The universal principle of karma

4th of September, 2017

 

The universal principle of karma.

An unusual topic for Inspirations? Not really. We all create and experience karmic play out, and so I thought we would just cover a little of the basics.

The principle of karma applies to every part of life.

As you so sow so shall you reap.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

What goes around, comes around.

What you give out, comes back to you.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The principle of karma plays out in every day life. It may not come back from the same source, but it does always happen.

In fact, for many, the principle often shared is that the universe sees all, and responds immediately, and so there are times, as we have heard many say, when karma has almost been balanced before the person knew anything about what had happened. The universe does not miss a beat! And you cannot hide anything from the universe. (Yes, we are going all metaphysical today!)

Let me use an example, since we are a retail business … When we steal, what are we doing? We are damaging the livelihood of another person, we are taking a step that could put them out of business. So, how could that be karmically balanced? Sometimes it can be kinda cruel, you might lose your own livelihood, or you may have something you cherish stolen from you. There is always a balance that will happen. The question is: will you understand that at the time?

 'Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potentiality, on our very subtle mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous actions sow seeds of future happiness and non-virtuous actions sow seeds of future suffering. These seeds remain dormant in our mind until the conditions for them to ripen occur, and then they produce their effect...’

-      Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Can we ever ‘get away with’ anything in life? No. Even if we think we can, the answer is a clear ‘no’. There will always be a balancing event.

We have all heard people wish for karma to 'bite' someone who has ‘wronged’ them in some way. Well … let’s not do hold on to that energy. Let’s just let it go and let the universe do its thing. We may not witness karma, but it will happen. It always does. If we hold on to our bitterness, all we do is attract more things into our life to be bitter about, and that does not seem like a fun choice to make!

When we steal from a person, we are demonstrating lack of respect for that person and for the objects we have stolen. Are we really feeling good about ourself when we commit that act? On the converse, when we find an iphone in a shop that someone has inadvertently put down, and we hand it in to the customer service section, don’t we feel really good about ourself? When we help another person, don’t we feel great about ourself, and about life?

When we do a positive thing, we feel great, life feels great! When we help people, care for them, they may not appreciate it, but then one day, when you are really in need of support, someone will come along who makes all the difference. When you are kind and helpful, you will find kind helpfulness when you are most in need, or even just from the most unexpected place or persons.

Life responds to us, to our thoughts, actions, words, and what we put out will always come back to us. This is a really beautiful way to think of karma.

Karma will also bite back or kiss back to the equal degree of the original karmic act. Be warned! The universe does not miss a beat.

Kindness.

Caring.

Positive energy.

Laughter.

Love.

All of these are seeds we sow in our everyday actions, words, and thoughts.

Karma is a topic people often do not want to ‘own’ but it is a part of life, and you will have seen signs in our shop which say ‘Make no mistake, we prosecute shoplifters’ and we will.

As we begin entering the Christmas shopping months, lets be kind to each other out there, lets be positive, and lets be respectful of all people and all businesses. 

In fact, let’s make this the best Christmas ever! And lets start planning now!