What Is Karma?

Cheeniya · Jul 31, 2021

Buddha was sitting with his disciples. One of the disciples asked, "What is _karma_?"

Buddha replied, "I shall tell you a story."

A king was sitting on an elephant and visiting his kingdom. Suddenly he stopped in front of a shop and said to his minister, "I don't know why, but I want to hang the owner of this shop."

The minister was very sad to hear this. But before he could ask the king for a reason, the king had moved on.

The next day, the minister arrived at the same shop in the costume of an ordinary citizen to meet the shopkeeper. He just asked the shopkeeper how his business was going. The shopkeeper used to sell sandalwood. He was very sad and said that it was hard to find a customer. People would come to his shop, smell the sandalwood and go. They also appreciate the quality of sandalwood, but they don't buy anything. Now his hope only resides on the fact that the king will soon die. Large quantity of sandalwood will be purchased for his funeral. He was the only sandalwood shopkeeper around, so he was sure that his days would change when the king dies.

Now the minister understands why the king stopped in front of this shop and expressed his desire to kill the shopkeeper. Perhaps the waves of the shopkeeper's negative thoughts had the same impact on the king who in return experienced the same negative thoughts within himself towards the shopkeeper.

The wise minister thought about this topic for a moment. Then he expressed his desire to buy some sandalwood without revealing his identity and the incident of the previous day. The shopkeeper was very happy. He wrapped the sandalwood well in a paper and gave it to the minister.

When the minister returned to the palace, he went directly to the court where the king was sitting and informed that the sandalwood shopkeeper had sent him a gift. The king was surprised. When he opened the bundle, he was very happy to see the golden sandalwood and its fragrance. Pleased, he sent some gold coins to the sandalwood trader. The king was very sad in his heart thinking that he had the unwanted idea of killing the shopkeeper.

When the shopkeeper received gold coins from the king, he was also surprised. He began to sing praises to the king who had sent gold coins to save him from the curse of poverty. After some time, he remembers the contaminated thoughts that he had towards the king. He regrets having such negative thoughts for the king for his personal interest.

If we keep good and kind thoughts towards other people, those positive thoughts will return to us in favor. But if we nurture bad thoughts, those ideas will return to us in the same form.

After telling this story, Buddha asked, "What is _karma_?" Many of the disciples answered, "Our words, our actions, our feelings, our activities."

Buddha shook his head and said, "It is your thoughts that make your _karma._"

Viswamitra · Jul 31, 2021

Cheeniya said: ↑

Buddha was sitting with his disciples. One of the disciples asked, "What is _karma_?"

Buddha replied, "I shall tell you a story."

A king was sitting on an elephant and visiting his kingdom. Suddenly he stopped in front of a shop and said to his minister, "I don't know why, but I want to hang the owner of this shop."

The minister was very sad to hear this. But before he could ask the king for a reason, the king had moved on.

The next day, the minister arrived at the same shop in the costume of an ordinary citizen to meet the shopkeeper. He just asked the shopkeeper how his business was going. The shopkeeper used to sell sandalwood. He was very sad and said that it was hard to find a customer. People would come to his shop, smell the sandalwood and go. They also appreciate the quality of sandalwood, but they don't buy anything. Now his hope only resides on the fact that the king will soon die. Large quantity of sandalwood will be purchased for his funeral. He was the only sandalwood shopkeeper around, so he was sure that his days would change when the king dies.

Now the minister understands why the king stopped in front of this shop and expressed his desire to kill the shopkeeper. Perhaps the waves of the shopkeeper's negative thoughts had the same impact on the king who in return experienced the same negative thoughts within himself towards the shopkeeper.

The wise minister thought about this topic for a moment. Then he expressed his desire to buy some sandalwood without revealing his identity and the incident of the previous day. The shopkeeper was very happy. He wrapped the sandalwood well in a paper and gave it to the minister.

When the minister returned to the palace, he went directly to the court where the king was sitting and informed that the sandalwood shopkeeper had sent him a gift. The king was surprised. When he opened the bundle, he was very happy to see the golden sandalwood and its fragrance. Pleased, he sent some gold coins to the sandalwood trader. The king was very sad in his heart thinking that he had the unwanted idea of killing the shopkeeper.

When the shopkeeper received gold coins from the king, he was also surprised. He began to sing praises to the king who had sent gold coins to save him from the curse of poverty. After some time, he remembers the contaminated thoughts that he had towards the king. He regrets having such negative thoughts for the king for his personal interest.

If we keep good and kind thoughts towards other people, those positive thoughts will return to us in favor. But if we nurture bad thoughts, those ideas will return to us in the same form.

After telling this story, Buddha asked, "What is _karma_?" Many of the disciples answered, "Our words, our actions, our feelings, our activities."

Buddha shook his head and said, "It is your thoughts that make your _karma._"
Click to expand...

