The Law of Karma: Bondage or Soul Release?

The law of karma can be either a source of bondage and fear or a means for soul release. It depends on our attitude. A deeper understanding of the infallible cosmic law reveals that karma only helps us learn our lessons and reach soul perfection. Read on about why that is so and how you
can ‘pass’ your karmic tests with flying colors!

Emma, a mother of two children, was working in the kitchen. Her 7-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter were playing in the living room. As she entered the living room to serve dinner, she was shocked to see that the boy was about to smack his little sister.

Hastily she ran and stopped the boy whose arm was already in the air. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded of the boy. The boy answered self-righteously, “But Mom, she pulled my hair first!” With a smile, the mother told the boy to forgive his sister, as his sister didn’t yet know how it feels to have one’s hair pulled. The boy acquiesced reluctantly, as Emma returned to the kitchen.

No sooner than she had resumed her chores, she heard the little girl crying. Angrily she rushed back to the room to scold the boy. “I told you not to hit her!” she reprimanded him. The boy responded with a mischievous smile, “I didn’t hit her, Mom. Only now she knows what it feels like to have one’s hair pulled!”

That dear reader is how karma works. It’s simply a law of cause and effect. “Every action,” Newton wrote, “has an equal and opposite reaction.” This law of motion is nothing but a material manifestation of the cosmic law of karma.

When we put a certain vibration out into the ether – whether through thought or action – we create a cause, the effect for which will inevitably come back to us. This action can be compared to the throwing of a boomerang that eventually makes a full circle and returns to the point of origin.

It’s easy to see why the Divine created the law of karma. All of us need to learn certain lessons to achieve perfect soul freedom. These lessons are not only huge in number, but also highly individual.

With billions of people on this little mud-ball of a planet alone, you can imagine God’s difficulty when faced with the task of teaching everyone their lessons. Therefore, he created the law of karma so we can teach ourselves through experience — just like the little girl who learned that it’s not good to pull someone’s hair.

As Nayaswami Jyotish wryly puts it, the law of karma may rightly be called a highly advanced AI (Almighty Intelligence) delivery of a customized lesson plan for every individual every single day!

Karma and Reincarnation

What the little girl experienced in the story above is an example of what we can call “instant karma.” Swami Kriyananda felt that instant karma is the best karma because we learn our lesson quickly.

Alas, we don’t learn all our lessons so quickly, do we? Why? Because by the time karma comes back to us, we forget that we created its cause in the first place.

The great masters tell us that one human life is not nearly enough to learn all the lessons we need to learn to achieve soul freedom. If at the time of death, the soul has not learned all its lessons, it will have to reincarnate in a physical body to complete its “lesson plan.”

Because karma spans millions of lifetimes, it’s almost impossible to understand with the limited human intellect. Only great saints who have attained the highest states of Self-realization can discern one’s karmic patterns and tendencies.

Let’s take the example of a man named Rahul. Rahul, in his past life, had a tendency to lie and cheat. He was a used car salesman and would often exaggerate the features of his cars to make a few extra bucks. At the end of that life, however, he reformed his ways, perhaps joined a spiritual path, and stopped defrauding others.

In his next life, Rahul is born with the virtues of honesty, integrity, and truthfulness. However, his karma of defrauding others is yet to be satisfied.

One day he receives a call from his car insurance company. The lady on the phone tells Rahul that his policy is about to expire that night but he can avoid paying late fees if he just renews it instantly. Eager to avoid trouble, Rahul asks what needs to be done for the renewal process.

“Oh, nothing at all sir! Please give me your card details and the OTP that you’ll receive on your phone. I can renew your policy with a click!” the lady assures him. Well, as you can guess, Rahul follows this malicious advice and gets swindled.

At this point, Rahul cannot understand why this happened to him. But to someone who knows the kind of karma Rahul has, this event makes perfect sense. He defrauded others in a previous lifetime and so his money was stolen in this life. (If Rahul didn’t have that karma, perhaps he would’ve recognized the fraudulent call and not shared his banking information).

Karma Is Not God’s Punishment

Even though our life’s circumstances may seem unfair, everything that happens to us is for our growth. Difficult times are not a symbol of God’s wrath or punishment. —They’re a symbol of His love because it is only through these tests that we can learn our lessons and achieve soul freedom.

Think back to a difficult time in your life. Even though it seemed difficult at first, I’m sure you grew physically, emotionally, or spiritually, once you overcame that test.

Paramhansa Yogananda said that “The world is made for our education and entertainment.” Then he wryly added, “But how few are either educated or entertained!”

When a child in school fails an examination he has to reappear for it. So it is that when we fail to overcome our karmic test, it comes back to us.

But here’s the comforting truth – a child in the fifth grade is never given a test on calculus or differential equations. Similarly, we’re never faced with a test that we don’t have the power to overcome. God doesn’t want you to fail. He eagerly wants you to succeed; in fact, he’s cheering for you.

So remember, whatever karmic test you face has come to you because you have the power within you to overcome it. As you grow stronger spiritually, your tests will also get bigger. But it’s all there for your salvation.

Viewing karma from that lens, we can see that there is no bad karma. All karma is just there to propel us to greater levels of freedom until, at last, we find that perfect happiness that our soul yearns for.

Overcoming Karma: A Moment-By-Moment Job

Everything that happens to you is dictated by the law of karma. Every situation is a test to see if you would choose the light or choose the ways of darkness.

The best way therefore to overcome karma is to focus on keeping our energy high and consciousness uplifted at this moment. The present moment is all we have anyway. If our minds are fixed on the Divine, and our life is guided by His will, we will overcome all tests eventually. This can be done through the regular practice of meditation (especially Kriya Yoga), attunement to one’s guru, and right spiritual living.

If you’re afraid of your karmic tests and the past ‘bad’ karma that you still have to work out, you’re not alone. When a disciple of Yogananda expressed similar concerns, the Master told them, “Your job, for now, is to get to God. Forget about your karma. He will take care of it.”

As Swami Sri Yukteswar said in Autobiography of a Yogi, “The past lives of all men are dark with many waves of shame. Everything in the future will improve if you are making spiritual effort now.”

Karmic tests are nothing but a gift from God to help us learn our lessons. Krishna instructed Arjuna in the Gita,  “Get away from my ocean of suffering and misery”[XII:8]. He who created this world is waiting for us to transcend it and go back to Him. He is on our side. But we too have to make the effort to accept His tests with gratitude, overcome them, and use these karmic lessons to pave our way to soul release.