Karma it means not only action, but also the result of an action. Whatever we are going through right now is the result of previous actions, not just in this lifetime, but in many lifetimes. In short, Karma is the sum total of our actions both in this life and in previous ones. Nothing happens by accident or fortuitous actions. Everything happens in a regular order, the past, present and future are interconnected and interdependent. The Cause is the hidden Effect and the Effect is the revealed Cause!
Let us examine the theory of karma and rebirth. You will not cease to exist after death. It is the physical body that dies. The astral body (sukshma or linga sarira) and causal body (sarira karma) continue forward. The causal body has all your Karmas stored in it as seeds, seeds that result in rebirth. As long as man has not exhausted all his Karmas, he has to be born again. All our actions and thoughts become the seeds of our future lives. Karma is at the root of this cycle of birth and death. Over and over again, Karma gives birth to us. Countless times we have been born and countless times we have died. We have passed through many wombs.
Runanubandhana In each life, we have mother, father, brothers, sisters, spouse, children, etc. We are born into a family as a result of unpaid debts from past lives. We are constantly creating accounts, debiting and crediting. We are creating karmic debts with everyone with whom we interact. Karmic debts (fight) lead to bondage or attachment (bandana). These karmic attachments push us around the wheel of existence over and over again. runanubandhana (the bond resulting from karmic debts) it is at the root of repeated lives.
Karma carries Rina and Rina carries Karma. It works both ways. If you have given something to someone in a lifetime, the memory is stored in your causal body. That person will be your debtor in this birth. If you have taken in the past, it will be taken from you in some birth. The causal body stores the memory of all the runanubandhanas of innumerable births. Until all the karmas stored in the causal body are consumed or exhausted, there is no release from rebirth. Human life is nothing more than a memory of runanubandhana, the story of the countless karmas that we do and live. Every relationship reflects something of runanubandhana. The people with whom we have very strong Runanubhandhana become our parents, spouses, children and co-borns in this life. In most relationships, it is our relationship that ensures a complementary fit, like a lock and key.
The memory of karmic debts can be sweet or bitter. Sweet memories of karmic debts lead to a ‘glad’ relationship and bitter memories to a ‘unhappy’ relationship. Actually, most karmic debts are mixed, a mix of sweet and bitter memories. That is why; most relationships are mixed in nature. I will try to briefly explain two types of relationships that are the most significant: parent/child relationships and love/marriage.
parent/child relationship This relationship is the most important. This is the easiest way to settle our karmic debts to each other. Some possible ways it works:
- A person whom you have helped in some life is born as a child, takes good care of you in the present life, and pays his debt.
- A person to whom you belong very much in some life can be born as your son or daughter and take back what you own. Such a child makes you spend a lot on him/her.
- A person whom you mercilessly cheated in a previous life is born as your child and makes you suffer a lot, takes your money and leaves.
- An enemy of some life is born as a son in this life, in which case, he behaves like an enemy, hates you and causes you much suffering. Spouse, parents, siblings, friends and servants are all born together as a result of Runanubhandhana.
