BY SELINA TANADVISOR HIMALAYAN ACADEMY
PHOTO REPORTER#41763/DEMOTIX/CORBISThe old adage says: what
goes around comes around. Far from
being a mindless warning that evil
begets evil, this principle is rooted in
the ancient concept of karma (kamma
in Pali) that underpins the process of
transmigration of the soul.
Literally meaning “action” or
“deed”, this Sanskrit word profoundly
refers to the accumulated reactions to
activities, determining keenly one’s fate
with regards to reincarnation. Prevalent
in India way before the advent of the
Buddha, the term “karma” first appeared
in the Rig Veda, an ancient Indian sacredcollection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns,
composed in the northwestern region
of the Indian subcontinent between
1500 and 1200 BC. The Hindus believe
that as God’s force of gravity shapes
cosmic order, karma shapes experiential
order: that is, our long sequence of lives
is a tapestry of creating and resolving
karmas – positive, negative and an
amalgam of the two.
The “akashic” memory that stores
a compendium of thoughts and events
faithfully records the soul’s impressions
during its series of earthly lives. Ancient
yogis, in psychically studying the
timeline of cause and effect, assigned
three categories to karma. The first is
sanchita, the sum total of past karma yet
to be resolved; the second, prarabdha,
that portion of sanchita karma expe-
rienced in the current life; and finally,
kriyamana, the fruits of which will be
experienced in the future.
Karma is remembering bygones
matter. In our present moment, our mind
and body state is the cumulative result
of the entire spectrum of our past lives.
For as we exist now is a summation of all
of them – surpassing the boundaries of
mortal memory. agThe Law of Karma
what goes around comes around
memories
Amritsar, Punjab, India: Even
though the Golden Temple
at Amritsar in Punjab state
is clad in thick fog, pilgrims
have no hesitation in visiting
the holy city to make merit,
and take a dip in the sacred
pond, washing away last
year’s bad karma and
refreshing the soul