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Fundamental doctrine of karma
Fundamental doctrine of karma
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Karma Yoga has many principles, which are interchangeable with any religion. Many people think of karma as fate; but karma is action, not fate. Karma is also known as, "The law of cause and effect."
We are responsible for our actions in this life and beyond. In contemporary terms we say, "What goes around; comes around." Does this seem like a law that is specific to a certain religion?
Some would say, "Yes," but this is a universal Yogic principle within all religions. There is no religion which has exclusive rights to the law of karma, but all religions address karma, in principle, even though the word, "karma," may not be mentioned. Giving to those in need, without seeking a reward, creates good karma.
Karma Yogis exist in all cultures, religions, and races. In the
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The following are a few timeless quotes to ponder:
Jesus said, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand, know what your right hand is doing. So that you're giving, may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Mohammed said, "God does not judge you according to your bodies and appearances, but He looks into your hearts and observes your deeds." He also said,' "Charity does not diminish wealth."
Buddha said, "If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some
Even forms of human beings preforming selfless acts derives from ones desire to help others, which in a way makes that person feel importance. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa, devoted her life to helping those in great need. To many these acts may appear as selfless and gallant acts that are not performed by anyone with any type of ego. Yet when taking a psychological look at why she performed such acts they may appear a somewhat more for herself. Every time anyone does anything, even when for someone else, they are doing it for some type of feeling that they experience. With the holiday season approaching, there will be a specific emphasis on giving unlike any other time of the year. We give yes to show gratitude for someone we love, but also to experience the joy in seeing someone enjoy something they them self-caused. Even while being selfless humans have the unique ability to still be doing something that involves caring for them self. This outlook toward the human condition completely debunks Wolf’s claim that “when caring about yourself you are living as if you are the center of the universe.” When choosing to do anything positive or negative, for others or for yourself, you are still taking your self-interest into consideration, making it
Judith Lichtenberg successfully conveys her moral theory with many questions regarding her topics of abstractness, the sense of futility and ineffectiveness, overestimating our generosity, distance, the relativity of well-being, the power of shame, and the drops in the bucket. Using these practical and philosophical ideas she explains why we as a people should search to discover the obstacles that are preventing us from giving more, rather than the finding our charitable obligations and the amounts we should be giving. She leads us to the ideal of motivation and tells us to pay less attention to obligation, because without X being moved to do an act, does it really matter what the act was if X never induces the action?
Karma is the moral law of cause and effect (Bowker 2006, 60-1). This law is one of the many bases of the Hindu faith, Buddhist faith,
Karma is ancient belief whose history can be traced back to when Buddhism had just been established by the Buddha and it was still in its early stages.Early Buddhism taught that karma was non-linear,meaning that your past actions would not affect you in the present, and your present actions would not affect your future. The quote, “Karma isn’t fate.Nor is it a punishment imposed on us by some external agent.We create our own karma. Karma is the result of choices that we make every moment of every day.” means that the actions we commit every day will create karma, and whether the outcome of that karma is good or bad is determined by your actions. On the contrary, some Indian schools taught that karma was linear, meaning your past and present actions would affect you later in life. The doctrine of the belief states that one person’s karma cannot affect another person’s future.For example, the transfer of merit states that one person can transfer good karma to another, and this is found in both Buddhism and Hinduism. However, a wide spectrum of various aspects of Indian religions believe that karma can be shared. The outcome of your karma is determined by whether your actions were helpful and kind, or if your actions were cruel and decadent.The quote, “Ka...
