Refers to the volition with which one performs action. Karma is the mechanism by which relative existence maintains itself. Refers to past action: the cause of all bondage. That which binds one to the body and creates tendencies that rule one’s life. Law of cause and effect.
Karma means action. Action is on many different levels. There is physical, mental, emotional and energy action which we can call karma.
Excerpt: Karma – The Memory of Life (Isha)
What you call as “my life” is a certain amount of energy controlled by a certain amount of information. This information, in today’s terms, can be called software. A certain amount of life energy is charged with a certain amount of information. Together, this information technology is you. You become a certain kind of character because of the type of information that has gone into you.
From the moment you were born till this moment, the kind of family, home, friends, the things that you did and did not do – all these things are influencing you. Every thought, emotion and action comes only from past impressions that you have had within you. They decide who you are right now. The very way you think, feel and understand life is just the way you have assimilated inputs.
The past impressions of life go far beyond the moment you were born, but in your perception right now, at least from the moment you were born till today, what kind of parents, family, and education you had, what kind of religious and social background, what kind of cultural realities – all these impressions have gone in. Someone has become a different character simply because of the type of information that has gotten into him. This is what is karma. This information is traditionally called karma or karmic body or causal body – that which causes life.
Accumulated Karma. Karma that has been accumulated over lifetimes.
This is the warehouse of karma which goes right back to a single-celled animal and even inanimate substances from where life evolved. All the information is there. If you close your eyes, become aware enough and look into yourself, you will know the nature of the universe – not because you are looking at it through your head, but simply because this information is present in the making of the body. There is a warehouse of information going back into creation.
Prarabdha karma is a certain amount of information allotted for this life. Depending upon the vibrancy of your life, life allots for itself how much information it can take on. The creation is very compassionate. If it gives you the whole lot of karma that you have, you will be dead. Right now, many people are tortured by the simple memories from the 30-40 years of this lifetime. If they are given a hundred times that memory, they would not survive it. Nature allots prarabdha, an allotted memory that you could handle.
Actionable Karma in the Future. Inevitable consequences of present-day action that compel external action tomorrow.
Actionable Karma in the Present. Karma that compels outward action.
The memory carried by the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, and ether—which are the building blocks of creation.
The fluctuating patterns in which the atoms function.
The software imprinted on one’s DNA that determines one’s species; i.e., what makes us human beings.
Shared physical and psychological characteristics passed on within families.
The vast amount of impressions that shape us into distinct individuals—including our likes and dislikes, our personality.
The impact our physical and cultural environments have on our system, the way our body and mind respond to the world.
Impact of all the conscious information that every human being carries within.
Enormous reservoir of generic and specific information accumulated over eons, of which we are not aware.
The bondage caused or the debt accrued due to the debt of relationships.
Runanubandha is a certain aspect of karma; it is a certain structure of karmic substance. It happens because of a certain amount of meeting and mingling that happens between people. Wherever there is a certain amount of meeting and mingling, some runanubandha is created. Especially when two bodies come together, the runanubandha is much deeper. It is a kind of recording in the body; the body is keeping a record of everything that has happened. If intimacy happened with another body, it is keeping a record of that particular kind of energy.
