcending egoic identity is the key to the answer to the second question, how to achieve liberation from the bonds of karma. At first glance, it appears the karmic cycle is endless and unbreakable. As we have seen, once a cause produces an effect, the effect then serves as a cause for a later effect, and so on, ad infinitum. The resolution of this problem is to be had in the experience of grace. Grace is the descent of compassion from the spiritual realms. This divine energy helps the aspirant rise above the cycle of karma, an ascension which he could never achieve by his own efforts alone. Some of us have had the experience of trying to assist a trapped bird to regain her freedom. When a bird accidentally flies inside a building, the poor creature flies every which way seeking an exit. She will often crash into windows and walls, perhaps even injuring herself in the process. When someone attempts to help her, she struggles, even more, trying to escape from the very hands which can save her. It is only when she becomes exhausted that she finally becomes still and can be released outdoors, where she can again happily fly free.

Such is the manner in which liberation from karma ultimately takes place. When one begins to see that he will never be able to free himself of the karmic trap, he then humbly turns toward God and asks for help. This humility and prayerful attitude produce the stillness which enables God to “release” an aspirant from his egoic individuality into the environment of Soul consciousness, where he can happily “fly” free. Just as the bird is incapable of understanding how she is helped, likewise we limited human beings are incapable of understanding Who it is that helps us or in what manner the assistance is granted. Therefore, let us only be concerned with sincerely calling upon the Divine in whatever form that makes sense to us, and then simply be still and let grace descend. As Swami Amar Jyoti says, “…just leave all up to God. You should have no worries; you will relax there and then.”

Freedom from Karma

Insight into the workings of karma helps one become aware of the unity of all life. As one’s consciousness becomes broad and deep, one can see how everything he does interacts with the entire universe. Like stones dropped on the surface of a still pond, one’s thoughts, words, and deeds produce ripples in the ocean of the universe. As these ripples interact with each other, they produce an immense field of interpenetrating energy in which no part can be separated from the whole. In yoga philosophy, this quantum field is called Indra’s Net. To touch one strand of the Net is to touch all parts, for all parts are connected.

It is a beautiful fact of nature that positive change can be brought about in a much shorter time than it took to produce negative karma, as a ditch can be filled in far less time than it took to dig. The divine structure of Indra’s Net is such that negative ripples — such as selfishness and violence — are quite short-lived and have no significant result. Positive ripples — such as generosity and kindness — produce energy that exists for substantial periods of time and generates long-lasting results. And love, being omnipotent and eternal, produces an eternal result.

Freedom from karma is not brought about through bombastically fighting against karma, for struggle leaves one more entangled in the sticky web of cause and effect. Nor is freedom from karma brought about through some grand accomplishment, for all sense of pompous gain or loss are of the ego. Freedom from karma is brought about through love. At home in Heaven, love visits the earth in the forms of compassion, service, and forgiveness. And only the light of love is warm enough to melt the icy chains of karma, leaving the Soul free of vasanas of ego, suffering, and limitation.

To be free of karma does not mean that one instantly dies and receives some heavenly reward, nor that one lives emotionally stifled, without inspiration for life or compassion for others. Just the opposite, by the alchemy of love, daily life with all its ordinary events and relationships becomes rich and fulfilling. The mundane is transformed into the magical. Everything becomes infused with meaning, and encounters with others become opportunities to rejoice in the power of love. Every thought, word, and deed of a sage is a part of the divine symphony of God’s creation. Indra’s Net is transformed from a spider web of karmic bondage into a cosmic harp on which is played the music of love.