What is Karma?

Welcome to Part 7 of The Seeker’s Story, where Namit continues his exploration into yoga philosophy and discusses one of the central ideas of yoga – Karma. What is Karma?

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1 & 2 – Yoga Sutra – A Seeker’s Story Part 1.

Chapter 3 –      What is Yoga?

Chapter 4 –      Yoga’s Theory of Creation 

Chapter 5 –     Happiness and Oneness 

Chapter 6 –     Does Magic Really Exist? 

Chapter 7 –     Who is God?

Yoga Sutra – The Seeker’s Story

By

Namit Kathoria

Peacock Pose 
 

Chapter 8 – Karma: What is it?

The next day came and today I found yogi ji in a horizontal position supporting himself up on his forearms so that his body was lying flat but up in the air. I did not realise before that he had quite so much strength.

 ‘What are you doing today yogi ji?’ I enquired.

‘This is called peacock pose Jake.’

‘Very nice.’ I replied.

‘Yes it helps me feel balanced’ said the yogi.

 When he came down we continued our discussion about Karma.

‘Good thoughts lead to good actions. Good actions, Jake, lead to more caring in the world around you. When there is more caring in the world around you then there is more happiness. Basically when you create a world of more caring around you then you create a world of more happiness around you. This Jake is the essence of Karma.’

 ‘So does this mean then that I must devote my life to caring about other people yogi ji?’ I asked.

‘Ha ha, no Jake’ giggled the yogi back. He continued ‘It means that those that care about others such as charity workers are happy because they create so much caring around them. However if all you did was care about others and forgot about yourself then you would become miserable very quickly. If, however, Jake you did enough for yourself that you felt happy, then you would naturally want to share that feeling of happiness with others. When you have good feelings, good thoughts and then act on those thoughts and actually show you care about others then you actually do increase the amount of happiness around you.’

‘Okay yogi ji so I should not devote my life to caring about others but I should just allow myself to be happy and then I will naturally care about others and then be in a happier environment.’ 

‘You understand well Jake.’

‘Thank you’ I replied to him. I now began to understand much more about how to live a happier life and also more of how I was responsible for my happiness. I understood that I was not to just expect God to create my happiness.

Determined to use my new knowledge and feeling happy about spending time at the lake and also time with my new yogi friend I decided I was going to show people that day that I really cared. I made sure that I smiled at everyone I came across in the village.

At dinner with the Rais I spent a lot of time listening to how everyone’s day had been. I showed them all that I was really interested in them and I showed them that I wanted them to be happy. I made sure that I complimented them all on at least one thing in order that I could see them smile.

Mr Rai I complimented on the fact that he was always smart. Mrs Rai I complimented on her lovely cooking once again. She had cooked several dishes that day and I complimented her on each and every one. The boys had shown me paintings that they had made at school that day and I told them how beautiful the paintings were and how talented and creative they both were.

It was nice to see the whole family smiling so much that evening. I think it was one of the most enjoyable evenings in my life.

[Stay tuned for Chapter 9: Spirituality next week]

About Namit Kathoria

Namit Kathoria has a Bachelors Degree from King’s College London in Pharmacy and a Masters Degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Queen’s University Belfast. He is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and has worked the Pharmacist Advisor to NHS Direct. He hence has a vast knowledge of health which he applies to his yoga teaching. He has studied yoga across the world including various parts of his native India including Dharamshala, Rishikesh and Mysore. He currently teaches yoga retreats in Spain at Yoga Sutra Shala in Sayalonga. To read more please visit www.retreats-yoga.com.