One of the most basic aspects of our material universe discussed in the Vedas is the law of Karma. Many understand Karma as some kind of belief, but Karma is just an intrinsic part of this material world. It doesn’t have to do with God or supernatural forces, it is simply a Universal law that works automatically, just like gravity. The Universe maintains itself in balance and therefore gives back what we put on it, in the same intensity, but in the opposite direction. Therefore, one who is kind receives back kindness, and one who is violent receives back violence. One who is generous receives generosity in return and so on. Karma acts like a universal bank account based on merit.
Another factor for the results of karma is desire. Desire not only influences how we act but also influences how we receive the results of such actions. One can obtain what he desires, but only to the extent his karma allows. That’s the problem with books that describe the law of attraction like “The Secret”: they account for the desire factor, without taking into consideration the effects of karma. That’s why it doesn’t work. The Universe is going to satisfy one’s desires only to the extent he deserves it, and the currency for that is one’s past good deeds. It’s true that one can get things according to his desire, but only to the extent, his karma allows. The principle is that one has certain desires, and by obtaining the proper knowledge he can act in certain ways and then eventually receive what he desires. Once one understands this law, he can start changing his destiny by simply changing his actions and consciousness.
This is a process described in the sections of the Vedas that deal with karma and was a process well known to people who were following the path of the Vedas until a few thousand years ago. Even today, fragments of this knowledge survive in the culture of eastern countries. That’s why many people in these places are vegetarian, for example, they understand that unnecessarily killing animals result in bad karmic reactions and thus is against their own interests.
However, there is an apparent contradiction in the law of Karma. If we receive good and bad according to our actions, then why we can observe that sometimes terrible things happen to good people, and at the same time bad people receive much more than they apparently deserve. If there is a universal law, why we can observe such inconsistencies?
The point is that karma does not interfere with free will. Even if one does bad, it’s not that a meteor will instantly fall from the sky and break his head. In the Vedas, every action is compared to a seed that is planted.
This karma that still didn’t fructify is called aparabrida karma, or karma that is still not giving fruits. Although it is stored in our account, it is unnoticeable in the sense it is not resulting in any reaction, for now. In due time, these seeds fructify and become prarabdha karma or the karma that already fructified and is now giving fruit. This is the category of karma we are experiencing the results right now. There is thus a maturation process for every action we perform. The fruits don’t come instantly, but they come in due time. This delay allows the existence of free will, since one has freedom for pursuing certain activities according to his desires without immediately suffering the consequences, but the reactions will come in the future, just like someone who is loaning money now will have to pay it back in the future. Life presents us with a set of choices and we are free to make our choices according to our desires, but once we make a choice, we commit to receiving the results of such choice in the future.
One who is committing violence or performing dishonest acts now may not be aware that in due time these acts will fructify and result in unpalatable reactions, but such reactions will come in due time, be later in this same life, or in future lives. Similarly, one who is performing pious acts now may not notice any instantaneous change, but the results will eventually come. Therefore, good persons may be suffering now because of some bad deeds they performed in the past, and bad persons who are now enjoying good fortune are just reaping the results of some good deeds they performed in the past. Since all of us perform a mixture of good and bad deeds, we all experience a mixture of happiness and distress. The difference is that the pious person is creating a brighter path for himself, while the bad person is creating a dark future, which will ultimately just result in suffering. That’s why many prefer to believe that everything ends with death, and there is nothing beyond that: they don’t want to be held accountable for their actions. However, being an automatic law, karma does not take into account what one may believe or not, it just acts mechanically, just like one who puts his hand into the fire will burn it, regardless of his personal beliefs.
There is however another factor related to karma: it acts only while one is conditioned, or in other words, only as long as one’s consciousness is absorbed in matter. Just like clouds may cover someone who is in the ground, but not someone who is capable of going high in the sky, karma acts only on the ones who have a lower consciousness. As one elevates his consciousness, karma starts to act less over him, and when one attains a transcendental platform, karma stops completely. In the transcendental platform, there is contact with the divine, who is just like a sun that dissipates the darkness of the influence of karma and the lowers modes of material nature. Even simple spiritual activities, like abstaining from grains in the Ekadashi days (a light fasting on specific days, two times per month, where one eats only fruits, vegetables, milk products, nuts, seeds, and roots, avoiding grains, cereals, and legumes) can have profound transformational effects in one’s karma.
The way to elevate one’s consciousness is by acquiring transcendental knowledge and following a spiritual process. That’s why the Vedas include so many books, covering from the most elementary, to the most elevated knowledge.
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna describes successively more advanced processes of yoga, that work as a ladder, that starts with pious life and progress with the process of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Astanga Yoga (which leads one to Brahman or Paramatma realization), and culminate in Bhakti Yoga, which leads to the ultimate goal of Bhagavan realization.
As it is explained in the Bhagavad-Gita:
“Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.
If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage. If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated. If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind.” (BG 12.8-12)
Karma affects the one’s who have forgotten their spiritual nature and are now trying to lord over this material sphere. As one remembers his original spiritual nature and starts to again act in the spiritual platform, he elevates himself over the clouds of karma.
This stage is called jivanmukta, where one is already liberated, although still living in this world. In such a stage, the stored karma is destroyed, and he has only to wait for the effects of the prarabdha, or fructified karma, to finish. This delay allows him to remain for some time in this world and thus illuminate others.