It is always interesting to explore Eastern spirituality. On a journey towards the various beliefs of the soul and energy, we find Eastern traditions and their vision of 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 repays 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 actions. But not everything stops there, Eastern traditions relate karma to something deeper than the actions of the present being.
According to the belief of Samsara, which originates in India, all living beings go through different cycles of birth and rebirth. Each religion determines the rules of these cycles, but in 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 just after , it brings with it the karmic impulses of the past life to the new one. Now, if it is recognized that we all go through this karmic cycle, then how can we get out of it?
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How to clean karma
The focus is on the fact that rebirth in animal form will generate much more suffering than rebirth in human form. So, the first step would be to not return to the world in animal form. However, that doesn’t 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 actions and spiritual practices it is possible to end the cycle and find peace and happiness. Although, reaching the end of the karmic cycle in Eastern belief means not being reborn. The positive side of this is that you will be awakened to the true nature and your soul will achieve complete rest or, if you are a Hindu, you will be next to the universal God.
The law of chance of karma written in the Upanishads (Hindu books) of the 7th century:
Now, as a man is like this or like that, according to how he acts and how he behaves, so will he be; a man of good deeds will become good, a man of bad deeds bad; he becomes pure by pure actions, evil by evil actions; And here they say that a person consists of desires, and as his desire is, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his work; and whatever action he does, he will reap.
– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad