Good "KARMA".........The Cycle of Cause & Effect...

A MUST READ BY ALL THOSE BELIEVE & URGE in Good "KARMA".........The Cycle of Cause & Effect....................JK

If you can't learn these from your "ISM"/"ITY"etc. Better learn it from BUDH"ISM"

Ways to generate good karma...............................The cycle of cause and effect.

There is no escaping your Karma!........

Someone famously said, “There is no escaping your Karma!” Yes, this phrase is very apt and applies to us for every action we undertake. Each action has a consequence. But what is Karma really? It is a divine, invisible power that balances our universe! While we chart our own paths in life, we are all linked because of our Karma. And through our Karma or the actions we undertake...... our fate is decided.

What lord Buddha says........

In the teachings of Buddha, the law of karma is explained as, ‘for every event that occurs, it will be followed by another event whose existence was caused by the first action, and the second event that occurs will be good or bad according to whether it has been harmful or beneficial, to oneself and to others.

Good thoughts lead to good karma.........

A beneficial event that arises from the thought of helping others will generate good Karma but resistance, craving or delusions or the fact that you are not doing it with a pure heart, will usually lead to a harmful event. What is important to remember that events or actions are not beneficial completely by themselves but it needs to be accompanied by the virtue of good and pure thoughts.

Be responsible for your actions.............

The responsibility of an action, good, bad or harmful, lies with the ‘doer’ of the action. Hence, it is proved that Karma has a lot to do with cause and effect. Every action undertaken by you then creates a cause for a chain of events that happen to you thereafter. In short, this means that whatever you do and then whatever happens to you ....all the good and all the bad, are the fruit of your own action and thoughts.

15 simple ways to generate good karma........

So keeping the above thought in mind and now let us see how we can generate good karma in 15 simple ways!

1. Acceptance is the key......

Acceptance is the key. Yes, accept your wrong doings. Beg for forgiveness for all the wrong you have committed in the past and learn from your actions. According to Buddhism, a great way of doing away with your negative karmas is to chant the names of the 35 confession Buddhas found in the Bodhisattva Sutras. While reciting these sutras one needs to feel regret and remorse genuinely about your ill actions. If done genuinely, it is regarded as a confession and therefore, letting the good manifest.

2. Chant Buddha's names......

To do so, chant each of the 35 Buddhas’ names three times while sitting in prayer.

3. Chant the Mantra............

Our life is full of negativity and so are our surroundings in this world. To dull the effect or to get rid of negativity, chanting mantra is one of the easiest ways to cleanse one’s soul and to open up new horizons for our mind, body and soul. Chanting the mantra helps to purify the negative imprints of karma in our life and from our past life. If we continue with the negativity we will surely carry it forward to our next life. So simply chant ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’. This mantra will help you calm down, soothe your nerves and senses, and deliver your mind from negativity. Concentrate on the mantra and nothing else. Let it permeate and amplify within your senses and the mind. Always chant the mantra with positive thoughts.

4. Do a good gesture......

Stop to smell the roses means......(To become calmand reflectupon the finer or more enjoyable aspects of life....especially when one has become overworked or over stressed..)....... is an age old saying and holds a lot of meaning. In our hectic lives what with crazy work schedules, peer pressure and the race to earn more, we forget to notice the littlest of things. Every little gesture counts and adds to generating good Karma. For example, simple help someone cross the road. Walk up to an old man or woman who needs help crossing, and help them across. This gesture will barely take you five minutes but it will have done a lot of good to the person you helped. It is up to us to practice kindness. Just thinking about it and not doing it, will not help! Such acts that come naturally with only the thought of helping someone genuinely, helps generate good karma for you.

5. Make someone else comfortable...........

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of our times is that we are all selfish. We always put ourselves ahead of everyone; not paying any heed to the other person’s needs. But we can change this. How? Simply by giving up something ourselves so that it makes the other person comfortable! For example, offering our seat on a train or a bus to someone who needs it more than we do. Letting someone get ahead in the line or exchange seats to let a couple or friends sit together. These acts done spontaneously will help generate good karma.

6. Purify the bad karma with good karma...........

We have our fair share of good and bad karma in our lives, and they are the reasons why we have good days as well as bad ones. They say, ‘one must count their blessings...’, similarly we need to count and accumulate our good karmas to nullify or purify the bad karma. Doing good without wanting something in return, doing something good spontaneously etc. will help us generate good karma.

