MenoSundays; Life Lived Lovingly

Continuing this little series of posts on the Law of Karma. This one is a sort of summary (summation?) of the first two posts...

Gati - results (hereafter)

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction... 'as we sow, so we reap.'  The results of mental, verbal, or physical actions are;

a)  the joy or sorrow that we experience while doing the action

b)  the impression, good or bad, which it leaves within us (vaasana)

c)  the outer results we get in terms of circumstances, which fructify in their own time. Some results of action are immediate, whilst others may not come till some time later, such as weeks, months, or years. Still, others may take lifetimes to be exacted upon us.

During our lifetime, we enjoy or suffer the consequences of all actions done in our past, be it within this life or any of our past lives. All actions create vaasanas in our minds. At the time of death, the predominant vaasanas from this and earlier lives are drawn together to determine the quality and 'texture' of future incarnations; the vaasanas also determine the type of body and the field of experience we shall obtain hereafter.

Sattvic; at the time of death, a predominantly sattvic mind goes on to gain the highly subtle body of a presiding deity and enjoys subtle fields of experience... or he may be born as a human being and enjoy a high standard of living or gain a sattvic environment in which to fulfil the sattvic vaasanas brought into life.

Rajasic; a predominantly rajasic mind at the time of death, manifests as a human being in an action-oriented environment where he can exhaust his vaasanas of indulgence and activity.

Tamasic; a person with predominantly tamasic vaasanas at the time of death, manifests as a human being in an inert or poor environment or as some form of animal or plant; there, he can exhaust his vaasanas of inertia and live in a state of non-thinking.

From this, you would think living a sattvic life seems common sense, would you not? However, you will gather that even the best intentions can go awry if we are not watchful of the vaasanas within us - those grooves of experience that mark us, however subtly. It is also one of the anomalies of life that we very often identify the grooves in others but are less able to see those within ourselves. Very often, it is only when we are faced with our mortality that we properly begin to assess ourselves. Either that, or we continue in total denial of who we truly are! 

Indeed, how you receive the knowledge within this karmic concept will come down to where you lie in the spectrum of saatva, rajas, or tamas. It will be immediately understood, or taken on board, challenged and tested... or totally rejected... This is not a judgment but a statement of fact. We are who we are but we can be something more. Even the best of us can always find something within us to improve. This is the kernel of living life lovingly.