The law of ‘karma’ which many in the eastern cultures strongly believe in, simply means- we reap what we sow. This is a wisdom which refers to a direct relationship between intentional actions (including thoughts, words and deeds) and their consequences. Karma literally means ‘action’ and it ties up the ethics of human volition, with the chains of causes and effects.
This philosophy attempts to restore a balance, by explaining away the unfairness and inequality prevalent in the society, while also serving as a motivation for people to always choose the right action.
The fruits of karma need time to ripen. The belief in rebirth and reincarnation in eastern cultures, extends the doctrine of karma beyond the confines of a single lifetime. If not now, then later, in another lifetime, in another setting, but we are sure to face the results of our actions!
This belief has many staunch adherents, because it convincingly explains away, the inequalities seen in the world. It can easily justify the blatant suffering of the poor, diseased, weak and vulnerable, while the powerful, healthy and rich continue to enjoy their lives, without any apparent unfairness.
Under the auspices of the belief in karma, the privileged can consider their great fortunes a reward for previously performed good karma- while the needy and deprived can suffer with a consolation, that they are paying some of the debts accumulated from their previous lives, hence clearing their path towards a better future.
The fact that no one remembers anything from a previous life, does not make it seem less sensible, to the believers of either karma or reincarnation.
Now, if in reality, we are not the separate, isolated, body-mind-ego entities that we identify ourselves with, but the oneness, the isness, the wholeness of all that is- how can a belief in karma and reincarnation fit in this understanding?
If I think I am a tiny ripple in the ocean of all that is, then, my death is this ripple submerging into the water, dissolving in the ocean. Upon my death, I disappear as a ripple, but I continue as just the water. In a short while, this same water may rise upwards as another ripple or a wave. This is my reincarnation, a rebirth!
Through all its forms and movements- there always was, only the water. That same water from the old ripple, is now rising as a new wave. This new wave results from the movement of the whole ocean. Now, if that old ripple happened to be a sinner- will the new ‘reincarnated’ wave suffer poor consequences due to that?
Consequences for whom?
There are two levels- the level of illusion(ripple) and the level of reality(water). We are ordinarily at the level of illusion. We see each other and ourselves as separate ripples in the ocean, but we know nothing about the whole ocean! We live and interact with each other from our isolation.
Those of us who believe in karma and reincarnation, think that we die and are reborn as a new ripple, but our karmas follow us and affect the ups and downs of our new lives, according to what good or bad we have accumulated from our previous lives.
Believing this, we assume that we carry on, life-after-life-after-life, as ignorant ripples, suffering in our own isolation, until one fine day, after much suffering, we give up striving as a ripple and suddenly, are thrown into this recognition that we are really just the water! This insight instantly frees us from the limited identity of a ripple, and makes us one with the whole ocean.
This fundamental shift in perspective is a transformation which liberates us from the level of illusion into the level of reality. This reality is our truth, where we are not a tiny ripple at all, but the water that permeates the whole ocean! We are still in the body of a ripple until our physical death, but that is no more our identity. We now know the water as our real self!
So, from this moment on, any good or bad deeds that the ocean (through the body of a ripple) does- are not added to the accumulated Karma of this ripple. It is free of all karma, because it is free of a ‘ripple-ego’ identification as separate from the whole.
Now, it knows that whatever happens through its ‘ripple body’, is done by the whole ocean, for the whole ocean, from the whole wisdom of reality. This enlightened ripple trusts and welcomes everything that happens, and lives as its only true reality- the water!
In this metaphor, the whole ocean of existence is full of waves that sin or are virtuous, in any given moment. Everything together though, is in perfect equilibrium of harmony and balance. Because there is no separate wave in reality, every wave, whether sinner or saint- is only an equally unreal illusion!
No ripple can sin in isolation, if there is no ripple, separate from the ocean!
