What Is Karma? | An Insightful Talk

What is karma? Today I will share deeply about karma, how you can navigate it and clear it. I also have a karma clearing meditation you can listen to after this to start clearing your karma today! I share this from my own experiences and lessons. It is not based in any lineage or "conventional" teaching. Instead this is my lived experience, and the transmissions I have received from various teachers and mentors.

This is an excerpt from a podcast episode I created all about Karma.

Transcript

Today we're here to talk about karma.

And my intention with sharing this information with you is that this will empower you on your path.

That it will empower you to be in right relationship with your karma.

In right relationship with your past karma and your future karma and your present karma.

My intention in prayer is that you receive something beautiful from this.

That you walk away with some nugget of wisdom,

An epiphany,

An aha moment.

That a seed can be planted in your consciousness that serves you,

That serves your highest and best good and only your highest and best good.

Karma is a very important teaching.

It's something that I continue to learn about.

It's something I continue to study upon the path.

And I wanted to share some of my discoveries so that you too can grow and evolve in this topic.

So we've all heard of this thing called karma.

And karma is one of God's laws.

So it's a law that governs the entire universe.

And therefore it's very important to understand the laws that govern us so that we can be in right relationship with them.

Because we don't want to break God's law.

There can be consequences.

So the nature of karma is the nature of cause and effect.

So we'll share a story about this.

It's actually kind of,

I'll share a couple actually.

There's a funny story that's a real life story that literally just happened a few moments ago.

And this is an example of the laws of cause and effect,

The laws of karma.

So I was getting ready for the podcast.

I go to put on a sweater.

And I'm pulling the sweater over my head.

And I take a deep breath.

And the sweater smells like mildew,

Right?

Like something quite unpleasant.

In fact,

The sweater might be ruined.

I don't know.

I'm hoping not.

That said,

I thought,

Why does this smell like mildew?

Like,

This is gross.

And then I thought,

Well,

I must have not dried it properly.

So it was damp and grew mildew.

And I couldn't help but laugh because I'm getting ready to make this podcast about karma.

And that's just a prime example of cause and effect.

That my negligence in drying this properly had a result,

Had an effect.

And the effect is mildew growing in my sweater.

The effect is a smelly sweater.

And potentially the effect may be that I no longer have a sweater.

And I can say,

Why,

God,

Why would you do this?

Or I can say,

Well,

I created this.

Right?

It's not that mysterious.

Yet we apply this mystery to less tangible things.

Like,

Why,

God,

Why?

It's like,

Well,

What seeds did you plant that you're now harvesting the fruit from?

So this is another way of describing the laws of karma.

Imagine for a moment that you have a garden and you're tending to this garden.

So naturally,

You need to plant seeds.

So if you plant the seeds of dandelions,

What will grow in your garden?

If you plant the seeds of corn,

What will grow in your garden?

So what you plant will grow.

And what will grow will create more of the same.

So just like dandelions,

If you plant just a few dandelion seeds,

Within a short period of time,

Maybe a year or two,

The dandelions will take over.

And so it's the same with certain seeds of karma.

And it's a mystery of the universe that for whatever reason in our humanness,

The negative tends to propagate faster than the positive.

So just like dandelions,

Although dandelions are great,

They're really healthy for you.

I'm not into the whole war on these supposed weeds.

I think they're blessings to the earth,

And they're a gift from Mother Nature that said they can be quite aggressive and take over.

So similar to a dandelion,

The seeds of negativity,

The karmas of negativity,

Can really take over and spread quickly.

So it's very helpful to remember that.

And part of it is that the human organism,

As designed by nature,

Is to fixate on the negative,

To focus on the negative,

To be hyper vigilant of the negative.

And this is a simple survival mechanism.

It's like the negative in nature can literally kill you.

So you got to be careful of that snake,

Of that poisonous fruit,

Of whatever,

Of this danger.

So it's built into our primal nature to be hyper vigilant and focused and fixated on the negative,

Which is why the world can be so easily governed by negativity.

The news,

Social media,

It hooks people in through the negative.

So generally,

It takes only a few moments for a negative seed to be planted in the subconscious.

It just takes a few moments.

And it tends to take significantly longer for a positive seed to be planted in the subconscious.

So what does this mean?

It means if you read a really negative thing on the internet,

It has a tendency to program your subconscious within a few moments.

Whereas to consciously program your subconscious with something more positive,

It may take 10 times as long.

So instead of three,

Sorry,

Instead of three seconds for a negative thing,

Maybe it takes,

You know,

30 seconds for a positive thing to be implanted.

