Karma & Rebirth

Karma

Karma = 

• Kar (action as in “cr-eate”) 

• Ma (as in mine), 

i.e. action that stems from the limited psychological Self is Karma.

Sources

Psychic viruses are the source of negative Karma.

Psychic intelligences are the source of near-term positive Karma, but eventually, being subject to entropy and thus not staying well-organized and colliding in their actions, also become negative in effect.

Reactive Action

In simpler words, Karma is those actions that cause a reaction, in that what goes around comes around, and typically subjecting us to being continually in reactive mode.

Karma creates Kārmic impressions in the psyche, called Samskāras, that 

• generate reactive action 

• which perpetuates more Karma

which in the interest of not being too pedantic we refer too also as just Karma.

Thus we are trapped into reacting to situations mindlessly, laying the seeds for the same situation to arise in the future and are caught in a Kārmic cycle, unable to evolve beyond our limited sense of self.

Understanding

In the psychological realm it can be hard to understand the root cause of a reaction because :

• there can be significant time delays, and 

• the reaction may manifest in a form that is not immediately obvious as to its cause, 

unless we detect the patterns underfoot - which is why Patanjali states his primary injunction in PYS  1.2.

Rebirth

Punarjanma

Puna = repeated

Janma = note the English cognate for Gene - that is to generate a birth.

Biological

Karma and Self are heavily associated with “rebirth” in the literature but it’s all done very mystically because at present 

We really have no way to scientifically prove that it is Karma in one life causes future rebirth for the exact same individual Self.

In a general sense, nurture & nature could conspire :

• Past lives can be viewed as our inherited DNA programs and learned familial/societal cultural memory.

• Future lives can be viewed as our DNA being passed on to offspring, and propagating cultural memories.

Factoid

Interestingly, the literature attests to the Self having the potential to go through 8.4 Million rebirths, and there is also scientific evidence of 8.4 Million species on Earth, which from an All is Mind perspective could indicate that :

• • At each moment we could embody a certain behavior that corresponds to any of these life species, e.g. we could be “greedy as a pig”, “wise as an owl”, “sturdy as an Oak tree”, “all embracing as a Banyan tree”, etc. 

Conscious

However, from the perspective of the conscious Being we have a plausible explanation of Rebirth which suffices for the purpose of ridding ourselves of Karma in this lifetime itself.

Since All is Mind, each Being we encounter can be considered a reflection of a facet of our own parallel life.

Thus each significant interaction with another Being, that causes a deep impact on us, should be considered as an opportunity for a rebirth, for example, when they trigger any kind of reaction in us, or judgement from us, and we utilize that for personal change.

From the perspective of Yoga, this is sufficient explanation of Rebirth so we don’t get caught up in needless speculation on what is rebirth after the death of the human body.

Solving 

Spiritualization of Namaste

When we take a spiritualized approach to life, that is, adopting the mindset that we are each possessed by certain spirits, then it is easier to : 

• go beyond the individual form that bothers us,

• and look at the spirit within the other, 

• and how it interacts with ours.

This is essentially why the Yoga Namaste.

It is not that any particular individual is actually a Rākhasa or a Deva, or an Asura - it is that they are possessed by the particular spirit of such an energy. 

And just by re-cognizing it, that it lives within us & in others, it feels heard as to its role in life, and that we would become proper coevolutionary partners.

Non-Judgemental Partnership

In the psychological world, being a Judge is same as being the Executioner, since our Thoughts have impact!

And of course, if we execute, we create Karma - so to stop the execution, don't judge anyone in the psychological world.

The more we judge the actual individual, the more we stay entangled with their psychic energy fields, so if we judge them :

• negatively, they suck on our Prāna and become stronger at our expense, and

• positively, then their Prāna grows and ours does too

If, for example, we :

• plot to “kill” a Rākhasa for ridding of pain so that we can be happy in the future, the psychological seeds of the virus still stay embedded within and the psychic virus will reform, literally taking rebirth when similar stressful circumstances recurm - but if we consciously transform it into a Deva all will be well.

• misuse a Deva and curtail their freedom, such as hoarding them, recall Patanjali's Yama's, then they turn into a Rākhasa, but if we engage with a Deva consciously, letting it maintain its freedom, then there is no Karma - hence Patanjali's Ishwara is so significant.

• plan to destroy an Asura, so that we are finally free from social bondage, then it will let loose a host of fossilized Rākhasa's of which it is formed, and which now will spread like zombie hordes, but if we engage with the Asura in a societal-level Deva extraction process then we would have properly spiritualized the most challenging virus.

But ignoring it is not a solution, so if we are unwilling or unable to recognize this beast for our own selfish reasons, and keep feeding its Ahamkār, its accumulated Identity, then the force of Karma will haunt us at some point.

Moksha is freedom from all Karma, and the way to get there is give all these psychic beings their own Moksha - freeing them from the cage of our own psychic self.