Many people use the term karma without truly understanding what it means. “It’s my karma to be poor,” they say. Or instead of poor they say “ill” or “lonely.” In doing this they make karma appear to be the same as fate. It is not. In fact, the original notion of karma is quite the opposite of fate.

The term karma simply means “action.” There is nothing in the definition that indicates fate. In a spiritual context it means that everything you do will cause a reaction. If you do something good, you will receive something good. If you do something bad, something bad will happen to you.

There are two important aspects of this. First, it means there are no “lords of karma” watching over the process. There is no one to judge you. Even if it was an unintended action, you are still responsible for it. If you drop a pebble in a quiet body of water, waves will still appear from where you dropped the rock. It does not matter whether you intended to drop it.

Second, with karma, the reaction your action causes need not be instantaneous. I’m sure you have seen someone who has acted poorly and seemed to profit from those actions. The response to an action may take weeks, months, years, or even several lifetimes.

Karma Defined: Karma means that "as you sow, so also shall you reap" in this and other lifetimes until you understand the complete consequences of all your actions. Karma is the principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, total cosmic justice and personal responsibility.

The 4 Different "Flavors" of Karma:

There are 4 different types of karma that you are always working on: ·

1. Sanchita Karma: the accumulated result of all your actions from all your past lifetimes. This is your total cosmic debt. Every moment of every day either you are adding to it or you are reducing this cosmic debt.
2. Prarabdha Karma: the portion of your "sanchita" karma being worked on in the present life. If you work down your agreed upon debt in this lifetime, then more past debts surface to be worked on.
3. Agami Karma: the portion of actions in the present life that add to your "sanchita" karma. If you fail to work off your debt, then more debts are added to "sanchita" karma and are sent to future lives.
4. Kriyamana Karma: daily, instant karma created in this life that is worked off immediately. These are debts that are created and worked off - ie. you do wrong, you get caught and you spend time in jail.

"Resistance is Futile": As Soul, you experience a constant cycle of births and deaths into a series of bodies until you have learned all the spiritual lessons that the totality of all experiences have to teach you. Until you have learned, you will find that "resistance" to the rules of karma is "futile".

Let's discuss elaborately.

1. Sanchita Karma (Sum Total Karma or "Accumulated actions" or the Arrows in the Quiver)

Sanchita Karma is the vast store of piled-up Karma accumulated in the preceding and in all other previous births and yet to be resolved. In other words, it is the aggregate sum of yet unseen Karmas committed during innumerable previous existences. This is your total cosmic debt. Every moment of your every day, you are either adding to it or you are reducing this cosmic debt. It is waiting to be fulfilled in your future births. So unless and until the Sanchita Karma of a Soul is zeroed, it keeps on birthing in new physical bodies, in order to exhaust it's balance Sanchita Karma.

2. Praarabdha Karma (Fructifying Karma or "Actions began; set in motion" or Arrows in Flight)

That portion of the Sanchita Karma destined to influence human life in one or the present incarnation is called Praarabdha. In other words, Praarabdha Karma is Karmic Template (of that portion of Sanchita Karma) that is ripe enough to be experienced by you and alloted for this lifetime for you to work on. If you work down your agreed upon debt in this lifetime, then more past debts will surface to be worked on. And that much Sanchita Karma gets dissolved.

Jyotish, the Vedic Astrology and any other authentic method of Astrology, at it's best, can reveal only the Praarabdha Karma. Thus the Natal Horoscope is the Blue Print of the Karmic Energy Patterns of the Praarabdha Karma only.

3. Kriyamana Karma (Instant, Current Karma or "Being made" or Arrows in Hand)

Kriyamana Karma is the daily, instant Karma created in this lifetime and that we create in our life because of our free actions. It refers to those which are currently in front of us to decide or act on. This contributes to our Future Karma in a big way. They can also be worked off immediately. These are debts that are created and worked off - i.e. for example, you park your vehicle in a 'No Parking Space', you get caught and you are fined (punished) immediately.

While some Kriyamana Karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for enjoying in future births. Thus the Kriyamana Karma is classified into two sub-categories: Arabdha Karma - literally, 'begun, undertaken;' the Karma that is 'sprouting'- and Anarabdha Karma - 'not commenced; dormant' or 'The Seed Karma'. An example : two persons committ a theft and one of them get caught - Arabdha Karma - and the other one got away - Anarabdha Karma. The thief who got caught, immediately starts to feel the effect of the cause or the reaction to his action; he gets caught and goes to jail. The other robber who escaped, will have to experience, in this life or in a future one, the effect of this wrongful action.