So that's quite significant.

This is why we need to always keep the upper hand on our garden.

Keep weeding it,

Tending it,

Care for it.

Because the seeds of negativity can really take over quickly if we go unchecked.

So what does this have to do with karma?

Okay,

So karma,

The law of cause and effect,

You know,

What you,

The actions you take will ripple back into your life.

You know,

A simple example of karma is let's say you're sad and depressed and grumpy.

So you walk through your day sad,

Depressed and grumpy.

How do you think the world is going to respond to you?

You know,

You're probably not going to have the best experience in the world.

It's going to affirm that state of being.

People aren't going to be happy to see you because you have a cloud of negativity around you.

Now if you go out in the world and you're positive and funny and happy,

And you bring joy,

What do you think is going to come from that?

Right?

So this is the law of cause and effect.

What goes around comes around.

So karma in its deeper state,

One of my teachers has described it in a way that I find very relatable.

He speaks of it as our beliefs about reality,

Our traumas,

Our imprints.

So thoughts,

Emotions,

Physical sensations and experiences,

Judgments,

Right?

These are what govern karma within the system.

So when we say,

Oh,

You know,

I need to clear my karma.

I need to purify my karma.

It means we need to heal.

We need to look within.

We need to resolve and weed out those negative karmas.

Because if someone has hatred,

Bitterness and fear inside of them,

That's going to paint their experience.

It's going to dictate their actions.

So what makes a karma complete,

A whole karma,

A complete karma,

Is first an intention or a thought,

An action,

And then a result.

So intention,

Thought,

Action,

Result.

That's a complete karma.

So much of people's thoughts and intentions are governed by the subconscious.

So this is why good intentions pave the path to hell.

Someone can be governed subconsciously by fear.

Yet consciously they have good intentions.

They want to believe themselves to be a good human being.

So they go forth and do what they think is good and right and true.

However,

Subconsciously,

The pain,

Trauma,

Limiting beliefs,

The fears are governing their intentions.

The underlying subconscious intention governs their conscious intention.

And then that ripples into an action,

Into a result.

This is why it's very,

Very important to go back to the drawing board again and again and again,

To continue to question ourselves and lovingly interrogate ourselves.

Where is this really coming from?

What is the seed of this intention?

Where is this really coming from?

And then reassess,

Reassess,

Recreate,

Fine-tune it.

So karma,

We can have what some call bad karma,

And we can have what some call good karma,

For lack of a better term,

Good and bad.

That said,

The way I like to imagine it is that bad karma is basically those thoughts,

Actions,

And results which propagate fear in the world,

Suffering in the world,

And negativity in the world.

They contribute to deepening into ignorance in some way,

Shape,

Or form.

They are reproducing these negative patterns in the world.

This is why the best way to make shifts in the world is with love.

If you want to be an activist,

Let's say,

It's far better to move from love rather than spreading hatred.

Because even if your good intention is to be an activist and make the world a better place,

But I hate,

Because I hate,

And I'm afraid,

And I'm bitter,

And I have all this trauma,

And I'm going to make a change in the world because I don't want to sit with myself,

And I'd rather focus on something outside of myself.

What are the fruits of that karma?

There's a good chance it's not going to bring a result that actually is helpful.

It's far better to first heal your heart,

To make a connection with the Creator,

To live in a loving way,

And bring that divine presence to your activism.

And you may find that when you find that place of peace within your heart,

Suddenly you're okay with the world.

You don't feel this deep need to change the world.

It's like the world is okay,

With or without me.

And that's the place of real change.

That's the place that true transformation and evolution occurs.

The great change makers,

Gandhi,

Martin Luther King,

The Christ,

The Buddha,

These individuals were governed by God.

They were led by the voice of God.

Martin Luther King literally heard the voice of God who told him to do everything he did.

It came from divinity.

It didn't come from hatred.

It came from love.

And the movement was loving,

And that's why it touched the hearts and minds of so many people,

And it continues to.

Same with Gandhi,

Same with Christ,

Buddha,

All these different saints and masters and beings of love that truly changed our world for the better.

So do that.

That's a better place to move from.

That's going to create really good karma in the world.

So this is important.

This is important to remember,

These laws of karma,

Because they also will create the life that you want,

The life that your soul wants for you.

So when we have karma that's holding us back,

It's an energy from the past that must be resolved,

Forgiven,

Released.

So it no longer influences the present moment.

So what happens is we make a mistake,

A traumatic thing occurs,

And it is imprinted and then continues to recreate itself through our thoughts,

Actions,

And the results we create in the world.

