KARMA

[Guest guest]

Dear List

Following the ideas of free will and destiny, I would like to add my feelings to it.

We all have our free will due to His love for us. Without love there is not

freedom of will power. Therefore to a certain extent we all have some freedom.

I like the example given by someone (I forgot the source) about this so-called

freedom.

We are like bulls tided to a pole with a rope attached to our nose. We have as

much freedom to move as the length of that rope allows. We may move in circles

but our destiny is already cast due to our desires and karma from previous

lives.

Everybody has to act because nobody is inactive for long. There is 3 main kind

of actions or karmas. They are called karma, akarma and vikarma.

By karma we mean those activities regulated or prescribed by the vedas or the

sanctioned scriptures.

By akarma we mean those activities that liberate us from reactions and therefore

we get out of this material universe to reach our real home. Everybody wants to

reach the peace of comfort of our sweet home sweet, so why delay our final

destiny? Because somehow we fell in love with this material energy, and we

think that we can enjoy here as much as we want without suffering a reaction.

That is called ignorance because nobody can enjoy here without exploiting and

therefore suffering a reaction that keep us here for longer.

By vikarma we mean those nasty activities that are done against the sastric

injunctions. Either we break the rules like murdering someone or we try to make

our own rules that are against the sanctioned rules. We are allowed to play with

creativity but only under the vedic rules, otherwise our activities are a simple

concoction and a waste of time. We are not the creators; we are only the

servants of the Supreme. We can play with chemistry but life is already given

by Him only, we cannot create a new life. To claim that we create life is only

a bluff to those that do not know that life comes from life.

Therefore, with karma, we develop. With akarma we move to our final destination.

And with vikarma, we go to hell.

Here I am given a better idea found in the chapter 3, text 15 of the Bhagavad

Gita As It Is by Srila Prabhupada

TEXT 15

karma brahmodbhavam viddhi

brahmaksara-samudbhavam

tasmat sarva-gatam brahma

nityam yajne pratisthitam

WORD FOR WORD

karma -- work; brahma -- from the Vedas; udbhavam -- produced; viddhi -- you

should know; brahma -- the Vedas; aksara -- from the Supreme Brahman

(Personality of Godhead); samudbhavam -- directly manifested; tasmat --

therefore; sarva-gatam -- all-pervading; brahma -- transcendence; nityam --

eternally; yajne -- in sacrifice; pratisthitam -- situated.

TRANSLATION

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly

manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the

all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

PURPORT

Yajnartha-karma, or the necessity of work for the satisfaction of Krishna only,

is more expressly stated in this verse. If we have to work for the satisfaction

of the yajna-purusa, Vishnu, then we must find out the direction of work in

Brahman, or the transcendental Vedas. The Vedas are therefore codes of working

directions. Anything performed without the direction of the Vedas is called

vikarma, or unauthorized or sinful work. Therefore, one should always take

direction from the Vedas to be saved from the reaction of work. As one has to

work in ordinary life by the direction of the state, one similarly has to work

under direction of the supreme state of the Lord. Such directions in the Vedas

are directly manifested from the breathing of the Supreme Personality of

Godhead. It is said, asya mahato bhutasya nisvasitam etad yad rg-vedo

yajur-vedah samavedo 'tharvangirasah. "The four Vedas -- namely the Rg Veda,

Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda -- are all emanations from the

breathing of the great Personality of Godhead." (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad

4.5.11) The Lord, being omnipotent, can speak by breathing air, for as it is

confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, the Lord has the omnipotence to perform

through each of His senses the actions of all other senses. In other words, the

Lord can speak through His breathing, and He can impregnate by His eyes. In

fact, it is said that He glanced over material nature and thus fathered all

living entities. After creating or impregnating the conditioned souls into the

womb of material nature, He gave His directions in the Vedic wisdom as to how

such conditioned souls can return home, back to Godhead. We should always

remember that the conditioned souls in material nature are all eager for

material enjoyment. But the Vedic directions are so made that one can satisfy

one's perverted desires, then return to Godhead, having finished his so-called

enjoyment. It is a chance for the conditioned souls to attain liberation;

therefore the conditioned souls must try to follow the process of yajna by

becoming Krishna conscious. Even those who have not followed the Vedic

injunctions may adopt the principles of Krishna consciousness, and that will

take the place of performance of Vedic yajnas, or karmas.

*****

Best wishes

Natabara Das