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Karma and Soul

The concept of karma as understood by us so for is that the karma is sum total of all our actions, births after births and embedded in the soul. Soul gets a physical body to unfold its karmic afflictions. At the end of the present body, karmic account is either credited or debited not only with the net result of our actions, but also individual thoughts and actions, during this period. Karma is always related to rebirth. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (III.ii.12) asks “When this man dies, what is that that does not leave him?” This question can be answered in two ways. The first answer could be that everything leaves him to ultimately disintegrate. The physical body that existed earlier consumed either to the fire or to the earth making the annihilation of the body complete. The Upanishad itself answers this question in the next verse by saying that a man in known either by his good or bad actions. Therefore, it becomes apparent that one’s actions have direct relevance to his behaviour. Every action performed by a man during his life time is recorded in his soul in the form of karmas. This can be compared to the black box of an aircraft. Again, a soul cannot decide on its own, but it is bound by the Divine law called “Law of Karmas”. Soul acts on the basis of results of moral efficacy of individual actions. Moral is important because, mere evil thoughts are more than enough to cause serious ramifications on an already inflicted soul. This is based on the fact that everyman at some point of time not only develops malign thoughts, but also nurtures it. This is the main reason that differentiates an ordinary man from a yogi.

When somebody is dying, his activities both voluntary and involuntary cease to function one after another. Again, there is a reference in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad for this (IV.iv.2). It says that the gross body gets united with the subtle body. ‘Through the brightened top, the self (soul) departs, either through the eye or through the head or through any other part of the body (the soul is believed to exit a body through any one of the nine holes known as’ nava-dvara’). When the soul departs from the body, other vital forces and organs follow one after another thereby making the annihilation of the body complete. Now the man becomes a body, he becomes it. The next verse says about rebirth. The impressions of the past birth take hold of another body in the form of a soul, as per the quality of the impressions. The impressions or vasanas affect the quality of the soul. The quality of the impressions depends upon the good or bad actions influenced by either good or bad thoughts. There are only two possibilities for the soul. It has the capacity to enter into another physical body that could be in any form or shape, may be after a period of quiescence or instantaneously. There is no differentiation between a human soul and an animal soul or an insect soul or a plant soul, etc. For all living species, soul is the same. The other option for the soul is to merge with the Brahman and cease to exist forever. The latter option is the topic of discussion of all the Upanishads. In a nutshell the quality of a soul depends upon its karmic account. Karmic account accrues due to desires and attachments, which are the products of mind. Mind is the single factor that is solely responsible for karmic account that decides the quality of the soul. The quality of the soul is responsible for pains and pleasures in this birth.

There are contradictory opinions about the respite for the soul. Some think that a soul takes rest between two births and the resting place depends upon its karmic account. The resting places are called heaven and hell. Others are of the opinion that the souls wander in the ether or akash till it takes another form. Others believe that a soul hibernates in the cosmos for a period of time and gets activated when the time is ripe for it to get into another body. There are so many theories and most of these theories depend upon one’s belief, largely influenced by religion. The Upanishad again asks “Do you know how people diverge after death? Do you know how they return to this world?” This question has already been answered above. There are only two possibilities. One is to born again which is the case with majority of the souls and another is merger with the Lord not to be reborn again and the number is minuscule and literally negligible. There is always a doubt lingering in our minds about the punishment meted out to the soul for wrong doings. It is generally believed that effects of any actions are recorded in the soul in one’s karmic account. Charaka Samhita, an ancient ayurvedic treatise describes karma (I.49) as “action in the form of curative effort is known as karman”. Karma does not mean merely actions, but includes even contemplation to do an act. The samhita further says that ‘karman’ present in the matter (soul) is the cause for birth and death. Soul does not depend upon on any external support and purely relies on the karmic effect. Since soul is subtle, it has to act only through a gross form. Action of a physical body therefore purely depends upon one’s karmic account that cannot act independently. It takes the support of the mind to unfold its actions. Mind is not external factor to the soul. Both mind and soul cohabit in a human form. Consciousness is the effect of mind influenced by karmic account and sensory organs. Millions of people practice meditation, but only a handful of them reach its logical conclusion. Meditation is not a process to sit erect and breathe in a particular way. Meditation is a process of understanding the Creator within the self by questions and answers. Otherwise, Upanishads would not have spoken about the Brahman in the form of affirmations and negations. The success of meditation not only depends upon one’s own efforts, but also should be permitted by his karmic account. Karmic account alone provides the will to meditate.