If there is an apparent sin or sinner, the ocean as a whole has sinned. If there is anything of virtue, the whole ocean has been virtuous- there can be no separate ‘karma’ accumulating for any ripple or wave. Because in reality, there is no separate ripple or wave!
Their identities as separate waves- as sinner or saint, are not real, they are only apparent. Their only reality is as water, which makes the whole ocean. Their reality is the whole of totality, the oneness of the ocean, the pure emptiness, without any ripples or waves. Sin and virtue of all the illusory ripples are dissolved and annihilated in this oneness.
This is what is meant by- “nothing ever happens at the level of reality”. There is only an emptiness at the level of the absolute reality- a stillness, a silence! This is why it is also said that all the world is an illusion (Maya).
But it is recognized as illusion, only from the level of its reality! From the level of the illusion itself, it appears quite real, and when we see it from this level, we suffer all the consequences of believing that an illusion is our reality.
Our actions arise from thoughts. Our thoughts in turn arise from the complex conditioning, the whole combination of all the influences our body-minds are subject to. The totality of everything that is, affects our body-mind and the thoughts, that we act upon, in every moment. The totality therefore, affects all our choices, whatever happens to “me” as an individual body-mind, is ultimately chosen by the whole of totality.
What happens at ‘any’ instance, does not concern an individual body-mind alone, it concerns everything, the whole totality is involved in that moment- the harmony, the balance prevails for the whole of it, all of it, the flow of oneness moves as one, in each instance.
If the rules of karma work, they can only work through the whole of totality, through the oneness of the whole, because there is nothing else in reality!
So, what can be the karma of an individual body-mind and how can its fruits unfold?
It is simply impossible for any individual body-mind to incur its own private karma, for which it alone is accountable and the fruits of which it has to bear alone. That cannot happen in reality, because there is no separate individual. Besides, nothing ever happens, in reality!
Nevertheless, a body-mind living in an illusory identification with its separation, can sincerely believe in its isolation from the whole and suffer through this belief, by the sequence of causes and effects.
Until we realize our truth as oneness, recognizing, that in reality we are not a separate, isolated, helpless ‘body-mind-ego’, but the whole of totality- karma and its fruits may continue to psychologically bind us.
Does that mean we reap what we sow?
We as an individual body-mind, may or may not reap what we sow, depending on the circumstances, the chance events and the direction of the whole flow of totality. Because totality as a whole, balances everything and the good or bad are only our personal interpretations, based on our spatio-temporally conditioned viewpoints.
In general, the human body-mind and the world, follow the laws of nature, where there are predictable patterns- often operating through a complex network of causes and effects. Many of these laws of nature have been deciphered by humans, and appear to determine the general likely consequences- usually proportional to their linked causes.
When we believe in our separation, we invest in our personal doership and collect the imprints of the good and bad actions committed by our body-mind, embedded in our psyche. This separate identity of ours, suffers their consequences in at least some form. For example- often acting angry or violent, leads to misery and remorse- while an act of kindness or generosity, makes us feel happy and content. Hence the ‘karma’ appear to be bearing their fruits.
But once we recognize our truth as the whole oneness and start living from this understanding, there can be no more karma accumulating for us- apparent or real.
The body will still continue to move up or down, with the flow of the whole, as needed by the whole- but there will be no ownership of the actions performed, no residues left on the individual body-mind. Whatever happens then, will not be a reward or punishment for anything that has occurred through a specific body-mind, because it will be rooted and aligned with the absolute truth and reality.
An individual body-mind may appear to be doing active hard work, but it will be performed from the whole awareness and wisdom of the moment, without any confusion or choice and will be truly impersonal and effortless. The cause and consequence of such an action, will involve and impact the whole of totality, with no ‘personal’ karma involved.
Then, karma through any individual body-mind, merely becomes another term for the movement of the totality, the whole flow of all that is. In this flow, at any given moment, there are ripples and waves, some rising, some falling. The karma is just a way for our whole truth and reality to express within this flow of oneness!
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