Karmic Cycle

The saying, ‘One reaps what he sows,’ brings to attention a profound natural law of ‘sowing and reaping’ or ‘seeding and harvesting’, which states that ‘reaping is always of the same kind as is sowing.’ In other words: seed creates seed; and it creates of its own kind; but of course, the implied assumption is that it happens only under some suitable conditions. Though in the physical world, the law – the reaping is only of what is shown – is self-witnessing; however, in the spiritual world, it is often challenged due to the lack of proof of its enforcement. For example, how often we see a wicked man flourishing and living a prosperous life, while a righteous man failing and suffering all kinds of hardships. In such paradoxical situations, it is not easy to stand by the law that dictates ‘one reaps what he sows,’ with implied meaning that good of man bears good fruits and his bad bears bad fruits, because the obvious seems to be proving quite the contrary at times – which is: the bad giving rise to good and good giving rise to bad. So we wonder: Why it is the way it is? Why it is that the law that holds true so universally in all physical world fails so badly in spiritual realm? Even though man’s wisdom is unable to explain such disparity and injustice which so often occurs in daily life, the Vedanta philosophy, which is the heart of Hindu theology, unfolds many mysteries about Existence through the doctrine of Karma and yields a very satisfactory and sufficient elucidation why life is the way it is by revealing the following truth: A - Though the soul is eternal and immortal and is a part of all-pervading Consciousness (God), yet she suffers mortality due to her Karma (Holy Gita 8:3), which she creates during her human embodiment. Karma is a subtle counterpart to human action that demands exhaustion through the expression of suitable life by the soul. It is a silent reaction to man’s action that manifests in due time and materializes itself during some future Karmic-life of the soul. In brief, Karma is a debt that results due to actions rendered by the soul during her human embodiment, which in due time demands a definite payoff that is possible only through the expression of further suitable Karmic-life by the soul. B - Not only Karma is the basis of all life but is also the regulating authority over soul’s all material manifestations; it is the Karma that forces her to pass through countless earthly embodiments (Holy Gita 13:21) by demanding its expression and exhaustion in small fractions as it matures. All reincarnations of the soul with their good and bad experiences are nothing but the expression of Karma that she creates during her human births (Holy Gita 2:43). The evenness and unevenness of life, which the soul experiences in human life, is not because of anything else but due to her own doings of the past. C - The cycle of Karma, which starts at the end of human life and completes only when the soul, after passing through countless non-human embodiments, wears the human flesh again, continues until she takes the total refuge in the sanctuary of God where through His grace she is forgiven of all Karma and set eternally free from bondage. Only then, when the soul finds perpetual rest in the sanctuary of God, she is released from the fetters of Karma. Thus, by revealing facts about the conditioned-life of the soul that occurs under the captivity of Karma, and by disclosing its laws that regulate her mortality and exposing how the Karmic-cycle operates, the Vedanta Philosophy not only provides a sufficient rationale for seemingly unjustified life but yields a total justification for all material manifestation of the soul. With such basic beliefs of Hinduism that Karma is the basis of all mortal manifestation of the soul (Holy Gita 8:3), who though is intrinsically immortal, yet wears the clothes of mortality through suitable reincarnations to express and exhaust her Karmic-dues, the Vedantic philosophy is quite capable in providing a satisfactory elucidation on why all kinds of seemingly unfair happenings take place in life. The laws and statues that it provides to describe the workings of Karma are quite capable in yielding a sufficient reason for its justification. This book takes a very close look on this very popular subject so called Karma, and explains in easy terms what Karma is? What are its workings? Upon what principles does it operate? And what are its rules and regulations? Furthermore, it expounds upon what the Karmic-bondage is and how is it caused? How does it bind the immortal soul to the cycle of birth and death and make her a captive of mortality by forcing her to pass through embodiment after embodiment? And finally, how does she find release from Karmic-bondage? These are some of those questions that rise out of a deep inquiry made by an eager heart, which desires to understand the reality of soul’s drifting through all kinds of Karmic-worlds and wants to know her whereabouts after she leaves this corporal world and resumes her Karmic-journey beyond it. After talking about the Karmic-captivity of the soul, the book simply does not leave the matter there, but continues its exploration of scriptures to expound upon the way for her redemption from the incarceration by Karma and attaining the unending freedom from its bondage. Thus, this manuscript not only provides details on various laws of Karma and their enforcement upon the mortal life of the soul, but also yields an account for the entirety of Karmic-life which the soul suffers. In addition to that, it also gives glimpses of those details that depict how she repeatedly passes through the tunnel of transmigration; and how she wanders into all kinds of Karmic-worlds; and then tries to bring in focus the descriptions of those detours that she takes before her final restoration into her native habitation – the everlasting abode of God. Following are the Table of Contents: 1. Karmic-Bondage ~ The Burden of Karma upon the Soul 2. Laws of Karma ~ The Governing Rules and Regulations of Mortality 3. Karmic-Cycle ~ The Chronic Consequence of Human Action 4. Transmigration ~ Atman’s Journey from One Body to Another 5. Karmic-Chastisement ~ Soul’s Nomad Wandering in Karmic-Worlds 6. Karmic-Extremities ~ Soul’s Passage through Creation and Dissolution 7. Attachment and Desire ~ The Root Cause of Human Bondage 8. Ignorance and Darkness ~ The Main Reason for Soul’s Karmic-Fall 9. Yogas ~ The Spiritual Ladders to Enlightenment 10. Man’s Highest ~ That He is the Author of His Life 11. Grace of God ~ Soul’s Only Avenue to Salvation 12. Freedom from Bondage ~ Man’s Ultimate Spiritual Quest