Law of Cause and Effect -- Past Karma & Conditions
Now that you have learned the basics on the Law of Cause and Effect, we can go into some of the more technical aspects of how it functions. Let's review an important passage before we go further.
Good deeds bring good results.
Bad deeds bring bad results.
Your own deeds bring your own results.
Each deed you perform through mind, mouth, and body remains as invisible, indestructible energy called karma, and this karmic power is stored within what's known as the Alaya Mind.
Alaya is a word in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, meaning storehouse. Back in the day, all precious goods from homes were kept outside in storehouses made of strong, fire-proof material.
Similarly, good and bad deeds are protected and stored in the Alaya Mind for eternity because this is the part of us that lives on forever, our True Self.
This karmic energy from the beginning-less past flows to the present moment, carries on into the endless future, and never disappears.
So what is reincarnation?
Many people think that reincarnation means their personalities have gone through various lives. But their egos exist only within their physical self which last only from birth to death.
This physical self can be compared to a bubble that forms on the surface of a great river. It floats just a short while in this Present World and then disappears.
Alaya Mind
Birth Death
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Past World (Before Birth) Present World (This Life) Future World (After Death)
Our Alaya Mind is what travels through various lives of past, present, and future storing all of our deeds.
Deeds remain stored in the Alaya Mind as causes until they encounter a condition.
Every effect requires a condition.
For this reason, the Law of Cause and Effect could be called:
The Law of Cause, Condition, and Effect
A condition combines with a cause to develop into an effect. Take rice for example. In order for a rice seed to grow, many conditions are required.
These include water, sunlight, soil, and proper temperature. Without them, the rice simply cannot grow.
Q: So, can a cause without a condition still take effect?
A: No, that cause cannot take effect.
No condition = No effect!
It's like putting seeds on a coffee table. There's no way they will grow there.
How about we take a look at a real-world example, like who's really at fault in an auto accident. Do you have your Karma Insurance Card handy?
Imagine you were just involved in a car accident.
There were many cars around. Let's say you were injured. Why were you hurt while others weren't? You could have avoided the accident if you had driven just seconds sooner or later. Why did you have to be right there?
Having received that effect indicates there was some cause for you to be in the accident other people didn't have.
Cause: Past Deeds ------------------------ Condition: Bad Driver
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Effect: Car Accident
It was a bad deed from your past that brought you to the exact spot where the accident took place at that very moment.
This is how karma works. It has the very strong power to realize our fate once it combines with a certain condition.
It's been taught that karmic power surpasses the power of hundreds of elephants. Your suffering from the accident was caused by your own karma which is what brought you there and then.
So the bad driver who ran that light is actually just the condition. The true cause was something from your past. In other words, it's really your fault!
Once you realize how the Law of Cause and Effect works, you'll begin to see how pointless anger, hatred, envy, and jealousy truly are. They only bring about more negative karma for your future.
When one embraces the Law of Cause and Effect, every time good happens it makes you want to do more good. And when bad happens, it becomes a time to reflect and correct yourself.
Crimes, war, violence would cease to exist if everyone believed in the Universal Truth.
Through the Law of Cause and Effect, we'll be closer to knowing our True Self. Knowing that fully can take more than one or two lessons on this subject to find out!