7. Try twirling a prayer wheel........

In Buddhism, monks follow the simple yet profound tradition of twirling the prayer wheels. The prayer wheel is a cylindrical instrument that has tightly wound sheets of paper that have mantras written on them. Twirling the prayer wheel is equivalent of chanting the mantras written on them. The prayer wheel is said to be very powerful that helps negate the bad karma, giving peace to the person twirling the wheel.

8. Go on a tirth yatra........

The almighty is not bound by religion and is available to all who seeks the lord. It is no consequence if one is a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Christian. Going on a holy trip to visit the holy destination does hold importance. This is because these destinations are places were the holy being attained enlightenment, moksha or nirvana. There is a special energy that surrounds these places and helps people who visit them on a spiritual level. The positive energy here is infectious and helps us generate good, genuine thoughts.

9. Kindness is the only religion....................

There is a huge difference between being religious and practicing good karma. There is no way of quantifying how one person is more religious than the other or whether god loves one above the other. Being kind and practising kindness is the only way. This needs to be developed in the most earnest manner, i.e. you cannot stop being kind even for one moment and your attitude cannot change because the person in front of you is someone you don’t like! It needs to be the same for all. Kindness should be our way of life, in every aspect – way we behave with family, friends, colleagues, people we employ, towards animals and even strangers.

10. Let go!.........................

We are hoarders in every sense of the word – we hoard onto relationships, onto material things, grudges that don’t matter at all and what not! We carry a huge emotional baggage and most of it is filled with remorse, guilt, anger and even jealousy. But what good is all this? Going about life with so much negativity is only going to create bad karma for oneself. And no one but ‘you’ yourself can cure it. We need to learn to let go. It is a simple decision that we need to make and move on so that we can enjoy better things in life.

11 Give way to the others..........

A very common phenomenon today is ‘rage’. It is as scary to hear about it as it is to experience it. We are impatient and think of ourselves as superior than everyone else and hence, even if we are in the wrong, we will stick our ground! For example, on the road while driving we won’t let anyone get ahead of us. We will continue to do so, so that the person behind doesn’t get ahead. This causes unnecessary negativity, abusing, honking and generally upsets everyone else too. But it leads to nothing. So imagine generating negative karma for nothing? A simple way to nullify this is to just give way!

12.Read a holy or spiritual book.............

Many of us will associate reading a spiritual or a holy book as a practice of the old. What we fail to realise is that these books do hold importance – they speak of stories that define morals on the basis of action, ideologies that lead onto a better path and of course, show you the new meaning of life while making you realise the futility of material things. Reading a spiritual book will help you understand the deeper meaning of life and help you make better decisions, opening your eyes to see the good things in life around you.

13. Meditate!......................

Meditation helps you zone out. Yes, it helps you tune in to your mind while it doing away with all the hullabaloo of the surroundings. It helps you focus on your inner being as it clears your mind of thoughts. It helps you understand you body and mind as well as connect with your soul. In short, it helps you achieve a state of clarity. It makes you see the bigger picture and change your perspective in life. Naturally, with a calmer mind a person will make better choices that will help them help others as well as themselves.

14. Respect others.............

Dr Seuss famously said, “A person’s person, no matter how small!” Yes, every person deserves consideration and respect. Growing up, we are taught to respect our elders, teachers, gurus etc. But this doesn’t mean that we should not respect people who are younger to us or are lower than us in class, creed or race. This is because we are all made equal and each one of us has a purpose to serve. Therefore, we cannot decide who is superior or inferior. Respect also means to consider the other person’s feelings instead of just dismissing them. Respecting someone makes them feel good. It makes them feel good about you and this generate good karma.

15. Spend some ‘me’ time..............

In our crazy race of life, we forget to give ourselves the deserved time. Each one of us wants to do something that the other is doing but not really what we want to do. Spending some time with one’s self, i.e. alone in nature, in your room or on the beach, is not going to hurt. Instead, it helps us ponder, introspect our actions and connect with ourselves again. It helps us get clarity and choose the path ahead. Hence, spending some ‘me’ time helps in understanding one’s self, helps to do well unto you and generates good karma.

To be continued.....................

J.KANNAN, M.Com, FIATA

"WE DON'T THINK TO BREATHE

 WE BREATHE TO THINK"