The Horary Chart of Prashanna and Aaruda methods of the Vedic Astrology, Tarot Reading, Runes Casting and I-Ching Reading, when done under guidance, can reflect both the Praarabdha Karma as well as the Kriyamana Karma. However, the Energy Consultancy (Energy Audit) and the resulting LifeForce Energy Assessment Report will be more accurate and more specific. It is, in a way, your latest Karmic Energy Bank Statement in the context of the query.

4. Aagami Karma (Future Karma)

Aagami Karma is the Karmic Map that is coming, as a result of the merits and demerits of the present actions of your current birth. In other words, it is the portion of Karma that is created because of the actions in the present life and that will be added to your Sanchita Karma. If you fail to work off your debt, then more debts are added to Sanchita Karma and they become more Karmic Seeds and are served to you in more future lives.

The Rules of Karma Governing Life on Earth

#1: KARMA TEACHES BY EXPERIENCE AND NOT TO PUNISH

Although it may often "feel" like punishment, the purpose of karma is to teach not to punish. Often the way we learn "the best" is to endure the same type of suffering that we have inflicted on others. For example, I remember little of my life as a City Commander in ancient Constantinople where I killed many without mercy, often with little justification. Yet, I remember vividly the life where I repaid that karma by being slaughtered by an Indian during the Martin's Hundred massacre. Believe me, I learned the lesson of mercy in the final terrifying moments of the massacre.

#2: WE ARE ALL HERE TO LEARN LESSONS TAUGHT BY KARMA

We are all here to learn lessons as "spiritual beings in human form". These lessons are designed to help us grow into greater levels of love, joy, and awareness. They teach us to "choose love at every moment", to "forgive everyone, everything", and to "live happy". Where we do not choose love, show forgiveness, teach tolerance, or display compassion, karma intervenes to put us back on the path of these lessons. Quite simply, the only way to achieve a state of karmic balance is to be love.

#3: WE "FORGET" ABOUT KARMA TO SEE IF WE HAVE LEARNED

Before we came, we agreed to put ourself in the path of all that is we needed to learn. Once we got here, we agreed to "forget" this. The purpose of "forgetting" is to keep us from being overwhelmed by the totality of our past while making sure that we have really learned our lessons. For example, having been a General in many lifetimes, I tended to treat others in a domineering manner. In this life, I put myself into my situations where humility would have served me better than being "the dictatorial General". Only when I overcame this "problem" and learned my lesson did I understand why I had put myself into those karmic places.

#4: KARMA IS IMPERSONAL, LOGICAL, AND PREDICTABLE

Karma gives you the opportunity at every moment to become open to greater levels of love and compassion. It operates impersonally: applying to everyone, all the time, no exceptions. It is very logical: what you sow is what you reap in exact and precise measure. Karma is as predictable as the laws of gravity: what is done to you is the net result of what you have done to others.

#5: KARMA IS PERFECTLY FAIR AND CREATES TOTAL JUSTICE

For example, there are no "innocent" people in prison, they are there for a reason. If they appear "innocent" in this life, it is because they were "guilty" in a past life and "got away with it". The "innocent" feel "cheated" now because they cannot see the cause of this life was the effect of a past life when they were "guilty".

#6: KARMA MAKES US LINK OUR ACTIONS WITH THEIR RESULTS

The cause of this life is always the effect of a past life(s). The goal of karma is to ensure that we link our actions (the cause) with their results (the effect). "It is the loving God which helps each Soul develop it's highest spiritual potential through experience." It is our experience which teaches us the Law of Love.

#7: KARMA TEACHES US TOTALLY RESPONSIBILITY

The goal of karma is to give you all the experiences that you need to evolve into greater levels of love, joy, awareness, and responsibility. Karma teaches that you are totally responsible for the circumstances of your life. Karma is like "training wheels". They keep you on the straight and narrow until you have mastered your vehicle and can ride freely on your own.

#8: KARMA TEACHES US LOVE AND COMPASSION FOR ALL

"See that you are at the center of the universe... Accept all things as being part of you... When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself... you understand the great truth." Tolerance opens the door to compassion and love.

#9: KARMA DRIVES US TO WHOLENESS AND UNITY WITH LIFE

Karma drives us from oneness to wholeness to unity with life. Karma forces us to look beyond ourselves (oneness) so that we can see ourselves as we truly are (wholeness or Self Realization). Once we truly understand ourselves, we can see our divinity (God Realization) and our unity with all life.

