Have you ever paused to wonder about the emotions we
experience in our daily lives? At times we feel joy, peace, and fulfillment,
while at other times we experience sadness, frustration, or suffering.
Sometimes these emotions pass quickly, and sometimes they remain with us for
long phases of our life.
Looking beyond these internal tides, please also reflect on the architecture of your life: the family you were born into, the parents who raised you, and the culture, religion, and language that shaped your world. Consider, too, the people who cross your path. Some remain for a lifetime, while others drift by like clouds. Some leave deep wounds, while others lift us when we are broken. Is this all a roll of the dice? Or are we walking a path paved by the echoes of our own past actions?"
Science observes that causes produce effects, in chemistry, in biology, in human behavior. Karma extends this same logic into the domain of the soul. What if this principle also applies to our emotional experiences? What if the emotions we experience today are actually the effects of actions we performed earlier? And what if those actions are not limited to this present life, but also include actions from previous births?
Let us examine this idea through a simple example.
Suppose a thief steals an item from a shop and later goes
home and changes his clothes. Will the police stop searching for him simply
because he changed a part of his appearance? Of course not. Changing clothes
does not erase the fact that he committed the theft. The person responsible for
the action remains the same.
In a similar way, according to Sanatan Dharma, the actions
performed by a soul across many births continue to follow it. These actions,
whether good or bad, eventually return to the individual in the form of
experiences, just as we saw with the thief.
This principle is known as Karma. Today the word “karma” is widely used, and it is often understood as the results or consequences of one’s prior actions.
Who Keeps Track of Our Karma?
An interesting question arises here: How are all these
actions recorded? Who maintains the balance sheet of our good and bad deeds?
In the traditional explanation of Sanatan Dharma, this
responsibility belongs to Chithraguptha, who keeps a detailed account of every
individual’s actions. This account is then presented to Yama, the deity of
death, who determines the soul’s journey after death, whether it proceeds
toward heaven or hell depending on its karmic balance. At first glance, this
explanation may sound mythical to some people. But let us consider another
perspective.
Imagine a high-performance computer. Everything the computer
does, its programs, files, browsing history, and activities, is automatically
stored within the system itself. There is no need for an external person to
maintain a separate record of its actions because the computer itself keeps
track of everything internally. What if the human soul functions in a similar
way? (Of course, the soul is far more than a machine. Unlike a computer, the soul carries not just data but consciousness, intention, and the capacity for liberation. The analogy simply helps us visualize the idea of self-contained record-keeping)
What if every thought, intention, and action we perform is
automatically recorded within the soul itself? The soul may act as an infinite
storage unit that carries the impressions of our actions. Since the soul is
eternal while the body changes from birth to birth, these imprints could
continue to travel with the soul across lifetimes. In this way, the results of
our past actions imprinted within the soul, may manifest at specific times in
our life as pleasant or unpleasant experiences.
These experiences then appear in our lives as phases of happiness, suffering, opportunities, challenges, and the wide spectrum of emotions that every human being encounters.
The Karma Balance Sheet
What happens if a person has accumulated more good karma
than bad karma? In such a case, it can be compared to having a positive balance
in a karmic account. As long as this positive balance exists, the person is
likely to experience pleasant emotions, favorable circumstances, and phases of
happiness in life.
However, this does not mean that life will remain
permanently pleasant. Just as financial accounts contain both credits and
debits, the karmic account also contains both good and bad actions. Over time,
the results of negative karma may also begin to manifest, mixing with the
positive experiences. This is why life often moves through alternating phases
of joy and difficulty.
On the other hand, if a person has accumulated more negative
karma than positive karma, the overall experience of life may include greater
suffering, challenges, or unpleasant emotions. Yet even in such situations, the
results of good karma will still appear from time to time, bringing temporary
relief, opportunities, or moments of happiness, almost like a sort of
"silver lining".
This mixture of positive and negative karmic results is what
creates the changing phases of human experience, periods of joy, followed by
hardship, but later cycling back to moments of peace and relief.
If the karmic balance sheet is completely nullified, the
soul attains Moksha, the ultimate liberation. At this stage, the soul is freed
from the cycle of birth and death and merges with the divine. Such a liberated
soul is no longer required to take another birth.
But this raises an important question: Is it even possible
for the karmic balance sheet to become completely empty?
For that to happen, there must be no remaining effects of
good or bad deeds. In other words, there should be no karmic credits and no
karmic debits left to be experienced. This naturally leads us to wonder whether
such a state is truly achievable for a human being.
According to the wisdom of Sanatan Dharma, this state can indeed be achieved through the practice of Nishkamya Karma. Nishkamya Karma refers to performing actions without attachment to the idea that “I am the doer” and without expectation of the results of those actions. When a person acts without ego, without personal claim over the action, and without desire for its outcome, the action no longer binds the soul with new karma. some examples include a doctor who treats patients without attachment to recognition or reward, acting purely out of compassion, and a teacher motivating and uplifting a student without expecting anything in return. But Nishkamya Karma is not limited to any profession or role, it can be practiced by anyone, in any walk of life, in any moment of genuine selfless action."
The moment this attachment to doership disappears, the
karmic impressions of past actions, both good and bad, begin to dissolve
gradually. As these karmic imprints shed themselves one by one, the karmic
balance sheet slowly empties.
When nothing remains to be experienced, the soul becomes
free from all karmic obligations. In that state of complete freedom, the soul
transcends the cycle of birth and death and ultimately attains liberation.
A perspective for the common man
But let us now look at this from the perspective of a common
person, an average human being who cannot easily renounce the feeling that “I
am the doer.” In reality, letting go of the ego is extremely difficult. For
most people, completely detaching themselves from the sense of doership is not
an easy task.
So the question arises: How can such a person still perform
good karma and reduce bad karma, so that their karmic balance sheet contains
more abundance than suffering?
To understand this, imagine that every thought you think is
like a seed. The moment a thought arises in your mind, a seed is planted. If
you continue to think that same thought repeatedly, it is as though you are
watering the seed again and again, allowing it to grow.
However, if the thought is not entertained a second time, the seed simply dries up and dies.
In this way, negative thoughts should never be watered,
while positive thoughts should be carefully nurtured and allowed to grow.
The same principle applies to our actions as well. Whenever you hurt another person, through words, actions, or intentions, it is as though a bad karma signal is activated, leaving a negative imprint in your karmic account. On the other hand, when you help someone, show kindness, or act with compassion, a good karma signal is activated, creating a positive imprint.
Over time, these imprints accumulate and shape the
experiences that manifest in our lives.
In this sense, every individual is continuously
participating in the creation of their own destiny. If you want more positivity
and harmony to manifest in your life, nurture good thoughts and perform good
actions. If negative thoughts and harmful actions dominate, the resulting
experiences will naturally reflect that imbalance.
The choice, in many ways, rests within us. The results of
our thoughts and actions may not manifest instantly, but they inevitably unfold
in their own time. Just as a seed does not become a tree overnight, the effects
of karma also take time to mature.
Imagine you are growing a garden, planting one tree at a time. You will not receive immediate shade or enjoy juicy fruits the very next day. But with patience and care, the garden slowly begins to flourish. Over time, the very trees you nurtured will provide cool shade, sweet fruits, and fragrant flowers that enrich and sustain your life.
Happy reflecting. Stay tuned for more.
