In the west, the word ‘karma’ is not widely understood and often is used to imply a feeling of bad omens. In the east, the concept is much more readily understood. The law, while immutable, has very deep implications on our lives. More and more, we hear people saying, why are these things happening? Why do I seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? To answer these questions, we need to look more closely at the laws that govern our world.
There are three laws of governance. The first is physical, for example, the law of gravity, or motion, and these physical laws are absolute. That means that whether we accept them, or even believe in them, or not, is completely irrelevant. We are all bound by them. It is a law of physical energy. Physicists study these laws and make thousands of things possible, with benevolent or malevolent end products.
Then there are the spiritual laws, of karma. They are also absolute. Whether we believe in them or not, or rather, whether we take notice of them, or not, is irrelevant. They are running in the background of our lives. A wise person takes time to understand how these laws work, so that they can work in their favour, and subsequently work for the betterment of their life and the lives of those around them.
The third set of laws are human laws which are constantly changing, and are different in each land and for each culture.
So, to take control of our lives and actions (karma) we need to understand how many types of actions there are. We can perform positive actions, negative actions or neutral actions. Neutral actions are only possible to perform when I, and all around me, are completely full of spiritual attainment, which is clearly not possible at this time. This leaves us with positive or negative actions. How do we know if the actions I perform are positive or negative?
To put it simply, the law of karma functions, not based on the act itself, but on the intention behind the act. What is it that determines the intention? It is the level of consciousness. So, any action performed in the awareness of only being a body with the labels it carries; male/female, rich/poor, belief systems, religion, then actions will always be negative. If I perform an action in the awareness of being the light energy, or consciousness, that inhabits this body temporarily, then those actions will always be positive.
Every individual is responsible for their own actions. To take control we need to understand that any negative actions we have performed incur a debt that we must repay. So how do we do that, and how do we ensure our future happiness? There are three ways to settle our karmic debts. The first is simply to suffer the consequences, and that is very obvious what is happening in our world at this time. The second way is by performing good actions to neutralise the effects of the consequences. The third way is to ‘win the lottery’. Winning the lottery in spiritual terms means having the means to download continual powerful energy that not only pays off any debts we have incurred but also helps us to accumulate in our accounts for the future. We cannot change the past. We must let it go. The most important time of all is the present. The past led us to now, the present clearly will lead us to the future. Connecting to God, in the correct consciousness, is the fastest way of settling any karmic debts. God cannot simply write off the debt, but the power received reduces the suffering of that debt and also gives the soul the power to incur no more debt. Little by little, my debts get nullified. I need to learn how to connect to the Supreme Presence and be on the same wavelength as God. I the soul, connecting with the Divine, the Supreme Soul, is the greatest karma I can perform.
Parmjit Basra has over 35 years in management and is based at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Centre, Leicester, UK.