Karma - what is it exactly?

Thousands of years ago, when the first philosophical questions began to be written down, these concerns were not as concrete as the ones we usually ask ourselves today.

The thinkers of antiquity tried to answer very metaphysical and general questions, such as: what is the energy that guides everything that happens in nature in a coordinated way?

The concept of karma, born in Asia, is based on the idea that reality is articulated by a law of retribution according to which one obtains what is given in a moral sense.

What is karma?

In various Eastern religions and philosophies such as Hinduism or Buddhism, karma is an all-encompassing energy and that makes the moral actions that are carried out have a return of the same style towards the person who has done them. That is, it is a kind of metaphysical compensation mechanism.

For example, if someone hurts someone, he does not have to be the victim of someone else's mistreatment, but karma will take care of it. make the consequences of this action also negative and its intensity be of a similar proportion to the evil that has been done.

Somehow, the idea of ​​karma introduces the idea of ​​justice into the workings of the world. A justice that is imposed without us having to do anything about it. According to some currents of belief, karma is put into practice by divinities, while for other non-theistic religions such as Buddhism there is no God who operates this energy, but this way to stop you from reality, just like those mechanisms that are described by the natural laws discovered scientifically.

Actions and consequences

The whole idea of ​​karma is based on the belief that the consequences of our actions always correspond to the moral value they have. That is, everything bad and everything good that we do will come back to us in the form of consequences of the same value as the issued shares.

Also, actions that produce a certain karma are not just movements. For most Eastern philosophies and religions that have adopted this concept, thoughts are also difficult.

The origin of the concept

Etymologically, "karma" means "action" or "doing". That is why it has not always been used with the metaphysical and religious meaning that we are used to in the West.

It is believed that the first mention of karma as a concept related to retribution appeared in Hindu sacred texts in the 2nd century BC. C. Specifically, Appears named in the book Chāndogya Upaniṣad, written in Sanskrit.

Due to its antiquity and the influence that Hindu cultures have had throughout history, the idea of ​​karma it has become adopted by several Asian societies and has been fused with religions born in the south of the continent.

The types of karma

Traditionally, it has been considered that there are three types of karma. They are as follows.

1. Prarabdha karma

Karma that stands out at the time the action is being performed. For example, when when lying to a person, the nerves cause the speech in a not fluent way and the nerves and the shame appear.

2. Sanchita karma

The memories that have remained in our mind and have an effect on our future actions. For example, the sadness that comes from not having spoken to someone and that makes the next time we fall in love not give up expressing what it feels like.

3. Agami karma

The effect an action in the present will have on the future. For example, binge eating for several weeks will lead to poorer health over the next several months.

The moral value of retribution

These three types of karma are different facets of the same thing seen from different time perspectives. The Sanchita karma of the past produces the Prarabdha karma in the present, which generates the Agami karma in the times to come.

The three, together, form a sequence of causes and effects whose effects we cannot control. However, depending on the way of thinking that uses the idea of ​​karma, we can choose whether to do good or evil, that is, two types of cause-effect chains with a different moral value both for us and for the the rest.

Eastern philosophies and psychology

Both karma and other concepts from Asia, such as the Yin and yang and the meditation based on religious rituals, they have become fashionable in certain forms of alternative therapy. However, keep in mind that these ideas only make sense in a belief framework without empirical foundation and that, therefore, it cannot be said that taking karma into account will allow us to make life treat us better. The concept of karma is not and cannot be reinforced by scientific discoveries.

It is true that believing in karma makes us experience reality differently (just like happens with any new belief we adopt), but it is also not possible to know if this change will be for the worse or best.