karmic reaction or new karma?

how does one know if any situation in one's life is the result of good/ bad karma from a previous birth or is it new karma. for instance, let's consider a family feud resulting from mis-apprpriation by one brother of ancestral property thereby depriving other siblings of their rightful share. from the perspective of the wrong-doer, he may be enjoying the wealth because the other siblings wrongfully deprived him of his share in a previous birth or he may be creating new karma the ill-effects of which he would suffer in a later birth. alternatively from the perspective of the oppressed siblings, their deprivation may be attributed to a corresponding wrong perpetrated in another birth or they may enjoy have an opportunity in a later birth to get even in a subsequent birth. any thoughts on this?

Originally Posted by aghora

how does one know if any situation in one's life is the result of good/ bad karma from a previous birth or is it new karma. for instance, let's consider a family feud resulting from mis-apprpriation by one brother of ancestral property thereby depriving other siblings of their rightful share. from the perspective of the wrong-doer, he may be enjoying the wealth because the other siblings wrongfully deprived him of his share in a previous birth or he may be creating new karma the ill-effects of which he would suffer in a later birth. alternatively from the perspective of the oppressed siblings, their deprivation may be attributed to a corresponding wrong perpetrated in another birth or they may enjoy have an opportunity in a later birth to get even in a subsequent birth. any thoughts on this?

Namaskar,

The only method I know of is consulting a Vedic astrologer. Ultimately though, why does it matter? Everything is tied to karmic reactions whether from this life or the past. The important thing to remember is to never use karma as an excuse to harm people. To say that it's my right to treat you bad because you treated me bad in a past life is incredibly flawed logic and only furthers the cycle of karmic retribution.

Aum Hari Aum!

Originally Posted by Krishna-prem

Namaskar,

The only method I know of is consulting a Vedic astrologer. Ultimately though, why does it matter? Everything is tied to karmic reactions whether from this life or the past. The important thing to remember is to never use karma as an excuse to harm people. To say that it's my right to treat you bad because you treated me bad in a past life is incredibly flawed logic and only furthers the cycle of karmic retribution.

Aum Hari Aum!

contrary to what you seem to have concluded, i have no intentions of harming anyone using karma as suggested by you! the question is relevant as no one seems to have an answer. if all of creation is the cycle of karmic retribution, there are a host of queries that arise...for instance how can a living organism trace his/ her/ its first good/ bad karma? how is the karmic fate of the first human birth decided? i have read the shirmad bhagvad gita, srimad bhagvad mahapurana and these are silent! at the cost of sounding cynical, a living entity that is subjected to the inexorable karmic retribution has a right to know how or why it is suffering in this samsara, don't u think?

Originally Posted by Krishna-prem

Namaskar,

The only method I know of is consulting a Vedic astrologer. Ultimately though, why does it matter? Everything is tied to karmic reactions whether from this life or the past. The important thing to remember is to never use karma as an excuse to harm people. To say that it's my right to treat you bad because you treated me bad in a past life is incredibly flawed logic and only furthers the cycle of karmic retribution.

Aum Hari Aum!

further, in the bhagvad gita krishna says (at chapter 8 verse 19) "again and again o arjuna, all living creatures are helplessly destroyed with the arrival of brahma's night and they again come into being with the arrival of his day" krishna also mentions that living beings are deluded and they suffer due to their ignorance (chapter 5 verses 14-15). also he mentions that certain demoniacal beings fall so low that he casts them into the ocean of material existence and they can never approach krishna due to their abominable existence (chapter 16 verses 19-20). my question here is why does he allow this to happen? besides, can any soul be condemned forever??? then why does krishna not intervene and save them? if he casts them off who will save them???

Karma is the result of sin, however not everything that is disturbing to you is the result of sin. For example divine beings like Indra faced threats from poweful demons. These desired to take over heaven. Jesus Christ people thought could be killed by crucfiction which turned out to be fiction as he rose on the third day. I can go on and on, these personalities were without sin. So too you and I face sorrow sometimes just because the next person is jealous . sometimes we make stupid decisions exercising our free will we taste the bitter result. So if divine beings faced hardship what for us, evil attacks good for no good reason. Pondering why this happening sometimes yields no valid reson for your suffering chances are you are innocent and victim of the envy of another.

Originally Posted by aghora

how does one know if any situation in one's life is the result of good/ bad karma from a previous birth or is it new karma. for instance, let's consider a family feud resulting from mis-apprpriation by one brother of ancestral property thereby depriving other siblings of their rightful share. from the perspective of the wrong-doer, he may be enjoying the wealth because the other siblings wrongfully deprived him of his share in a previous birth or he may be creating new karma the ill-effects of which he would suffer in a later birth. alternatively from the perspective of the oppressed siblings, their deprivation may be attributed to a corresponding wrong perpetrated in another birth or they may enjoy have an opportunity in a later birth to get even in a subsequent birth. any thoughts on this?

