Karma - Part 3

We shall now deal with the three kinds of Karmas today.

How karma is fashioned?

The cycle of Karma is this:  Action (karma) --> Impression (samskara) --> Tendency (vasana) --> Thought Pattern (vritti) --> Action (karma).

KARMA

The actions (karmas) are: seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, and thinking. 

There is a difference between karma and kriya. 

Kriya are spontaneous actions like bathing, abulations etc. which are not prompted by any desire. 

Karmas are those actions, which have background of a desire prompted thought.

SAMSKARA

Samkaras are subtle imprints (impressions) that are made in the mind-stuff (chitta) whenever we do actions (consciously).  Impressions are not memories.  

Memories are formed from impressions just like a photograph is developed from a negative.  Generally, we only retain memories from recent impressions. Yet, we have countless impressions (samskaras) from many, many lives. 

Most of these impressions no longer have memories associated with them. In other words, the impressions (samskaras) from many, many lifetimes are affecting us but we do not generally know how or why they affect us because we have no recollection of the actions that caused the impressions.

VASANA

The effect of a samskara is called a vasana. Vasanas are tendencies. In other words, vasanas are the inclinations formed from our impressions (samskaras). They are mental urges, desires, and feelings. Unlike samskaras, the vasanas (tendencies) are readily identifiable. 

VRITTI

Our tendencies (vasanas) create thought patterns (vrittis) in the mind. In other words, our thinking becomes motivated by our tendencies. That is, we THINK to support our FEELINGS (desires, urges, etc.). These thinking patterns form our attitudes and mental disposition. 

KARMA

Finally, our thinking patterns (vrittis) leads to action. In other words, we act (KARMA) because our mind tells us (VRITTI) to act, because that is how we will satisfy our desire (VASANA) which arose from the impression (SAMSKARA) made in the mind from an earlier action. 

As You Sow, So You Reap

If you put a seed in the earth, it sends up a little stem. Then leaves come out of the stem. Then come flowers and fruits. There are seeds again in the fruits. Mango seed only produces mango tree. If you sow rice, you cannot expect a crop of wheat. The same sort of seed produces the same kind of plant. A human being alone is born from the womb of a woman, a horse from a horse and a dog from a dog.

Similarly, if you sow the seed of an evil action, you will reap a harvest of pain and suffering. If you sow the seed of a virtuous action, you will reap a harvest of pleasure. This is the law of karma.

Whatever you sow by your actions come back to you. if you make others happy through service, charity and kind acts, you sow happiness like a seed; and it will give you the fruit of happiness. If you make others unhappy through harsh words, insult, ill-treatment, cruel acts, oppression, etc., you sow unhappiness like a seed; and it will give you the fruit of pain, suffering, misery and unhappiness. This is the immutable law of karma.

Swami Sivananda writes, “Remember that God is neither partial nor unjust. Remember that God is not responsible  for the wealth of one man or the poverty of another. You suffer on account of your own  wicked actions. There is nothing chaotic or capricious in this world. Things do not happen  in this universe by accident or chance in a disorderly manner. They happen in regular  succession and events follow each other in a regular order. There is a kind of definite  connection between what is being done now by you and what will happen in the future.  Sow always the seeds which will bring pleasant fruits and which will make you  happy herein and hereafter.”

The Three Kinds of Karma: Sanchita, Prarabdha and Agami Karmas.

There are three kinds of Karma (further described  below): 

1. Sanchita, the vast storehouse of yet unseen impressions. 

This is accumulated past actions or karmas waiting to come to fruition.

Sanchita is the storehouse of every action you have ever done, in all the lifetimes you have ever lived. These are all of the unresolved past actions waiting to reach resolution.

In short, these are the seeds sowed in previous birth(s), ready to bear fruit in the present birth. We bring the seeds along with us when we are born in this life, to witness the same bearing fruits in present life.

2. Prarabhda, consequences already playing themselves out.

The sanchita, brought along with you as explained above which are going to make you act in such a way that you actually witness the fruits of the seeds brought along with you.  

To make it more clear, prarabdha is the experience which you are to get in your present birth- joy or sorrow, for the good or bad actions of the past. You have actually no control over the experiences which are in store for you thus

3. Kriyamana, those currently in front of us to decide or act on.

Kriyamana Karma is the daily, instant Karma created in this lifetime and that we create in our life because of our free actions. It refers to those which are currently in front of us to decide or act on.

In short, this is all those actions which  undertake in present life, which are not influenced by the prarabdha which we are suffering / enjoying in present life as a result of past deeds.

           

The above 3 karmas, can easily be understood with the example of arrows as under:-

1.    Quiver: Arrows in the Quiver (Sanchita karma)

2.    Hand: Arrows in Hand (Kriyamana karma)

3.    Flight: Arrows in Flight (Prarabhda karma)

We will deal with these arrow example in the next post.

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