#10: KARMA DRIVES US TO SERVICE AND THEN TO LOVE

Karma drives us to service. Service - co-workership with God - is the ulitmate expression of love. Love means service: service is your choice. Once you accept total responsibility for your life, you see yourself as Soul in service to life. Once you do, you become a fully realized co-worker with God.

#11: UNDERSTANDING KARMA IS THE KEY TO HARMONY

"Belief in karma ought to make the life pure, strong, serene, and glad. Only our own deeds can hinder us; only our own will can fetter us. Once let us recognize this truth, and our liberation has struck. Nature cannot enslave the Soul that by wisdom has gained power and uses both in love."

#12: FOR ANY QUESTION, LOVE IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER

Karma shows us that for any question love is the answer. "Love is our birthplace, our final refuge, and our reason for being. If we recognize that compassion and love are the ultimate destination of our journey, the heart of the universe responds."

Karma Glossary

karmabhanda:The bonds of actions, i.e., being bound to rebirth.

karmadosha:Sinful work or vice, blunder; evil consequences.

karmadushta:Corrupt in action.

karmaja:Act-born; resulting or produced from an act, good or bad.

karmajiva:Livelihood earned by work, trade, profession.

karmakshaya:Annihilation of work.

karmakshetra:Place of religious acts.

karmanirhara:The removal of bad deeds or their effects.

karmanishtha:Diligent in performing religious actions.

karmapaka:Ripening of acts, matured results of acts of former births.

karmaphala:The fruit of actions.

karmarambha:The commencement of an act.

karmashaya:"Holder of karma." Describes body of the soul.

karmasamya:Equipoise of karma.

karmasiddhi:Successful action.

karmatyaga:Abandoning worldly duties and obligations.

karmavasha:The necessary influence or repercussion of actions.

karmavidhi:Rule of action; mode of conducting ceremonies.

karmayoga:"Union through action;" selfless religious service.

kriyamana karma:Actions being made. Karma being created.

papa:Wickedness, sin, crime. Wrongful action. Demerit from wrongdoing.

prayaschitta:Penance. "Predominant thought or aim; weighing heavily on the mind."

prarabdha karma:Actions set in motion.

Sanchita karma released to bear fruit in one's current life.

punya:Holy, virtuous; auspicious. Meritorious action.

sanchita karma:The entirety of all karmas of this life and past lives.

Reference(for glassary): A Sanskrit English Dictionary, Sir Monier Monier-Williams.

[KARMA is pronounced as "karmuh," the "uh" being subtle.]

I was born in a secluded village on a mountain.
Day by day, my parents plowed the yellow dry soil with their backs towards the sky.

I have a brother who is 3 years younger than me.
I wanted to buy a handkerchief, which all girls around me seemed to have. So, one day I stole 50 cents from my father's drawer. Father had discovered about the stolen money right away.

He made me and my younger brother kneel against the wall as he held a bamboo stick in his hand.
"Who stole the money?" he asked.
I was stunned, too afraid to talk. Neither of us admitted to the fault, so he said, "Fine, if nobody wants to admit, you two should be beaten!"
He lifted up the bamboo stick.

Suddenly, my younger brother gripped father's hand and said," Dad, I was the one who did it!"
The long stick smacked my brother's back repeatedly.
Father was so angry that he kept on whipping my brother until he lost his breath.
After that, he sat down on our stone bed and scolded my brother, "You have learned to steal from your own house now. What other embarrassing things will you are possibly doing in the future? You should be beaten to death, you shameless thief!"
That night, my mother and I hugged my brother. His body was full of wounds from the beating but he never shed a single tear.

In the middle of the night, all of sudden, I cried out loudly. My brother covered my mouth with his little hand and said, "Sis, now don't cry anymore.
Everything has happened."
I still hate myself for not having enough courage to admit what I did.

Years gone by, but the incident still seemed like it just happened yesterday.
I will never forget my brother's __ex-pression when he protected me.

That year, my brother was 8 years old and I was 11 years old.
When my brother was in his last year of secondary school, he was accepted in an upper secondary school in the central. At the same time, I was accepted into a university in the province.
That night, father squatted in the yard, smoking, packet by packet.

I could hear him ask my mother, "Both of our children, they have good results? very good results?"
Mother wiped off her tears and sighed," What is the use? How can we possibly finance both of them?"
At that time, my brother walked out, he stood in front of father and said," Dad, I don't want to continue my
study anymore, I have read enough books."

Father swung his hand and slapped my brother on his face.
"Why do you have a spirit so damn weak? Even if it means I have to beg for money on the streets, I will send you two to school until you have both finished your study!"
And then, he started to knock on every house in the village to borrow money.

