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KARMA - THE MECHANISM
SUTRAS
In contrast to this a 'real' non-smoker may feel annoyed at the infringement on his quality of breathing, but the smell of a lit cigarette would not stimulate him to light up as well. He has no latent karma of this kind and thus the stimulus passes without initiating action.
If supportive conditions do not arise, the respective karma will manifest at the end of the maximum period for which it can remain bound to our consciousness (see sutra 14 to 17).
We experience the activation of (latent) karma as the rise of strong or mild emotions, as motivation and drive for unresolved activities, as confrontation with situations and persons we learn from etc.
How intensely karma manifests depends solely on how passionately we originally desired the respective action or situation. All other circumstances of an activation of karma are determined by the stage of development we presently experience, our actual relation to time, space and surroundings and our current conditioning.
SUTRA 22
JUGIH | 22 | Sa yathanama (22) The character and intensity of a karmic manifestation always mirrors the type of activity that caused its binding. (22)
When karma activates, it always manifests the character of one of the eight main groups of karma, - it always stimulates activity in the area of life in which it was caused.
For example: Karma that obstructs access to the five channels of knowledge manifests an inability to come in contact with knowledge. How this inability presents itself - e.g. as missing information, the absence of a suitable teacher, the lack of time for studying, disinclination to learn etc. - depends on the subtype of the respective main
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