Karma & Mahabharat

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Posted: 11 years ago
#1
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 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. If you have more desires, you have more sorrows. 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.
Satyawati thought she can make throne secure for her children by making Bhishma sacrifice his rights. But none of her sons could get what she had dreamt for them. Even her grand children had to fight with each other to get their right inturn many were killed. Just to see his father Shantanu happy, Ganga putra, gave up all his rights. The injustice she did to Bhishma were faced by her grand children in some or other way. Her action had a longer lasting reaction.
For Amba, getting Bhishma punished for the injustice done to her became the sole aim of her life. After realising Parashuram too can't do much. She did penance of Mahadev, got blessed to fulfill her desire of punishing Bhishma in her next birth.
Bhishma after taking the oath of not getting married & will serve whoever sits of the throne of Hastinapur, was aware of the hardship he may have to undergo to keep his Bhishma Pratigya.
He never denied facing the consequences of his acts. He saw many of his close relatives dying, did he deserve such an life? If it was in his hand to choose his family member's life & future, he would have surely chosen & asked for the best for him. But things were not even in his hand. He had to pay for keeping quiet, for not taking action where he could have stopped some events but his oath stopped him fromdoing so.
Is it right to always blame him or his oath ? Isn't Karmic deeds of the others involved in those even should also be considered? In the history of Mahabharat, no body is excacly a saint. They all choose to be part of this game of throne, land. So all had to loose some to gain some. Many people infact lost a lot to gain very little or nothing.
Bhishma at the end of his life chose the time of his death, he recognise who is lord Krishna, got the desire end for his soul.
Only Lord Krishna was compeltey detached while appearing to be attached to whatever his did in his life with characters of Mahabharat. That's why victory was on the side he supported.
Interpreting charaters the way we feel may seem right initially but if one considers an overall aspect judgement does differ.
Edited by mnx12 - 11 years ago

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nsheena thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#2
Very true!
This is precisely why one can relate to Mahabharat more than any other vedic scripture/story. Ramayan and others had distinct black and white characters. Whereas in Mahabharat, everyone had some fault/grey shades and that is why the effects of Karma, their deeds and implications become an important source of lesson for all of us.

Even Krishna took the wrong path, although it was for dharma. It is I think one of the first times that God shows the way to righteousness and sometimes eviction of adharma as the larger good is more important than the sanctity of your individual dharma and karma.

Oh how i love this epic! Mahabharat! So many layers to every single story and character!
Edited by nsheena - 11 years ago
fatssrilanka thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#3
mnx,beautiful post. This is the first time I'm watching Mahabharat and I'm enjoying it.And,agree what goes around comes around.It's the effect of your Karma.
crazy-nut thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#4
just wondering does anyone believe in Karma now a days...
nsheena thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#5

Originally posted by: crazy-nut

<font color="#0000ff">just wondering does anyone believe in Karma now a days...</font>


there are people who believe in it... But yea, sadly there are many more who don't care/believe in karma. What else can explain the state of corruption, evil and deceit that runs around today
swati2008 thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#6
well said...karma is the reason of all happenings...more than any scriptures Mahabharat shows karma's effect on human life...here every event is related to some past event...
mnx12 thumbnail
Posted: 11 years ago
#7

Originally posted by: swati2008

well said...karma is the reason of all happenings...more than any scriptures Mahabharat shows karma's effect on human life...here every event is related to some past event...

It provides an excellent opportunity to study, why & how events happened during that era. It happened towards the end of Dwapar Yuga, carries almost same effect in Kali Yuga too.
After having so many equations this tale explains who can survive in the end. Ultimately it's the end achieved through right means matters, nothing else.
mnx12 thumbnail
Posted: 11 years ago
#8

Originally posted by: crazy-nut

just wondering does anyone believe in Karma now a days...

When one faces difficulties in life at that time wants to know the reason of why is he/ she suffering. At that time some do check their Karmas, think over it & do try to change them for a better future.
Justitia thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#9
Few questions related to karma -
1. Why can't our karmas in our past lives be accounted for in our past life itself? Why are they "carried forward" to the next life? Why can't we start each life with a completely clean slate?

2. If our sufferings in our present life are a result of our bad karmas in our past life, then why don't we have any memories of our past life? If I don't know exactly what are those bad karmas I committed in my past life (for which I am suffering now), how can I rectify those specific mistakes in my present life?

3. Controversial question - To what extent can you blame karma for a person's suffering? In instances of crime in society, and cases of accidents, terror attacks, bombings, women getting raped, etc., doesn't karma basically blame the victim(s) saying that the victim's "bad karmas" are responsible for their suffering in these tragic incidents? I mean, if I have to take a controversial example, all kinds of idiotic reasons are given for rape. I'm surprised that nobody has (so far) said that the woman's own bad karmas in her past life are responsible for her rape. Of course, I don't subscribe to that theory. But, if ALL suffering in life is due to bad karmas and bad karmas alone (and these bad karmas are accounted for at various stages of our past, present, and future births), then why do we have courts at at all? In cases of crime, you have the government handing out punishment for the criminal. But, in the eyes of God, it may actually be the victim who "deserved" to suffer because of past "bad karmas". In such a situation, who is right? The government or God?
stewie_griffin thumbnail
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Posted: 11 years ago
#10

Originally posted by: shani88

Few questions related to karma -

1. Why can't our karmas in our past lives be accounted for in our past life itself? Why are they "carried forward" to the next life? Why can't we start each life with a completely clean slate?

2. If our sufferings in our present life are a result of our bad karmas in our past life, then why don't we have any memories of our past life? If I don't know exactly what are those bad karmas I committed in my past life (for which I am suffering now), how can I rectify those specific mistakes in my present life?

3. Controversial question - To what extent can you blame karma for a person's suffering? In instances of crime in society, and cases of accidents, terror attacks, bombings, women getting raped, etc., doesn't karma basically blame the victim(s) saying that the victim's "bad karmas" are responsible for their suffering in these tragic incidents? I mean, if I have to take a controversial example, all kinds of idiotic reasons are given for rape. I'm surprised that nobody has (so far) said that the woman's own bad karmas in her past life are responsible for her rape. Of course, I don't subscribe to that theory. But, if ALL suffering in life is due to bad karmas and bad karmas alone (and these bad karmas are accounted for at various stages of our past, present, and future births), then why do we have courts at at all? In cases of crime, you have the government handing out punishment for the criminal. But, in the eyes of God, it may actually be the victim who "deserved" to suffer because of past "bad karmas". In such a situation, who is right? The government or God?


Answer to your questions-
1. If your slate is clean at the end of life there is no need to take birth again.You take birth so as to clean your slate or else you get moksha
2. It is believed that whenever aatma gets into a body it forgets all its past. You have to open seven chakras of your body to look into your past karma's which is possible from extreme meditation or from help of guru who himself has opened his chakras not the one that publicise themselves as demi gods.You don't have to rectify any mistakes you have to pay for your it.
3. You may have heard people doing all wrong and getting away with it, then that is because in previous life wrong had happened to him. Let's say person x does wrong to person y. Now in this life x has done something wrong but it may be because either y had done wrong to him in past or x has started new seed of action.Now in case 1 it is karma and x has actually not done anything wrong and he will probably get away with it. In case 1 both x and y are free from that respective karma but in case 2, x will have to pay for it in future.

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