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[Recursion]

113. There's a common Western misunderstanding of the concept of "Karma"

Last edited Sun May 31, 2015, 02:32 PM - Edit history (1)

People talk about "good karma" and "bad karma", with the idea that meritorious actions bring some sort of "good credit" to one's soul, while shameful actions bring a "bad credit" to one's soul.

The result of this idea (and I've seen it many times here) is a hope that "karma" will have Donald Rumsfeld re-incarnated as an Iraqi child (or the equivalent on the right).

But, in the vedas, that is entirely not how karma works. There is no good or bad karma; karma is simply attachment. Donald Rumsfeld is not "punished" in the next life; he comes back as literally the same thing he is now, over and over and over again, until he learns and gets it right.

By Western standards this is intolerable, but it is the basis of Hindu metempsychosis. One faces the same situation, over and over again, until one learns and is ready to move on.

Vivekananda perhaps said it best: "Life is a lesson. The lesson will be repeated until it is learned."

I offer this statement gratis on this thread, with no implication of to whom it does or doesn't apply.