The quality of the soul not only depends upon its karmic account (actions), but also depends upon its ability to realize its Creator through knowledge. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (VI.ii.16) says “those who do not know these two ways become insects and moths”. The two ways are meditation and rituals. Bhagavad Gita is the treasure house of spirituality that provides necessary knowledge required for Self-realization. The process of birth and death is highly painful. Chandogya Upanishad (V.x.6) says “vai khalu durnishprapataram” which means ‘for sure the way is difficult.’ The life time of worms, insects and tiny creatures are much shorter than that of a man and being born as worms and insects means frequent rebirths. When the soul transmigrates frequently, it feels the pain of transmigration every time. There is a huge difference between those who quieten their mind to realize the Brahman and those who involve in rituals. Meditation alone is capable of providing salvation by putting an end to eschatology of a soul. The human birth gives an opportunity for the soul to realize its Creator and the ability to merge with Him. The human birth is considered supreme because, the soul that enters a human form has the ability to act on two fronts. One is the mind and another one is karma. The more one is capable of realizing its creator the karmic account becomes less influencing. But a vast majority of the humans are either by ignorance or by lack of will lose out the given opportunity to obtain liberation for the soul. The underlying principle of reincarnation in various forms is the process of sustenance and evolution. Without crops both animals and humans cannot survive. The law of karma is so beautifully enacted by God that every aspect of creation was taken care of adequately. The interdependency plays such a pivotal role in God’s creation that co-habitation becomes indispensable for the very survival.

Transmigration of a soul from creatures to humans happens with the full consciousness of the soul. This is the reason for attaching importance for consciousness. When a soul transmigrates from a human form to lower forms, it loses its consciousness. The Brahman can be realized only through higher level of consciousness, an opportunity made available by the Brahman only to Homo sapiens. Chandogya Upanishad declares (V.x.7) ‘among them, those who did good work in this world attain a good birth and those who did bad work attain a bad birth accordingly, being born as dog, a pig, etc.’

Upanishads by and large describe the Brahman by negations and affirmations. Brahman cannot be physically described because He does not have a form. Brahman is nothing but potentially existing energy that is neither apparent nor realized. Manifestation of the Brahman in all shapes and forms is the reality and due to lack of adequate knowledge, shapes and forms are realised by us as independent entities. This deceptive and shallow knowledge is known as maya. Kausitaki Upanishad (Ch.1) says “the one who involves in actions like yajna reaches the Heaven. This is because by doing auspicious acts he accumulates good karmic account. Once this positive account is exhausted, he is reborn. The other one, who understands this truth, performs actions without attaching importance to the fruits of his actions. He transcends the Heaven, merges with the Brahman, and is not reborn.” It is now apparent that reaching the Heaven is not the end of journey for a soul. Heaven or any such planes are only places of sojourn for a soul.

Karma accrues not only through thoughts and actions, but also through desire. Desire could be in any form. It could be in the form of greed, affection, lust, etc. Desire can be explained as the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state of mind. Therefore, desire largely depends upon one’s deprivations. Desire becomes instauration point of mind affliction. Scriptures accentuate so much of importance for withering desire, knowing its potency to cause across-the-board infliction on one’s karmic account. Ancient Tamil treatise of Thriumular (Thirumular Thirumantiram) says “Sunder your desires even for Shiva. If you have more desires, you have more sorrows. The more you give up, the more your bliss shall be (verse 2615).” The Sage says that one should not have desire even for the Brahman. When soul was originally created by the Brahman, it was endowed with free will and the creation was meant to exist that way only. God did not contemplate any law for the souls as He decided that souls should be controlled by their own free will. God has endowed the souls with unrestricted freedom to think and act. Souls started abusing this free grace of God by perverting the free will and failing to realize that they are bound by law of karma, which is also known as law of the Lord. This law will never be made flexible. Right from the day of creation, this law has not undergone any amendments. This failure to understand the reality is known as ignorance.

