DISCUSSION POINTS 4

Karma is a difficult concept to grasp though its basic principle is simple. The way I look at it, it has to do with how we affect others. If we affect others negatively with our actions, we are bound to make up for it in future. And vice versa. As to vasanas, they are not part of karma but rather the result of karma. A vasana is the lingering effect of doing something over and over, like getting into a habit or feeling secure doing it because we have done it before and are familiar with what happens with it. Vasana can also be like a block keeping us from doing other useful things. Also, vasana is formed by association. Being in the company of people with a negative approach to life often infects an individual who picks up the same approach under the influence so to say. Thus basically vasanas derive their force by their psychological impact on us like that of habit and association. Given this, an individual is capable of getting over the vasanas all by oneself by exercising strong will. It's like self-improvement plans. There are so many books written on self-improvement from the general viewpoint. Here we are talking about doing it for spiritual reasons and purposes. Vasanas come to us from actions in previous lives as well as from this life. But anyone who is willing or able to exercise strong will is able to overcome them. If this were not so, all the scriptural talk about asking us to do dharma or the right thing would be just futile chatter. However, karma has much greater force and real impact. While vasanas affect our responsibility to ourselves, karma affects our responsibility to others. Vasanas can be cured by inner resolve to change. Karma cannot be resolved only by inner resolve. If I have borrowed money from someone, the matter is not resolved by just feeling bad about it inside and deciding never to borrow again. I got to pay the debt. Still, it is said that accummulated karma of the past lives can be burnt by spiritual knowledge (jnana-marga) or divine grace (bhakti-marga). Some strong advocates of karma theory would demur, though. They would say you have to go through all karma. Any way, all seem to agree that the karma which has given us the present body has to be gone through, even if one becomes self-realized soul. I doubt that this resolves all issues involved. But all alternatives to karma resolve even less. Unless someone comes out with something brand new and more sensible than anything offered to date. I am not waiting for that. Karma, like democracy, has problems but anything else has more problems. So I am stuck with it. Is it like life that is unfair and you are stuck with it? No, life can be unfair; karma is, by definition, fair. But karma can be inconvenient, like having to pay your bills. Hence it is that we often complain about karma and wish it wasn't true. The redeeming part of it is that karma always gives us the choice and chance to improve ourselves, both materially and spiritually. --Ramesh From my letter to Howard, of December 31, 2008. Thanks, Howard, for prompting these thoughts!