Mitch Blum

For a long time I’ve struggled with one aspect of the concept of Karma. Namely, what’s behind it? What makes it work? Whose hand is spinning the wheel?

The other night, something in my head shifted and it finally clicked. Perhaps it was that scintillating bedtime episode of Sagwa?

Most people believe in Karma because it seems so obvious…cause and effect…action and reaction. There are great songs about it (“Instant Karma”). There are hilarious TV sitcoms about it (“My Name is Earl”). There are cheesy songs about it (“Karma Chameleon”). Even tip jars get into the action. Everyone digs the idea of Karma. It helps us to rationalize people getting away with bad things (as in, “they’ll get theirs, eventually!”)

Yet, as one studies the concept of Karma (Hindu variety) you realize that there just can’t be such a thing as “Instant Karma”. If you stiff your barista, you are not “owed” a slap from the universe. Such an immediate payback would require the intervention of some omniscient, omnipresent judge to act as the arbiter of cause and effect. That obviously puts us into some murky philosophical and theological waters.

So if there’s no God figure turning the wheel, how does Karma actually work?

I’ve finally received the answer. It seems so obvious to me now that your reaction will probably be a resounding “yeah, duh!” (Or, the ever popular “uh-doy” of my youth.)

It’s actually right in the definition of the word Karma – Action. Here’s how it goes:

1. Start with a (theoretically) completely still (nirodha) and uncolored (aklishta) mind (chitta).

2. As the sequence of experience (time) unfolds, our thoughts (vrittis) become colored (klishta) by five afflictions (kleshas): fear, aversion, attachment, egoism, and ignorance of our true nature. Without realizing it, this becomes how we view the world around us – from a distorted perspective.

3. Our actions (karmas) are unconsciously driven by the aforementioned conditioning of our mind.

4. Our ego personality (ahamkara) is really just an outward expression of our tendencies (vasanas) and habits (samskaras). In other words, actions repeated over time.

5. The more that we repeat actions (either good or bad) based on our conditioned personality, the more deeply ingrained that these habits become, and the more that our personalities and minds get stuck in the same patterns.

In other words, you create your own reality. Thoughts and actions reflect and reinforce each other until the point that they actually define who you are.

When Patanjali wrote “yogash chitta vritti nirodha” in the second Yoga sutra, he said a mouthful. He said it all. He told us that the state of Yoga is reached by stilling the fluctuations of the mind. The fluctuations of the mind are the thoughts that drive our actions. Our actions define our relationship with the physical world (prakriti).

The practice of Yoga teaches us many things. We learn to let our true Self (purusha) act as the unattached witness. We learn to merely observe thoughts instead of accepting and acting on each and every one. We learn to let our discerning intellect (buddhi) drive our intentions, rather than the desires and aversions of our senses.

So, how people treat others and the world around them is merely an indicator of how they view the world. Angry people will view the world as being angry and treat people poorly and will in the end find the same hostility coming back in their direction. That, of course, will serve to reinforce and justify their fundamental world-view.

Yoga practice “burns” out bad karma in the sense that when we realize that we are not our thoughts, when we realize that thought and action can be separated, when we realize that our ego is not who we are, then we can break our patterns of behavior.

When we break our established patterns of behavior and reject ego-identification then we have started to uncolor our minds. We are reversing the conditioning of our minds and changing how we view the world. We are redefining our reality. We are breaking the cycle of Karma.

And that is why Karma does not require an outside agent – while experience may manifest itself in the external world, it’s all defined from inside our minds. It’s all prakriti.

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Any mistakes in logic are mine. Anything that actually makes sense is probably the product of too many sources to list. But of course, there are only two fundamental texts required for Yogic study – the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras – all others are optional. If you have read this essay and have not read both, please do so, as my ham-fisted attempt to explain Yogic philosophy pales in comparison to the source material itself. I currently recommend Stephen Mitchell’s beautiful translation of the Gita and Gregor Maehle’s insightful commentary on the Yoga Sutras.

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