It keeps manifesting again and again and again,

And we can feel victim to that.

So this message is to remind you you're not a victim to that cycle.

You can break free by making a choice to align with love and to begin creating good actions in the world.

Create good karma,

Make new choices,

Live in a loving way,

And you'll have good results.

So part of this is what's called integrity.

Have integrity.

Stand in truth.

You will have good karma.

So there's three paths of what you could say is enlightenment,

Awakening,

Healing.

The three paths,

The first in no particular order is the path of wisdom,

Second is the path of devotion,

And the third is the path of service.

These three produce good karma in the world.

In other words,

Wisdom.

Go deeper than the surface.

Penetrate the true nature of reality and the true nature of your being.

Go so deep into everything until you find consciousness and until you find the divine and truth.

This is the path of wisdom.

Ignorance is the ultimate bad karma,

For lack of a better term.

Ignorance is the ultimate karmic producing thing inside the human being.

Through wisdom,

You free yourself from ignorance.

So every day,

Fill your mind with wisdom.

Listen to podcasts,

Read,

Contemplate reality,

Find good teachers upon the path,

Study texts.

The second is the path of devotion and joy and bliss.

So too much wisdom,

Too much thinking gets us serious isn't always the best.

We want to find that place of divinity in our heart that's that blissful,

Devotional place of beauty and love and amazingness.

So smile throughout your day,

Laugh throughout your day,

Be present.

Remember this is a great show that we're meant to enjoy.

We're meant to enjoy it with the creator.

So have joy.

Bring joy to each moment.

The third is service.

Selfless service.

Think outside of yourself.

Every day,

Do things for others.

If you're alone,

Make some prayers.

Pray for other people.

Prayer is powerful.

Send a nice note to someone.

Call them.

Say,

Hey,

I really appreciate you in your life.

Or hey,

I was thinking about you and I remember that thing you shared with me back in the day and just wanted to say thank you.

I love you.

When you're out in the world,

Give a little extra tip.

When you eat out for food,

Give 20% instead of 18 or 15% and do it from that place of I'm going to give.

I'm going to be generous.

I'm going to serve through supporting this human being.

Give someone a smile.

Brighten their day.

So on and so forth.

There's many ways to serve.

Volunteer.

Make a donation and do it silently.

Don't brag about it.

Just give 20 bucks,

100 bucks,

A thousand bucks.

Donate to some cause that you feel is worthwhile in the world.

Whatever it is and do it with a big open heart,

With joy.

Serve in your job.

Whatever your job is,

Don't think of it as work and a job.

Think of it as service because every job has service.

That's why it has value.

That's why you're getting paid for it because you're providing some kind of service.

Every single job in the whole universe is service-based.

Ultimately,

It's providing some sort of service.

You're serving.

Right?

So bring service.

See it as service.

Every day you go to work,

You're serving.

Yet if all you're thinking about is,

I got to make my money.

I got to take care of me.

That's not really service.

That's not selfless.

That's selfish service.

You're just trying to serve yourself.

That's not a good code for abundance.

Service is an abundant energy.

When you bring service to your work and you bring value to your work,

Abundance flows into your life like a mighty river.

These are three very tangible ways that you right now,

Today,

Tomorrow,

This week,

You can start creating good karma.

So to clear your bad karma,

It's all the classic things.

Forgiveness,

Love,

Honesty,

Truth.

Be courageous and brave.

Be humble.

Live in a good way.

Do your inner work.

Connect with the creator.

Allow love to live through you and your bad karma will be purified.

It doesn't matter what you've done.

No matter what you've done,

It doesn't matter.

What matters is what you do right now,

Today.

The choices you make today.

You could be the worst human being,

Have done the worst things a human being can do,

And that doesn't matter as long as you make new choices today.

As long as you allow love to live through you today,

That will purify you of all your karma.

And be consistent.

It's the long path,

Not the short one.

And the more you surrender to that,

The quicker it is.

So we're going to leave it at that.

I hope this was helpful.

If it was,

Please leave a review.

Please give some comments,

Share your thoughts,

Your experience here.

And I'm also going to create a karmic clearing exercise recording.

So I'm going to record that and I encourage you now that you have all these little seeds planted.

Listen to that recording.

Be nourished by it.

Allow it to purify and align you with love.

Thank you so much for tuning in,

Listening,

Being here with me.

Sending you all so much love.

Until next time.

Reviews

I always appreciate your ability to articulate this wisdom, Robbie. Namaste. 🙏