Newton’s third law is “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Law of karma by and large is based on this theory. For an action done with intent on the fruit of action, that action has to be neutralized by a reaction on the same plane where the original action had taken place. If someone at some point of time in his life tortures an animal, in future births the reverse action takes place when the soul of the animal tortures the soul of the man. But their gross forms could differ. But neither of them knows whether this is an original action or a reaction. Original action means that reaction is to happen subsequently. Reaction means, equal and opposite reaction to an original action that had already taken place. Law of karma can also be called as the law of cause and effect. As we sow, so we reap. Karma is one single factor that decides the destiny of a life. Karmic imprints on a soul unfold through a physical body in which the soul incarnates. As discussed in part 2, the nature of incarnation of a soul depends upon the nature and potency of its karmic imprints. Karmic imprints are formed by body, mind and intellect. This is the reason for utmost importance given to these three in Self-realisation. Out of these three, intellect is only a spin-off of mind. When mind becomes purer, it is known as intellect. Basically, only the body and mind are responsible for all karmic afflictions. Body is the gross form of creation and mind becomes subtle form of creation. When one persists more in body than mind, he loses the God given opportunity of liberation or salvation, as final salvation can be attained only through a human birth. It is also widely believed that traces of previous births are always found in the present birth. Plato calls the souls as ‘un-generated and immortal”. Possibly Plato’s definition can be explained this way. It is un-generated because souls exist right from the beginning of creation and immortal because, souls being subtle matters cannot be destroyed.

At the time of death, the soul leaves the body. The body without life is known as ‘preta’ in Sanskrit. When body becomes preta, certain samskaras are performed to preta before it is consumed either to fire or to earth. Samskaras mean impressions. It is the subtle form of activity and knowledge. When knowledge ceases to exist, only the impressions remain. After death of the physical body, all actions reside as impressions. In the stage of deep sleep stage, anthakkaranam resides in ajnana or nescience. In the case of a Self-realized person during his life time, ajnana ceases to exist, but its impressions continue to remain. Samskaras, therefore is a way of manipulating subtle things.

According to various theories, preta is an intermediate body that the soul acquires ten days after death. Various parts of this preta are created over a period of ten days when pinda offerings are made daily. Pinda is a ball of cooked rice with ghee and sesame seeds. That is why that pinda offering along with water (sometimes tender coconut water) is considered very essential ‘śrāddha’ rights to appease the hunger and thirst of preta. Any rites performed after offering a body either to fire or earth is known as śrāddha. The ten day śrāddha period is based on the basis of gestation period of ten lunar months for a human embryo. According to Vedas and Upanishads, nothing follows the preta except the good karmas done by that soul.

Biological body is made up of five basic elements viz. akash, air, fire, water and earth. Biological body is perishable. Within the biological body, there is jīva body. This is a replica of the gross body, but in the size of a thumb of the biological body. Maha Narayana Upanishad (71) says ‘aṇguśtramātrah puruśah’ which means that the person (puruśah) dwelling in the body is in the size of the thumb. This is known as subtle body or ‘linga saria’ and is imperishable. This ‘jiva’ body which is also known as soul is embedded with karmic deposits. This ‘jiva’ body or the subtle body consumes the pindas offered by the progeny of the dead for ten days and attains preta sarira only on the tenth day. Till tenth day from the day of death, the subtle body remains in an impure condition. The impure condition of the subtle body remains for ten days till it attains its preta sarira. The impure subtle body is said to be roaming for ten days where it lived during its life time. This is the reason for purifying our body after offering condolence during the first ten days. There is a ritual called ‘sapindikarana’ at the completion of 12th lunar month from the day of death. After performing this ritual, the soul leaves the preta body and enters ‘bhoga-deha’. Bhoga means experience. During its ‘bhoga-deha’ period the soul is said to experience the result of its karmic account. This experience is called heaven and hell. If the experience of the ‘bhoga-deha’ is good, it is considered as heaven and if the experience is bad, it is considered as hell. From heaven or hell the ‘bhoga-deha’ comes back to earth, leaves the ‘bhoga-deha’ and enters another embryo in the earth in the form of rebirth either as a human or one in animal kingdom or one in plant kingdom. By remaining in preta sarira or bhoha sarira the soul merely experiences the result of its karmic account either in heaven or hell and this experience is no way absolves the soul from experiencing karmic account in the same plane the karmic account was accrued. In this case, it has to experience the result of its karmic account only in the earth and not in other planets.

