Have you ever heard the popular expression “you are paying a karma”? Karma is one of those words that has been around in the popular lexicon lately, what we understand by context, but we don't really know its meaning or the story behind it.
For all those who want to know what karma is and what it is for, we have written this article to tell you everything about it of the meaning of karma. The next time you use this fascinating word, you will be able to do it with more propriety.
What is karma and where does it come from
Karma is a concept that is a fundamental part of Eastern philosophies such as Hinduism and Buddhism Karma is a word in Sanskrit that It means "fact, action". In order to understand what karma is, we are going to start with the definition of the RAE, which says that "in some Indian religions, energy derived from the acts of an individual, which conditions each of his successive reincarnations, until it reaches The perfection".
As defined by the RAE, karma is a transcendent energy that surrounds all of reality and acts as the law of cause and effect. This means that every moral action we commit and every way we use energy, whether verbal, mental or physical, are causes that have consequences or effects: our experiences. In this way, every act or cause of our life returns to us in the form of a reaction, consequence or effect, whatever you prefer to call it.
In this sense, karma teaches us that from each positive act that we do, we will obtain a positive reaction or effect, and the same happens with the negative causes that we have. One way to interpret this is that as people we have a responsibility to create everything we consider good or bad in our lives, so we must be aware of ourselves to have the right intentions and attitudes.
What is the karma of each person
Each person has their own karma and is responsible for building it in a positive or negative way during their passage through the world and in their way to interact with oneself, with other people and with the world itself.
Remember that Hindu and Buddhist philosophies believe in reincarnation after death, so each unique aspect that each person is born with, from our physical appearance, the family we grow up in, our place in society and even the diseases that we may have during our lives are consequences not only of our way of living today, but also of past lives.This ideology can give you a clearer vision to understand what karma is.
In the same way, this way in which that we behave today is working out the karma of the next reincarnation, and we live how many times necessary until we free ourselves from the impurities and negativities of our being. You can realize that, far from giving responsibility to an external agent over our lives, for example God, the very meaning of karma teaches us to take responsibility for each of our actions.
Types of Karma
Karma is not always lived in the same way, and traditionally it has been said that there are three different types of karma. Although like everything in our life, they are related to each other. We will tell you about them below.
one. Sanchita karma
This type of karma, the sanchita karma, is that we have been accumulating during all our past lives and that will bear fruit in the future.
2. Prarabdha karma
When we are born in this life, a portion of the sanchita karma comes with us conditioning different aspects of our life. These effects or consequences that are manifesting in the present, but that come from past actions, constitute the type of karma that we call prarabdha. This can manifest immediately after the action has been performed or in future lives.
Some consider that this type of karma is what we call fate, but there are also theories that strongly disagree with that statement.
3. Kriyamana or agami karma
The third type of karma is kriyamana karma or also called by some as agami karma. It is about the kind of karma that we are doing in the present moment or that is in motion, in action today. These karmas that we are building (positive or negative) are added to the sanchita karma, which is our accumulated karma, and can bear fruit in the current life or in future lives.
Now you must remember that karma is a concept from which we can live our lives, taking it as the responsibility of living correctly and assuming the consequences of our actionsKeep in mind that the karma we create is both positive and negative, although we tend to make mistakes and think that it is only negative.
The secret to increasing positive karma is to live our life from inner peace and direct our actions by what we consider to be correct, with unconditional love, empathy and compassion, but not from ego, insecurity and fear. Bear in mind who we are in each act and remember that even our thoughts manifest and bear fruit as karma.