Karma

[Believe?]

Karma? An unfounded theory or fact? Any real life examples?

[Off Topic]

You may like to post this on "Talking Point" unless you are suggesting it has something to do with living in Singapore... Which it probably does, duh...

[definitely]

what goes round, comes round. I've seen it.

[chameleon]

What goes up must come down

[not quite]

except age 

[Wiki]

Interesting article on Wikipedia about Karma...have a read.  I certainly believe in it. What you do in this life will come round to you in your next life.  Ive seen many examples of it in my life and those around me too. 

[the karma delusion]

karma is fact in the same way as god is...ie both a load of bollocks. something coicidental will happen and you'll attach a more interesting reason to it....

[it's possible]

In some situations, it is possible. If you treat someone badly, it's likely that the person will go out to get back at you. In that sense, "karma" is possible.

[Mahesh]

Karma is just a way of "mythisizing" the commonsense dictum of doing unto others what you would have others do unto you.

Even "objectively speaking", it's a useful concept - you do derive a certain contentment, a certain happiness from knowing that you will someday, maybe in the next life, benefit from the good deeds you do today. The next life may never happen, but the positive side effects on your psyche is very real.

Take for example the reason why people do great deeds so that they'll be remembered well after they're DEAD. Why should it matter how they are thought of after they are dead? It doesn't, except that they derive a very tangible, current satisfaction from knowing that they'll be thought of well by others after they're gone.

Such is the case with Karma. Accumulate +ve Karma, and bask in the resulting glow of self-induced saintliness.

[Vita-mean]

Don't quote me now....but

Karma is life's way of asking you to look at a particular life lesson that's in need of learning or something that no longer serves you that's in need of changing. Karma also indicates unfinished business either within the same lifetime or between 2 lifetimes.

Example : Let's say you've been a pushover for years. People have used you, taken advantage of you and you've been too afraid to assert yourself, speak the truth, ask for what you want. You're unhappy, frustrated and seeing yourself as a victim.

The lesson here is to realise, being a pushover no longer serves you and your higher purpose. You need to have courage to start asserting yourself, speak up and state what you want and more people start to respect you. Your life changes in that you are more in control. You can be a co-creator in our own life path through the choices you are faced with.

Some people do appalling things and get away with it. We look from the sidelines and lament the unfairness and the lack of justice. We do not see that karma actually is contained in a bigger picture that is not confined to our immediate vision. That person may be indirectly clearing someone else's karma by getting involved in a seemingly unjust situation

Another way to gauge your karma is to look at the quality of your own life. Have you been born into poverty? With an appallingly low standard of living? Is your daily pursuit occupied by figuring out how to feed your family and where this food is going to come from? Is your life extremely hard. Then really, this is an indication that you are clearing off previous life karma.If you have been born into reasonable prosperity, with a roof overhead, minimal financial worries and so on, this too is an indication of less karma.

[Peace]

I agree with vita mean.

Think of repeated lifetimes as a type of Groundhog Day. You carry on coming back to a physical existance until you "get it right." To bring this a little more clarity, the objective is a spiritual existance - nirvana if you like. No one can really say what that is but I suspect that it involves a higher level of personal vibration that requires service to others and unconditional & compassionate love. These characteristics require a human spirit to have a vibration that reflects this condition. To achieve that vibration it must be part of your mind set, part of your heart - it must be your vibration.

We are provided with experiences in our lives to move towards that goal, how we treat others, understanding that to give to others but at the same time learn that we cannot forget ourselves in that process else we can no longer serve. In the greater counceling of others we must understand the pressures, the problems people face and the ability to cope with them. All too often we criticize others, jump to conclusions without knowing the background of a problem, or for that matter confuse it with cultural differences. Again, to liken this to our lives consider how a child progresses, his/her life opens up and learns to react to others.

What is it like to live in poverty? What problems can come with huge success? Quite often the biggest lessons we learn come through severe problems in which we are driven to despair. It drives a deep understanding into us that becomes part of our soul. There is no way of teaching someone these lessons - do teenagers listen? The most profound way to learn is to have that lesson come from a spark of understanding that enlightens our soul. Then we can progress to the next lesson.

I am often challenged with the question why we can't remember our previous lives. The answer IMO comes from teh fact that we need to have that lesson driven into our soul to strengthen our personal vibration. It must be part of us - not a rote way of knowing that if I do XYZ then I won't get told off...

Karma is not a reward/punishment points scheme. We do not get punished for doing things wrongly. God - whoever and whatever that is - sees us with love and provides us with another experience that will help us to learn, to progress to a higher spiritual existance. We do not get rewarded. We merely progress to the next lesson. We cause our own problems but can also achieve progress if we so desire.

Well, that's the way I think and it has helped me deeply at times where I have been driven to despair...

[Born again]

I don't agree with not quite.

If you believe in Karma then you probably also believe in re-incarnation.

[Vita Mean]

Recently I've been doing a small amount of reading up

I've made the following general discoveries and will be finding out more over time :

1) If you believe in the dynamics of karma, then you also will discover the dynamics of the soul level.

2)Why do some religions have so much detail on the existence of reincarnation while some religions teach us reincarnation does not exist?

There are instances of records and documents now surfacing that teachings on reincarnation were omitted from important books simply because it was felt these teachings were just too much for people to understand. So the teachings were originally there but after some form of censorship, they have been left out.

3)The Universe lovingly supports your belief system. If you believe there is no God, you won't get punished, you will simply discover increasing evidence that God does not exist.As you believe, so will it hold true. However,you are also guided to discover the actual truths for yourself at your own time.

4)Life on Earth as we know it is tough. It was designed that way because this is in reality a school.Also you can only work through and clear karma while in this physical plane, and not otherwise. Have you ever wondered why you came down as a human being with a body in the first place? What you came here to do? What your life purpose was and why things are sometimes so tough and what's it all about? Food for thought.

[ifonly]

Feels good to believe in karma. It gives you a sense of justice. But that is about as real as it gets.

[karmatically speaking]

karma can also work at a different level without any need for belief in reincarnation.

And the basic Hindu teaching behind karma is "perform the right action because it is the right thing to do" with the corollary "don't get happy at the rewards of your action or get sad at the bad outcome of your action" or in Western terms, always stay focused on process, and not on outcome. That is also karma.