A brother should never deprive his sibling of rightful share, lets assume he was the victim in previous birth, the karma need not be balanced by he taking a revenge. You would get out of karmic reactions by stepping out of the situations and immediately forgive that person, then you are out of the karma loop, but the other party if unable to forgive and move on is still trapped in karma and that would lead to other situations in which he might have to balance out what he did.

a typical examle given in a karma management workshop which happend to the instructor was he had given an advance to one of the builders, but when he backed out the builder refused to give the money as he was more aggressive the insturctor had to back out and was angry for sometime, but then later was guided to forgive, later when he was renting a space to set up his clinic he got a wooden furniture free from the house owner which was exactly the same cost of money that my facilitator had lost with the builder, now here we are not bothered about what happened to the builder its not our business, US is our business here

thats what i was guided to understand by my spirit guide when i was very worried and depressed seeing an accident where a a child was also killed along with others, as a person who witnessed it i was angry and sad and was cursing GOD why he let this happen etc. all i heard in my mind was "This is not your business, you are your business" i did not understand at that point in time, because getting emotional and relating ourselves with others misery is oh so a natural part of us but you know the higher scheme does not need it, if you just walk way nothing gets affected because its all in the plan and by involving yourself you are creating a karma loop as your emotions are attached to situations that does not warrant your attention, what you need to do just do it.

All the good and bad things (actions) produce good and bad karma (reactions). We can only know about our Karma by meditating or surrendering to God completely or through Guru or from genuine Nadi reading (to some extent). What is happening to us is based on past actions and what is going to happen to us will be totally determined by our current actions.

[peteyzen]

karma is not a result of sin. Karma is the continuing cycle of returning good and bad results of our intent. The moment we intend we create karma, this karma will return to us. What has happend in the past is irreleveant and an enigma, you willnot understand karmas interplay from the past and it isnt important. What is important is to begin to act in such a way that you create positive results for yourself from now on. Also, krishna`s actions will appear an enigma to us as well, it is best not to try and understand them.

Question to Radhanath Swami: It is said that God is all loving. But sometimes we find that a father loses his only son, and sometimes a child loses its parents. In the face of such miseries how can one’s faith in God be sustained?

Radhanath Swami : God means the absolute truth. It is He from whom everything emanates. Even great scientists like Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton were very religious men. They understood mathematically and scientifically that the universe cannot be the way it is without a supreme intelligence behind it. Things cannot be happening by chance. So when we are speaking about God, we are speaking the truth.

Now, we have to understand even the truths connected to God scientifically. We have to understand them in terms of laws created by God, the laws of nature. When the spirit soul enters into a body, it enjoys or suffers according to its karmic situation of the past. God made the laws of karma, and the soul made its own karma.

To better understand this, let us take an example. Suppose you get on an airplane to London. But once the airplane takes off, you say, “I want to go to Singapore.” The airline hostess will reply, “What?!!! This plane can only take you to London.” Then you cannot say that she is violating your freedom, your free will. You have your free will, but you could exercise it when you were in the airport. Then, you could have gone to Singapore if you wanted to. But once you get on the plane to London, you lose your free will. Similarly, according to our actions we are going to get certain reactions. We ourselves make our destiny, though God made the laws. According to our actions and words we are making our destiny. If we understand scientifically and philosophically how laws of nature work, we won’t blame God for the reactions we get in life.
http://radhanathswamionline.com/insi...ring-miseries/

[Uma]

I don't know much about karma except that when I'm burning it, it hurts like hell!

Karma, as the Vedic astrology RASI chart shows, is the storyline in this present lifetime based on choices made in the past which are manifesting now. It is a web of linkages between the person and all those people and karmic situations related to one another by ego-attachments (desires and aversions) which developed out of storylines going even further back into the past.

Michael Newton is a retired clinical hypnotherapist who stumbled upon this kind of information when he discovered Life Between Lives case histories. He tells an amusing story of someone who took 1,000 lifetimes to finally free themselves from jealousy (and all the karmic stories associated with that).

What I have been taught, is rather than look backwards, live in the present moment to co-create my destiny with my wish fulfilling universe. It means making conscious choices (by living mindfully) and not reacting to things out of habit but working on how I react to things that trigger emotional reactions.

It's irresistable to me however to look backwards, and "connect the dots" of my life, seeing how karmic storylines have played out and their obvious interconnections. This map of my life becomes more obvious the older I get. I suppose on my deathbed it will all make sense. This way I see how nothing is ever as serious as it seems in the moment, that it's all a play, a drama of cause and effect. I have to keep pinching myself to remind myself of that!

But my future karma is predicated on what I do in the now. As someone mentioned, no one escapes karma, even enlightened beings like Jesus (whom, curiously, anthroposophy founder Rudolph Steiner called the "Lord of Karma"). One can practice karma yoga, performing selfless service, in surrender to the Divine acting through people and situations and surrendering the results of the actions. In principle it's easy, but in practice really hard to do (although not for Christ/Krishna beings who are detached since their karmic seeds are burnt and don't have power over them any longer).

One of the most useful things I have learned in my life about karma is that this process of recognizing the karmic storyline can really help me deal with the big stresses in life - if only I am able to get centered and see the play as a play without getting swept away by it.

Sorry for rambling. Karma is an amazing concept, one which I wish the western world could really understand and embrace - IF we could leave aside judging people and just focus on the one who is looking and doing...