Karma
The word karma origines from sanskrit and, it means first of all quite simply and soberly “action” or “deed.” But for thousands of years now, this word karma has been used to describe the law of cause and effect. It goes along with the idea that every action has a corresponding consequence.
So for example, if I wish for a particular person or group to experience happiness, then the one effect of this wish might be, on one hand, that this person or group might indeed experience more happiness – even if only like an imperceptible touch – and on the other hand, that I myself also might get more happy. The effects of such an action thus may unfold in different directions at the same time.
Every wish for the happiness of others is just a tiny drop, a minute ripple in the movements of vast, immense oceans on many different levels, of very diverse natures. Can you imagine what kind of minimal effect a single drop falling into the ocean would have on the mighty forces moving its waters? If you sit by the sea and gaze into the vastness, you can easily imagine that a drop does indeed trigger and influence movement, but still remains something minuscule within a vast universe.
It must be kept in mind that thoughts (words and logic) touch only a few of the levels on which causes and effects occur. And of course, every effect is itself a new cause which generates another effect, and so on and so forth. Each time, new waves ripple outward—or sometimes a certain impact hits so directly that it becomes instantly neutralized and vanishes. The waves can also spill over from one level of ideas and matter into another, and so forth.
Meanwhile, these oceans of cause and effect have grown ever vaster, and new universes and further black holes arose—and are arising still in every moment. Thus, your entire being, your whole world, is shaped, borne, and permeated by Karma.
By the way, Homo Faber doesn’t see things this way. For Homo Faber (the technical human being, such as in Newton his world), forces and counter-forces mainly act on a material level, while all other levels are neglected and considered more or less random. But according to karma, there are no coincidences—though effects often must travel very long paths through time and space, matter and imagination.
For example, the effect of research is discovery. Research is the cause, discovery is the effect. Without searching, there will be far less finding. So from the karmic point of view searching causes developing at the same time.
Up to this point, we have been occupied mainly with the ocean of wishes, thoughts, and imaginations. But there are many further levels, and everywhere the laws of karma hold true: no cause without effect, and every effect is of course itself a new cause.
At this point one might even say: the very first cause for the universe may have been the wish of a goddess? Perhaps she thought: “Ah, if only I had some company and a few amusing toys!”
One example: On the level of the human body, the cause of a regular yoga practice has the effect that the body remains supple. That is a very direct and simple karmic consequence.
On the level of working with life energies—such as prana (sanskrit) which is a very important aspect of the teachings of regular yoga —the cause of regular energy work (pranayama) has the effect that these different energies we are constantly permeated by, which flow and wave in us constantly harmoniously and forcefully, so through pranayama blockages can be relaxed or even dissolved, or at the very least the energy worlds are stimulated. And that is what we are made up of, we are made up out of various different complex energy worlds such as matter and space, but the world in which prana flows is comparatively easy to harmonize, which is why in yoga it is often highlighted and foregrounded.
If I strike glowing iron with a hammer, I can also, on the physical level, create very significant effects—for example, bringing a new tool into existence. That, too will generate further karma. This might be considered the coarsest level. Yet of course, every hammer strike also produces longer-term effects on all the levels that make us who we are. The sparks then fly all the more vividly. And all this amazing sound?
In very general terms, one often says that karma works on the levels of body (matter), speech (naming, words, energies), and mind (existence). This is a broad formulation, but a helpful one if you wish to reflect more deeply on Karma and its functions.
I was asked to say something about Karma, and this was my first pass—the first thing that came to mind.
Hey ho! Let’s see how this unfolds and stirs things up?
Yours,
Winfried the Quijote
