Karma Theroy - The Law Of Action And Reaction

"Karma"!!! This word has gained a lot of popularity in recent days. Of course, many of Sanatan Dharma theories have influenced people throughout the world, especially the west. Can we say that the karma theory also just among the one?? If we take a moment and think, No!! is the answer, While the other theories talk about a certain path or a certain way of practice or a certain measure of control to keep your life in peace, "karma" is part and parcel of life. Breathing is a karma. Whether you wish or not, you breathe!! Every living thing in the universe is bound to do karma, whether they wish or not!! You cry, you laugh, you love, you hate, you think, you sit idle, you talk, you read, you walk, you stand, you sleep!! everything is karma!! every single thing!! In simple terms, "karma" is nothing but action. 

But what makes karma really special is, there is a result for every single karma!! Remember the third law of Newton, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction"! Newton restricted his law only to this material universe. The law of karma is not like that. For an action, you do here, you might get the result at some other world, some other place, some other birth and so on. This is the underlying beauty of karma.

This might seem funny to some people, especially atheists. They don't believe in God, reincarnation or afterlife. They believe only what they see with their mortal eyes and supported by scientific proofs. This article is not intended to make those people believe in karma!! But even such atheists can't stop doing karma (action). Hence, let us proceed with a theist point of view!!

"What goes around, comes around" is a famous saying. Be it a word you uttered, a deed you did or even your simple silence towards someone. It will return with the same intensity!! Every karma (action) you perform creates imprints on your soul. These imprints are carried forward to many many lives (rebirths) until you finally reap the results of that karma.

Once a foreigner asked the following question to the great sage of Kanchi. "Dear Sage!! Can you show me one convincing proof that rebirth exists?" He smiled and told the foreigner to take a visit to the nearest maternity hospital. After he returned, the following conversation took place between the two :

Sage : What did you see in the hospital?

Foreigner : I saw a poor baby and a rich baby ; I saw a normal baby and a physically challenged baby ; I saw a beautiful baby and a deformed baby".

Sage : Do you agree that God is full of love?

Foreigner : Yes!

Sage : If God is full of love, then why should he be so biased and cruel towards these babies! Why should he give one baby wealth and the other one poverty? Why should he give beautiful face to one baby and not to the other one? Why should one baby be healthy and not the other one?

(The foreigner was stunned!! He could not give any convincing answer for the above question)

Swami replied "It is certain that God is full of love. Beings create their own fate by their actions. These actions decide the future births of beings and what you saw in hospital is a perfect example of that. Do you need more convincing answer for rebirth?"

The foreigner got fully convinced and left happily.

The above story is a clear example that we live over and over again and our karma decides who we are going to be, in the future!!

Just close your eyes for a minute and think. You would find many examples from your own life for karma!! Have you ignored someone in your life? You would have noted that you were ignored by another person. Cheated someone?? Ill treated anyone?? Spoken harsh words towards a person?? you would have experienced the same pain by someone else at some other time. It holds good for noble deeds as well. There is a famous saying in tamil "தர்மம் தலை காக்கும்", which means you will always be protected by the good deeds you did!! But the secret is, no one can clearly say, when will you reap the effects. That is the underlying mystery of karma. It could be immediate or somewhere far in the future, even in the next lifetimes.

People might ask ; "If karma is so powerful which decides your destiny, then what is the use in praying?" Yes, karma is powerful but at the same time, bad effects of karma can be minimized through prayer. Remember, it cannot be completely eradicated, but only minimized. If you really repent for your mistakes and feel sorry for what you have done and pray your heart out, such prayer will never go unanswered. It doesn't mean that you can do sins continuously and repent for it to minimize the effects. That is not the point. When you repent it from your inner heart, you should never commit that sin again and make every effort to consciously avoid doing that.

It goes without saying that, until you have balance in your karma account, either positive or negative, you will be taking births again and again to reap the results. So when will you exit from this cycle completely?

This is where Bhagavad Gita comes into picture. It outlines a very simple fact to nullify karma completely. Though it sounds simple. it is one of the most hardest practice to incorporate in our everyday life. Here is the famous quote from Gita!!

Doing work for the sake of work itself and not attached to results, is the only way to get out of the cycle of karma and it is not so simple to practice.

Here is a classic example given by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa :

"Once a king ordered one of his servants to go to a distant place and bring a scholar to the king's court. The servant traveled for several days but heard that the scholar was no more in that city and no one had clues of his whereabouts. He traveled back and told the king about it and then performed his regular works as usual. He was never bothered about his efforts which went in vain. The reason was because, he undertook the task for his master and not for himself. If this had been his own task, he would have been really disappointed. As long as you live in this world, you should also do your works as assigned to you by your master (God). This is the only way to keep disappointments away!!"


This clearly shows that we get happy/sad just because of the fact that we are attached to the results of our work. Even before we start doing something, we have some expectations within ourselves and that is the cause of all our problems.

But how do we get rid of this???

Only by attempting to follow the above quote. Little by little, in our everyday activities, we need to consciously think that whatever we do, is an offering to God. This comes slowly when you sacrifice the "I" - "Ego" that you are doing the deeds. When you replace this thought by thinking that "You are only a medium" and the ultimate power is the one which is performing everything, then all your miseries/sorrows will come to an end. Let us take the little step today towards this humongous task and let "Shri Krishna" guide us through this process. AUM Shanthi!!!

Time : What It Is?? - Excerpts From The Bhagavadha!!

The "Tidbits" section of my blog is specifically for sharing good and thought provoking information from various Sanathan Dharma scriptures and lectures by scholars/gurus. These are not my works. I am presenting the information as it is by mentioning from which source it is taken. The information which I thought of sharing today is taken from "Bhagavadha Purana" (Skandha III - Chapter 29 - Verses 36-45) and it is all about "Time". Let us read :

"He who is called Bhagavan, Brahman and Paramatman has an aspect called providence (Daiva) which, though connected with his aspects as Purusha and Prakriti, is distinct from them. It is what sets in motion the cycle of the Jiva's involvement in repeated births and deaths".

"It is the unique power of the Lord, causing the transformation of Kala (Time). It gives rise to the fear of death in beings who identify themselves with the evolutes of Prakriti and see a clear-cut difference between themselves and others".

"Supporting all and permeating all, it causes the destruction of one combination of elements by another combination. It is none other than Vishnu, the all-pervading being, the master of all worship and the one who draws everything into himself".

"He is impartial to all, there being none dear, inimical or related to him. The unceasing movement of Time consumes all beings who are heedless of the process and are engrossed in their enjoyments and activities".

"Out of fear of him, the wind blows ; the sun emits heat and light ; the stars shine ; clouds rain ; trees, plants and creepers yield flowers and fruits in proper season ; rivers flow downstream ; the oceans maintain their level ; fire burns ; the earth with its mountains remains firm ; the sky provides space for life-giving breath to breath".

"Prakrithi evolves the worlds with seven layers constituting the universal body, and the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in charge of creation, preservation and destruction), performs its cosmic function".

"Thus "Time" is limitless. Though itself without beginning or end, it provides a beginning and an end for all entities. It gives origin to all creatures through their parents and determines also their end, including the end of Antaka (King of Death) himself".

Why Crows Are Given Importance During Pitru-Paksha?

The credit for today's topic goes to one of my friends, Sangeetha who insisted me to gather more information behind the Sanatan Dharma ritual, offering food to the crow, especially during the Shraadha time. In many households, food is offered to crows on everyday basis, but Shraadha day has its own unique importance. Most Hindus believe that their ancestors for whom they are performing the Shraadha, visit them to enjoy the food in the form of crows. As such, they feel very happy when the crow immediately comes and pounces on the food. This might seem very silly to some people, but those who believe such traditions take it as a blessing of their ancestors. Again, belief or non-belief is one's own individual perspective and no one else can do anything about that.