After understanding the process of death, it would be easier to understand the process of birth. If the process of birth and death are understood, understanding karma and soul would be much easier. Souls undergo many processes to refine and mollify themselves to merge with the Brahman. Such seasoning and mollification happens with the intent to merge with the Brahman ultimately. Again such a process depends upon the quality of the soul, which in turn depends upon its experience. The origin and the ultimate destination of the soul is the Brahman. Brahman, the Creator is capable of absorbing any number of souls without undergoing any modifications, the unequalled nature of the Brahman. But merger is possible only when the soul is able to realize the Brahman. This realization happens during several births. The gross body and mind alone is not a life. Life is the manifestation of the Brahman in the form of a soul. If a bulb can be called a gross body, the soul is the electricity. Without electricity the bulb cannot burn and without the bulb, the electricity is of no use. Some scriptures differentiate between soul and jiva. According to them, soul is unconditioned and jiva is conditioned. The soul enters different bodies during its different incarnations. During its sojourn in a body, soul causes attachment, desire, hatred, enmity becomes susceptible to all sorts dyads. Ignorance is the main cause for dyads and The Vedas, The Bible, The Koran etc endeavor to root out this ignorance.

Birth of a living being is determined by karmic account of the soul. The soul cannot decide the form it wishes to take. The form is decided by the Law of Karma which is also known as the Law of the Lord. In Creation, everything unfolds according to the Law of Karma. This is the reason for calling the Brahman as a witness, who does not partake in any actions of the living beings. Actions are the result of karmic account. Soul, after undergoing experience in the heaven or hell (please refer to part 4 of this series) transmigrates to the earth. Markendaya Purana (MP) (14) “Human impregnation is a seed sown immediately after its discharge from Naraka (hell) or Svarga (heaven). Dominated thereby the two seeds attain firmness”. The embryo thus formed distinctly remembers its past lives. “The merit amassed in seven lives is dissipated …” (MP.14). Ancient scriptures are of the opinion that at the time of copulation, a soul enters a spermatozoon that is passed on to a woman. Woman receives this spermatozoon and nourishes it by her blood. There could be many spermatozoa, but a soul enters only one among them thereby causing the formation of an embryo. Linga Purana says (87.49) “the fetus becomes a bubble” which refers to the growth of embryo. The usage of the word ‘bubble’ is not without reasoning. When a spermatozoon is placed near the womb, it is drawn by air into the womb. Formation of an embryo is not possible without a spermatozoon and an egg (which is also known as blood). In other words, formation of an embryo is not possible without air element, which is the cause for pulling the spermatozoon towards the egg in the womb. This air is known as prana. Prana is the first to enter the embryo and the last to leave the body at the time of death. Hence prana is also known as vital force or life force. Without this prana life is just not possible. Garuda purana says ‘in the union of a man and a woman with all the reminders of his karmas, he is born. The fetus is a mere bubble at first then blood is formed.’ The bubble is always caused by air, so is the case here as well. Now five sheaths are formed around this bubble and shape and form are sculptured during the ten lunar month period, the gestation period of the embryo. Now the embryo has soul in it with its entire karmic bundle. This bundle is unfolded immediately after the child inhales the external air. The first cry of the baby is the exact time of birth and the baby cries immediately after inhaling its first breath. The soul has got into another body as per Law of karmas to undergo pleasure and pain. The freewill of the body in conjunction with embedded karmas decides the destiny of the new born.

