Who Controls Karma?

Do We Control Our Karma or That of Others?

Often times I hear my clients tell me they just couldn’t wait for karma to ripen – they had to intervene to get a jump on the revenge. How is it that the “bad” always seem to get away with their bad behavior but the good always get the short end of the stick? Well, maybe that’s not always the case, but it sure can feel like it. Boyfriends who cheat on their girlfriends seem to leave for the other girl and live happily ever after. Business partners who work unethically seem to walk away with more money and no consequences. How is it that these individuals can get away with all of this without karma coming back to bite them hard? Simply put, things are not always as they seem.

Let’s start with a definition—karma is the law of moral causation. Our fate is due not only to heredity, environment, “nature and nurture,” but also to karma. In other words, it is the result of our own past actions and our own present doings. We ourselves are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven or Hell. We are the architects of our own fate. It is very important to note that free will plays a large part in our destiny. For, if our outcome relied solely on our previous actions, then free will would be a moot point and karma would be tied to fatalism and predetermination. Therefore, karma cradles a harmonious balance of free will, past actions and present doings.

The Sanskrit term karma means action or doing. Intentional action (mental, verbal, or physical) is regarded as karma whether good or bad. Fundamentally, karma means all moral and immoral volition. As we sow, we reap in our life or in a future birth. What we reap today is what we have sown either in the present or in the past.

Karma is a law which functions within its own entity and without the intervention or influence of any external or independent supreme being. So, this means that as badly as you may want to intervene by helping karma take place a little quicker and a little more severely with your cheating boyfriend, it simply won’t cultivate quite like that.

It is a great source of comfort knowing that the doctrine of Karma gives consolation, hope, and moral courage. When you are met with difficulties, failures, misfortunes and sorrows, know that you are wiping off a past debt. Instead of giving up and bowing out, make a conscious effort to change your situation. Clear your energy, ground yourself and prepare to plant fruitful seeds, for the future is in your hands.

Believers in karma do not judge, belittle, damn or find guilty even the most dishonest and unscrupulous, for they, too, have their chance to reform themselves at any moment. Choosing the wrong path will inevitably cause pain and suffering. The quality of your destiny is in your hands.
Karma works through relying on your own will power, working diligently for the well-being and happiness of all. The true lesson of karma is the understanding and validation of individual responsibility.

To the ordinary believer, karma serves as a deterrent, while to the dedicated karmic intellectual, it serves as an incentive to do good. One must be kind, tolerant, and considerate not because it’s simply the right thing to do but because you are laying the groundwork for your present and future circumstances.