PROF. HR NAGENDRA,, . "Karma Yoga Questions & Answers." SVYASA University. n. page. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Some people believe that karma means action and reaction, this is not strictly true, karma actually means " `act', `action' or `activity' "(Fowler. 1997. p11). It can be said, however, that for every action there must be a reaction. Karma is not confined to physical actions, mental actions also count. So Hindus believe that everything a person does or thinks is an action and depending on whether the action is good or bad that person receives good or bad karma as a reaction. "So, if some are happy then they must have done good in the past; if others are suffering they must have done something bad." "This is not fatalism; the law of karma says that we alone - not God or the Devil - are responsible for our fate" (Prinja. 1998. p36). Karma returns to us through everything we do. If a person does something good, with the sole intention of bettering him or herself, they will receive bad karma. Good karma is only received when a person commits a good action without thinking of himself or herself. Most Hindus will spend their entire lives attempting to accrue more good than bad karma. In the case of someone who has accrued sufficiently high levels of bad karma, the said person's spirit may not return after reincarnation as a human. It is possible for a spirit to return as an animal " in order to reap the results of bad karma until it is used up sufficiently to allow reincarnation as a human being once more." (Fowler. 1999. p208). This karma builds up inside a person in the form of the jivatman or personality.
Vaughn 6 When Giving Hurts Too Much Baylee Vaughn XXXXXXX Dr. XX 19 April 2017 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8) My interpretation of this passage is simply, “Charity begins at home” which seems to be in direct contrast to Peter Singer’s argument that one is morally obligated to give as much as possible to charities that work to reduce suffering in poor countries, at least up to the point at which by giving more we would begin to cause serious suffering to ourselves and our dependents. (NIV)
For instance, it was an extremely sunny day in Ghana, West Africa, and I had gone out to the well to fetch water. It was while carrying the bucket of water on my way back that I noticed my neighbor’s children fighting over the insufficient amount of food that they had to share. My family and I were not rich but from what I saw, I knew that we were better off than other people I knew. I carried the bucket of water inside the house and came back outside to call the two youngest children that were fighting over the last grain of food. I shared my food my food with them and though it was not sufficient for all, feeding the younger ones alone was better than not helping any one of them at all. There was only little that I could possibly do but by sharing, I had helped them in a great way, even if it was just for the time being.
...esult, the more directly one sees their personal efforts impact someone else, the more happiness one can gain from the experience of giving. Sometimes generosity requires pushing past a feeling of reluctance because people all instinctively want to keep good things for themselves, but once one is over this feeling, they will feel satisfaction in knowing that they have made a difference in someone else’s life. However, if one lives without generosity but is not selfish, they can still have pleasure from other virtues.
Karma, also known as Karman is a basic concept common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The doctrine of Karma states that one's state in this life is a result of actions both physical and mental in past carnations, and action in this life can determine one's destiny in future incarnations. Karma is a natural, impersonal law of moral cause and effect and has no connection with the idea of a supreme power that decrees punishment of forgiveness of sins. Karmic law is universally applicable, and only those who have attained liberation from rebirth, called mukti (or moksha) or nirvana, can be transcend it. (The Columbia Encyclopedia)
Sherman, Amy L. “Expectant Giving.” The Christian Century 116.6 (1999): 206. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.
Karma yoga, as denoted by its name focuses on the concept of karma a karma yogi strives to attain moksha which is considered to be ultimate liberation and in and to the karma cycle along with freedom from the process of reincarnation. It is considered to be the path of action, and service to others it begins by understanding the selfish act actions bind the soul. This causes the yogi to undertake a life of selfless service were all work f...
This underlies Hinduism’s law of karma, which is the idea that one’s behavior during their life will lead them to a reward or a punishment. The definition of karma has changed over the years, philosophers believed that it was developed from a long period of the Hindus observing plants, flowers, trees, and crops grow. They believe that Hindus notices that their land “gave birth” to plants when the were cared for. Hindus realized that plants never die they begin to grow again during the spring, which may have led them to believe that the life of a plant ends in death in order for it to be reborn again.
In doing this daily and making it a habit, then we find that our enemies are in the same need as our friends and we can give to them as well. As we say in the Marine Corps, “The more we sweat in practice, the less we bleed in battle.” This in turn will halt our false sense of duty, which turns our love into a servile obligation and therefore never to be given as the Lord has. Charity in its most ordinary form would not be so if performed perfunctorily, it would be a tit for tat and we would all become useless servants only doing what we are supposed to. Yet, to prevent a false and fearful love from being given, we must learn what it is to love the Lord.