The process of death is painful for the body and not for the soul. In the previous posting the process of prana or air entering an embryo was discussed. Air is the first and the last element to be associated with a gross body. At the time of death the four elements merge into air element before all the five elements leave the body in the form of air or prana. Beating of heart and cessation breath alone is not symptoms of death. In rare cases, the heart beats again after a brief stoppage. In the case of yogis, they can stop their breath at their will. The first symptom of death is the cadaveric rigidity followed by evidences of decay. Indian scriptures say that a body should not be burnt or buried immediately after pronouncing the body as corpse. They specify time frame before or after which corpse should not be burnt or buried. Once the gross body turns into a corpse, the soul leaves the body along with prana. Soul does not leave in the same condition as it entered the body. What makes the difference in a soul is the karmic account at the time of birth and at the time of death. The karmic account generally swells with the results of actions in this life. Every action with “I” attached to it causes karma. The only way to get over the clutches of karma is to surrender the results of all our actions to God. In other words, actions should be performed, but without ego attached to it. This stage can be reached only by spiritually advanced persons. Karmic account is not only affected by actions by senses but also by the mind. Thinking of evil to others surely causes karmic afflictions. As long as thoughts and actions do not cause any miseries and pains to a living being, such thoughts and actions do not afflict karmic account. Karmic account is nothing but the distance between a soul and the Brahman. If the distance is too long, the soul has to make many entries and exits and if the distance is too short, probably the liberation is not far off.

The connecting link between the soul and the body is internal tool which is known as anthakkaranam. This consists of mind, intellect, consciousness and ego. The effects karmas unfold through anthakkaranam, which in turn act through senses. Meditation is the only solution that can effectively purify the internal tool. Souls originate from God and have to ultimately merge with Him. At the time of the first manifestation of a soul, it is very pure and at the time of liberation also, it becomes totally pure. An impure soul cannot be liberated. In the intervening period, the soul is bound by the karmic influence. Soul takes a short sojourn between two incarnations and the place of sojourn depends upon its karmic account. There are theories which say that a soul remembers its previous incarnations and some are of the opinion that there are facial resemblances between two incarnations. But these theories do not appear to be reasonable as all the incarnations need not be human births. Depending upon the karmic influence, a man after his death for instance can be reborn as a dog or vice versa. Soul is nothing but a miniscule replica of the Brahman. Like the Brahman, it also remains as a witness. It is not influenced either by freewill or by dependence. It cannot be influenced at all and its only assignment is to witness the actions unfolded by one’s karmas. It is not the soul that is responsible for our actions whereas it is only our own karmas that are responsible for experiencing pleasure and pain. When there is no karmic embedment in the soul, it means liberation for the soul. But without karma soul cannot manifest and without soul karmas also cannot accrue. This is a typical case of interdependence. The entire creation and sustenance happens only on the basis of interdependence. Souls are not differentiated on the basis of castes and religions and it is only due to ignorance and lower level of consciousness classification of humanity is made.

Karmas originate from three important sources mind, speech and body. Mind is the chief among the three. Speech and bodily actions originate from the mind. All the thoughts of the mind are not translated into speech or actions because of fear, a byproduct of the mind. If the mind continues to dwell in a thought for long, finally it gets translated into either speech or actions. This is the reason for attaching great importance to mind in Self-realization. If the mind is controlled, karmic afflictions are automatically reduced as there will be lesser thoughts and actions. The great Indian scriptures laid down certain broad guidelines about how karmas arise out of certain actions. For example, idle and abusive talks make one born as a bird or a beast. Injuring creatures make a person to be born as inanimate. A number of such prescriptions have been provided in dharma sastra. Contrary to this doctrine, science says that karmas are embedded in the form of DNA (the king of molecules). Individual karma is based upon the sum total of cause and effect of all relationship that a soul has encountered in all its previous incarnations. The cause and effect gets translated in the form of certain types of DNA that belong to a particular culture and environment and based upon this, a soul is born.

