Discussion
Lochar says:~
I request you to listen to my humble understanding of the Law of Karma.
I request you to listen to my humble understanding of the Law of Karma.
Karma is the universal principle of cause and effect. Our actions, both good and bad, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from life's lessons and become better people.
Karma is basically energy. I throw the energy out through thoughts, words, and deeds - mano vaakkaya karma, and it comes back to me in time, through other people. Karma is our best teacher, for we must always face the consequences of our actions and thus, improve and refine our behavior, or suffer if we do not. The bondage of this karma or karmabandham is the root for repeated births and deaths and experiencing the pleasures and pains - sukhadukhaalu. Beyond this bondage is salvation.
Bhagavadgita suggests that the moment the fire of knowledge -jnaagnihi manifests itself the whole stock of sanchita karmas in the form of latencies disappears and one is above experiencing prarabhdha and aagami.
Karma is basically energy. I throw the energy out through thoughts, words, and deeds - mano vaakkaya karma, and it comes back to me in time, through other people. Karma is our best teacher, for we must always face the consequences of our actions and thus, improve and refine our behavior, or suffer if we do not. The bondage of this karma or karmabandham is the root for repeated births and deaths and experiencing the pleasures and pains - sukhadukhaalu. Beyond this bondage is salvation.
Bhagavadgita suggests that the moment the fire of knowledge -jnaagnihi manifests itself the whole stock of sanchita karmas in the form of latencies disappears and one is above experiencing prarabhdha and aagami.
Understanding the way karma works, we seek to live a good and virtuous life through the right thought, right speech, and right action and this is called dharma. We must also be very careful about our thoughts because thought creates, and thoughts make karmas - good, bad, and mixed -
.Pranamas
SK:~ Karma is a universal principle only based on the false self [ego], within the illusory universe or Maya. The cause and effect are a reality, only on the base of the false self (ego or you). The fact is formless Atman is the Self. Atman is present in the form of consciousness. Consciousness is the cause of the illusory universe and it is uncaused.
Buddhism says, there is nothing - a nonentity. Advaita says there is some reality, even though things are not what they appear to be. If one knows the truth, he will know there is neither cause nor effect. Advaita is to know, what is it that is Real, and base the reasoning on that real.
Buddhism says, there is nothing - a nonentity. Advaita says there is some reality, even though things are not what they appear to be. If one knows the truth, he will know there is neither cause nor effect. Advaita is to know, what is it that is Real, and base the reasoning on that real.
When reasoning is done on the true base, one has the yardstick to know 'what is the truth?' and 'what is the untruth?' and he will be able to reject the unreal or untruth. Therefore, one has to make sure whether the true self is body or ego or the true Self is Soul or Atman.
If one accepts the Self is the body, then as you say karma is a universal principle. If one accepts the Soul as the Self, then the physical body, ego, world, and whatever one has seen, known and believed, and experienced, as a person becomes an illusion, from the standpoint of the Soul as the Self.
By accepting karma theory, one is accepting the unreal, as real, and permanently remains in the clutches of duality, thinking the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality. Therefore, to overcome the illusory cycle of birth, life, and death, one has to know that, the body or ego is not the Self, but the Soul.
If one accepts the Self is the body, then as you say karma is a universal principle. If one accepts the Soul as the Self, then the physical body, ego, world, and whatever one has seen, known and believed, and experienced, as a person becomes an illusion, from the standpoint of the Soul as the Self.
By accepting karma theory, one is accepting the unreal, as real, and permanently remains in the clutches of duality, thinking the cycle of birth, life, and death as a reality. Therefore, to overcome the illusory cycle of birth, life, and death, one has to know that, the body or ego is not the Self, but the Soul.
Sage Sankara in Aparokshanubhuti:~
88. When the whole universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is Atman?
89. O enlightened one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing all the results of Prarabdha; for it will becomes you to feel distressed.
90. The theory one hears from the scripture, that Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.
91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality, Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, since the body and the like become non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.
92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being free from ego).
93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as the earth is of a jar. That (ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?
95. Just as a person out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?
96. The real nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists; so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.
97. The body also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.
98. “And all the actions of a man perish when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.
99. If the ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves in two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true knowledge.
The above proves that karma is a reality only on the base of the false self, where one thinks the body and the universe as reality. When one becomes aware of the fact that, the true Self is an unborn eternal Soul, then the karma becomes part and parcel of illusion.
My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of ignorance. Ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life, and death or pain and pleasure as reality. Thus, the freedom that one is seeking will remain a distant dream. For the one who accepts birth, life, and death as a reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.
My point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be able to come out of ignorance. Ignorance makes him believe the cycle of birth, life, and death or pain and pleasure as reality. Thus, the freedom that one is seeking will remain a distant dream. For the one who accepts birth, life, and death as a reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.