What a beautiful story Buddha narrated to his disciples! Thoughts are the root cause of Karma. Our encrypted Karma (Vasanas) comes to us in the form of thoughts as well which means they remain in tact even after our birth/death cycle. In fact, our entire world is a sum total of all our collective thoughts as the world is nothing but the projection of our mind which again is a cauldron of thoughts. Purifying our thoughts is a life's mission.

Our thoughts become words, words become actions, actions build our habits, Habits construct our character and our character builds our destiny.

iyerviji · Jul 31, 2021

Thankyou Anna for the awesome post and to know what is karma. In kaliyug we need not wait for next birth if we do bad or think bad. We will get the result in this birth only.
That's why they say Do your best and best will come to you and leave the rest to.God

joylokhi · Jul 31, 2021

very enlightening explanation of the effect of our thoughts on karma. Yet, am never really at the end of my quest for h owkarma plays a role in our lives. Most Gurus, have time and again emphasised that the situations each one of us face in life may be different which is what karma is, but our reactions to the situations decide the state of our life.

RatnaMalliswari · Aug 1, 2021

Cheeniya said: ↑

Buddha was sitting with his disciples. One of the disciples asked, "What is _karma_?"

Buddha replied, "I shall tell you a story."

A king was sitting on an elephant and visiting his kingdom. Suddenly he stopped in front of a shop and said to his minister, "I don't know why, but I want to hang the owner of this shop."

The minister was very sad to hear this. But before he could ask the king for a reason, the king had moved on.

The next day, the minister arrived at the same shop in the costume of an ordinary citizen to meet the shopkeeper. He just asked the shopkeeper how his business was going. The shopkeeper used to sell sandalwood. He was very sad and said that it was hard to find a customer. People would come to his shop, smell the sandalwood and go. They also appreciate the quality of sandalwood, but they don't buy anything. Now his hope only resides on the fact that the king will soon die. Large quantity of sandalwood will be purchased for his funeral. He was the only sandalwood shopkeeper around, so he was sure that his days would change when the king dies.

Now the minister understands why the king stopped in front of this shop and expressed his desire to kill the shopkeeper. Perhaps the waves of the shopkeeper's negative thoughts had the same impact on the king who in return experienced the same negative thoughts within himself towards the shopkeeper.

The wise minister thought about this topic for a moment. Then he expressed his desire to buy some sandalwood without revealing his identity and the incident of the previous day. The shopkeeper was very happy. He wrapped the sandalwood well in a paper and gave it to the minister.

When the minister returned to the palace, he went directly to the court where the king was sitting and informed that the sandalwood shopkeeper had sent him a gift. The king was surprised. When he opened the bundle, he was very happy to see the golden sandalwood and its fragrance. Pleased, he sent some gold coins to the sandalwood trader. The king was very sad in his heart thinking that he had the unwanted idea of killing the shopkeeper.

When the shopkeeper received gold coins from the king, he was also surprised. He began to sing praises to the king who had sent gold coins to save him from the curse of poverty. After some time, he remembers the contaminated thoughts that he had towards the king. He regrets having such negative thoughts for the king for his personal interest.

If we keep good and kind thoughts towards other people, those positive thoughts will return to us in favor. But if we nurture bad thoughts, those ideas will return to us in the same form.

After telling this story, Buddha asked, "What is _karma_?" Many of the disciples answered, "Our words, our actions, our feelings, our activities."

Buddha shook his head and said, "It is your thoughts that make your _karma._"
Click to expand...

Hello sir
Awesome post,Good lesson from Buddha.
After reading the post I was very inspired and i tried to put some lines here.Hope you will like it.

It's pride to be a great human

By birth,we are humane
Then what changes
as we grow?
It's our thoughts
Which we amass
through 5 senses
The power of senses make
man to explore universe
those who abuse
become assail
acquiring the power of wisdom
make us wiser person
It's pride to be a great human.

Regards
Ratna

shilpamaroli · Aug 2, 2021

What is Karma?, Eknath Easwaran.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=cI-W8Ks8MuIC

shilpamaroli · Aug 2, 2021

A small book in a very simple language.,

joylokhi · Aug 2, 2021

shilpamaroli said: ↑

What is Karma?, Eknath Easwaran.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=cI-W8Ks8MuIC
Click to expand...

Thank you
for the link. Read it at one stretch. The concept of karma has been brought out really well, that positive thoughts and selfless actions will lighten our karma load. Not very easy to prActice in the face of negative forces and situations, but that is the only way! As he rightly says, one lifetime does not suffice to understand the forces of karma, hence the never ending g questions in our minds!

shilpamaroli · Aug 3, 2021

joylokhi said: ↑

Thank you
for the link. Read it at one stretch. The concept of karma has been brought out really well, that positive thoughts and selfless actions will lighten our karma load. Not very easy to prActice in the face of negative forces and situations, but that is the only way! As he rightly says, one lifetime does not suffice to understand the forces of karma, hence the never ending g questions in our minds!
Click to expand...

Good to know that you found it helpful!