I stuck out my hand as gently as I can to my brother's swollen face, and told him, "A boy has to continue his study; If not, he will not be able to overcome this poverty we are experiencing."

I, on the other hand, had decided not to further my study at the university.
Nobody knew that on the next day, before dawn, my brother left the house with a few pieces of worn-out clothes and a few dry beans. He sneaked to my side of the bed and left a note on my pillow; "Sis, getting into a university is not easy. I will go find a job and I will send money to you..."
I held the note while sitting on my bed, and cried until I lost my voice.

That year, my brother was 17 years old; I was 20 years old.
With the money father borrowed from the whole village, and the money my brother earned from carrying cement on his back at a construction site, finally, I managed to get to the third year of my study in the university.

One day, while I was studying in my room, my roommate came in and told me," There's a villager waiting for you outside!"
Why would there be a villager looking for me? I walked out, and I saw my brother from afar. His whole body was covered with dirt, dust, cement and sand. I asked him, "Why did you not tell my roommate that you are my brother?"
He replied with a smile," Look at my appearance. What will they think if they would know that I am your brother? Won't they laugh at you?"
I felt so touched, and tears filled my eyes. I swept away dirt and dust from my brother's body. And told him with a lump in my throat, "I don't care what people would say! You are my brother no matter what your appearance is?"

From his pocket, he took out a butterfly hair clip. He put it on my hair and said, "I saw all the girls in town are wearing it. So, I think you should also have one."
I could not hold back myself anymore... I pulled my brother into my arms and cried.

That year, my brother was 20 years old; I was 23 years old.
I noticed that the broken window was repaired the first time I brought my boyfriend home. The house was scrubbed cleaned.
After my boyfriend left, I danced like a little girl in front of my mother, "Mom, you didn't have to spend so much time cleaning the house!" But she told me with a smile," It was your brother who went home early to clean the house. Didn't you see the wound on his hand?
He hurt his hand while he was replacing the window."
I went into my brother's bedroom. Looking at his thin face, I felt like there are hundreds of needle pricked in my heart.

I applied some ointment on his wound and put a bandage on it, "Does it hurt?" I asked him.
"No, it doesn't hurt. You know, when at the construction site, stones keep falling on my feet.
Even that could not stop me from working."
In the middle of the sentence, he stopped. I turned my back on him and tears rolled down my face.

That year, my brother was 23 years old; I was 26 years old.
After I got married, I lived in the city. Many times my husband invited my parents to come and live with us, but they didn't want.
They said, once they left the village, they wouldn't know what to do.
My brother agreed with them. He said, "Sis, you just take care of your parents-in-law. I will take care of mom and dad here."

My husband became the director of his factory. We asked my brother to accept the offer of being the manager in the maintenance department. But my brother rejected the offer. He insisted on working as a repairman instead for a start.
One day, my brother was on the top of a ladder repairing a cable, when he got electrocuted, and was sent to the hospital.
My husband and I visited him at the hospital. Looking at the white gypsum on his leg, I grumbled, "Why did you reject the offer of being a manager? Managers won't do something dangerous like that. Now look at you, You ar suffering a serious injury. Why didn't you just listen to us?"

With a serious __ex-pression on his face, he defended his decision, "Think of brother-in-law. He just became the director, and I being uneducated, and would become a manager, what kind of rumors would fly around?"
My husband's eyes filled up with tears, and then I said, "But you lack in education only because of me!"
"Why do you talk about the past?" he said and then he held my hand.

That year, he was 26 years old and I was 29 years old.
My brother was 30 years old when he married a farmer girl from the village.
During the wedding reception, the master of ceremonies asked him, "Who is the one person you respect and love the most?"
Without even taking a time to think, he answered," My sister." He continued by telling a story I could not even remember.

"When I was in primary school, the! school was in a
different village. Everyday, my sister and I would walk for 2 hours to school and back home. One day, I lost the other pair of my gloves. My sister gave me one of hers.
She wore only one glove and she had to walk far. When we got home, her hands were trembling because of the cold weather that she could not even hold her chopsticks. From that day on, I swore that as long as I live, I would take care of my sister and will always be good to her."
Applause filled up the room. All guests turned their attention to me.

I found it hard to speak, "In my whole life, the one I would like to thank most is my brother," And in this happy occasion, in front of the crowd, tears were rolling down my face again.
Love and care for the one you love every single days of your life. You may think what you did is just a small deed, but to that someone, it may mean a lot.