To offset karmic afflictions, pundits have been prescribing certain remedial measures. Karma cannot be offset by performing rituals. There are only two possibilities to get away from karmas. One is to perform more of good karmas, which could possibly offset bad karmas as karmic theory is based on net karma. Good karmas +/- bad karmas = net karmas. Markendeya Purana (Chapter 40) cites a number of omens of impending death. Following are the few examples. “He who when stout becomes thin, and when thing becomes stout quite unaccountably and loses his natural functions, lives only for eight months. If a pigeon or a crow alights on one’s head, it indicates that he would die in six months. When water does not quench one’s thirst, he lives for ten days.” The epic also suggests that meditation and renunciation (Here renunciation does not mean sainthood, but renouncing fruits of actions. This has been discussed in Bhagavad Gita) are the best possible ways to eradicate the evil effects of karmas. Except meditation and surrender there is no other possibility of evading the effects of karmas.

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (IV.iv.5) says “The self (soul) indeed is the Brahman, as also identified with the intellect, the mind and the vital force, with eyes and ears, with earth, water, air, ether and fire and what is other than fire, with desire and the absence of desire, with anger and the absence of anger, with righteousness and unrighteousness, with everything identified, in fact with what is perceived and what that is inferred. As it does and acts, so it becomes. By doing good, it becomes good and by doing evil it becomes evil. It becomes virtuous through good acts and vicious through evil acts. Others, however say, “The self (soul) is identified with desire alone. What it desires, it resolves. What it resolves, it works out. What it works out, it attains.”

The Upanishad says that there is no difference between the Brahman as Self and the Brahman as self. The Brahman is known by different names such as Self, Paramatma (Para-atman), God, etc. Soul too has different names such as purusha, self, jivatma (jiva-atman), etc. When the soul interacts with mind and senses, it becomes susceptible to karmic afflictions, as the soul attains a body to perform actions. When it is said that the Brahman is Self, then what is self? In fact the difference between Self and self is too subtle to interpret. This question is raised in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad ‘katham atmethi’ (IV.iii.7), which means ‘which is the self (soul)?’ The difference if any is to be empathized as the karmas afflict only the self and not the Self. The Self is beyond everything and it is the source of everything that exists in the universe. But the self is a miniscule of the omnipresent Self. The self is not identified with the body or mind. It continues to be independent. This self has been explained as mind, intellect or self-illuminating atman (soul) within heart’s cavity (biological heart does not have any cavity). A soul is mainly guided by the intellect, which invariably fails to use its full potency due to the influence of maya (illusion). “Three he designed for himself” says the same Upanishad (I.v.3). ‘Himself’ here means the soul. The three are the mind, the speech (shabdha Brahman) and the vital force also known as prana. The soul is placed among them ‘like a rock in the midst of trees’. The soul does not undergo any change and remains as a mere non-tumultuous spectator. It quietly watches the other three growing. In terms of subtleness, the self is subtlest of all. Then come intellect and then prana. Sound however undergoes transformation from subtle to gross before it is delivered.

Intellect, prana and sound in different proportions make the organs of perception and action to perform. When they perform for the sake of performance alone, they do not cause any karmic afflictions. Actions are needed to sustain the embodied soul and organs (both action and perception) have been provided merely as tools to sustain the embodied soul. But the originality of the intellect gets deluded by semblance of maya giving rise to the worst enemy of spirituality, the ego. Ego takes fictitious and wrongful credit for all the actions done by the organs of action and perception without any reasoning. Ego is the supreme destroyer of entire spiritual aspirations. Krishna says (Bhagavad Gita XVIII.14, 15 and 16) “the contributory factors for whatever actions, right or wrong, man performs with mind, speech and body. He, whose mind is free from the sense of doership, and whose reasoning is not tainted by worldly objects, does not really slay even having slaughtered all these creatures, nor is bound by sin.” But the fact remains that “all actions cannot be given up in their entirety by anyone possessing a body, he alone who renounced the fruit of actions is a called a man of renunciation” (Bhagavad Gita VIII.11). But this principle is easier said than done. If desire is nurtured, it always manifests as ego causing ownership of actions leading to karmic afflictions. There is only a single antidote for ego, renunciation. To renounce, one has to have the highest kind of knowledge that can be attained only internal query and exploration. The answer for such query dawns only in the highest meditative stage.

About the Author

Sharing spiritual experience through detailed discussion on Indian Scriptures, the complicated kundalini meditation, mantras and self-realization. Occasional discussion on astrology and other allied subjects in my blog http://manblunder.com

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