It is always interesting to explore Eastern spirituality. In a journey towards the diverse beliefs of the soul and energy, we find the oriental traditions and their vision on the actions and intentions of the being. Better known as karma, this notion is seen by Eastern philosophy as a cycle or retribution of a person’s behavior. But do you know how karma works?
Beyond perceiving it as a mechanism by which the universe sarcastically rewards us for bad acts, karma is a spiritual cycle of cause and effect. Simultaneously good and bad intentions adhere to good or bad karma. This means that it is not simply negative.
Image: Robinson
From this Eastern perspective, this notion is more of a law of consequences. There are no particular rewards or punishments, just the effects of the acts. But not everything stops there, Eastern traditions relate karma to something deeper than the actions of the present being.
According to the Samsara belief, which originates in India, all living things go through different cycles of birth and rebirth. Each religion determines the rules of these cycles, but in the Eastern visions it is a «karmic cycle» that can influence both the future of the present life and the following ones.
This means that when the soul transmigrates right after death, it brings with it the karmic impulses of the past life into the new one. Now, if it is recognized that we all go through this karmic cycle, then how can we get out of it?
Image: Michael Robinson
How to clear karma
Eastern philosophy focuses on the fact that rebirth in animal form will cause much more suffering than rebirth in human form. So, the first step would be not to return to the world in the form of an animal. However, that does not depend 100%. The only way to escape the karmic soul train is to work towards enlightenment or nirvana.
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Through good karmic deeds and spiritual practices it is possible to end the cycle and find peace and happiness. Although, reaching the end of the karmic cycle in the Eastern belief means not being reborn again. The positive side of this is that you will be awake to the true nature and your soul will achieve complete rest or if you are a Hindu you will be at the side of the universal God.
The law of the chance of karma written in the Upanishads (Hindu books) of the seventh century:
Now, as a man is like this or like that, according to how he acts and how he behaves, he will be like that; a man of good deeds will become good, a man of bad deeds, bad; he becomes pure by pure actions, bad by bad actions; And here they say that a person consists of desires, and as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his work; and whatever action he does, he will reap it.
-Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
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