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KARMA - THE MECHANISM
SUTRAS
- the form and features of our body (nama) - what status we carry in our social environment (gotra) are called positive karma (punya). (25)
Positive karma brings about an agreeable subjective feeling of life and ideally leads to spiritual growth.
Positive karma (punya) is always the result of our own actions and attitudes. Comfortable circumstances of life, high status, friends etc. indicate that now or at an earlier time we created the basis for this agreeable environment. Since this (our very own) karma will manifest in any case, there is no reason why we should not enjoy these circumstances.
However - one aspect of this situation is somewhat problematic: All manifestation of positive as well as negative karma is limited in time - sooner or later every positive (and negative) experience will end. In these circumstances we are basically facing two alternatives: - either we enjoy the agreeable situation till it ends - and then try
to re-establish the positive conditions we became accustomed to - or we accumulate new positive karma while still enjoying the
positive state. At the manifestation of the newly acquired posi
tive karma our agreeable conditions of life will then continue. In both cases we experience the world - more or less consciously - as the result of a karmic process. But we also remain on a level of existence that only appears attractive to us because we are unaware of more advanced levels.
Yet there is a third alternative. If we gain direct access to the immense dimensions (of knowledge, love, power, abilities and happiness) within us, we will experience these qualities directly - without karmic limitations.
On this path we gradually dissolve all karmic bonds to reach superior and far more interesting stages. Initially we may be unable to
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