But even for believers, some questions might come in mind. Why crows particularly? Why not any other animals or birds? Could there be any specific reason for this? This is a very general article which tries to explore the answers for such questions. 

Before proceeding further, let me provide some information about Ravens. They are species which are similar to crows (though they have many differences). Interestingly, many ancient mythologies (Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic etc.) have given some spiritual importance to ravens. Take a look...

In Indian mythology, crows and pitras are connected for varied reasons. We will see two of them here. 

The "KHA" Sound :

The sound produced by a crow is "kha". This is considered a very significant word in sanskrit. Basically, "kha" is the first consonant of Sanskrit. It has different meanings like sun, empty space, sky,ether,air, heaven, happiness, celestial sphere, Brahma etc. Refer the following link for the full list of meanings :

http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=kha&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes

"Kha" is also a question word which literally means "why". Every human being has a duty to find out the purpose of his/her life. The very basic intention of a human birth is to find out the answer for three questions ; "Who am I" ? ; "Where did I come from" ? ; and "Where am I going to go after death" ? But we spend the whole life in external pleasures and attractions  and fail to adhere to the basic idea of life. On the other hand, our ancestors, wants us to constantly stick to our own soul doing self enquiry. Hence, on "pitru-paksha", we remember our ancestors through crows. While offering food to crows, we hear the sound "kha" which reminds us to do some self-enquiry. When crows are not present, we also shout "kha" "kha" and invite crows. But again, we forget the inner meaning, but give importance to the external ritual. That is why, certain strange things happen as mentioned in the following article :

http://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/why-is-this-9-yr-old-ragpicker-in-demand-during-pitru-paksha/story-64c3Dt7AUcGTVe5AByxMlM.html

"Ka" in Egyptian Mythology :

According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the soul was considered to be having three parts, the "ka" ; the "ba" and the "akh". The "ka" was essentially a person's double. It was the life force, and a person is said to be dead once "ka" departs the body. The Egyptians also buried things such as bread, beer, oxen etc... to feed the "ka" in afterlife. They also performed extensive preparation for the body (like we have death rituals in sanatan dharma) since they believed that those rituals will find a peaceful home for the "ka" in afterlife.

Refer the following links for an extensive reading on Egyptian "Ka"

http://myweb.usf.edu/~liottan/theegyptiansoul.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul
http://www.britannica.com/topic/ka-Egyptian-religion

The Story From Ramayana :

There is a story from the Uttara Kanda, Ramayana which reads as follows :

Once a king named Marutta performed Maheshwara Yagna. All the Devas including Indra attended the yagna. Ravana, who was an enemy to the Devas also came to that yagna. On seeing him, the Devas got frightened and took the forms of different animals to escape from Ravana. Indra took the form of a peacock, Kuber took the form of a chameleon, Varuna became the swan and Yama took the form of a crow and so on. Thus all of them escaped from the mighty Ravana. Once he left, all the Devas returned back to their original form. They also gave boons to the respective animals for saving their lives. Since yama took the form of the crow, he gave the following boon to the crows....

ये च मद्विषयस्थास तु मानवाः कषुधयार्दिताः
तवयि भुक्ते तु तृप्तास ते भविष्यन्ति सबान्धवाः

ye ca madvisayasthas tu manavaḥ kṣudhayarditah
tvayi bhukte tu trptas te bhavisyanti sabandhavah

'When human beings suffering from hunger, if you are fed / eating, those people become happy as if they have (met and fed) all his relatives (past and present).

Hence, by offering food to the crows, we are satisfying the needs of pitras who are invisible to our eyes.

http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/614/why-are-crows-considered-to-be-a-link-to-our-pitris-spirits-of-ancestors
https://www.scribd.com/doc/28062501/Uttar-kand-valmiki