Is karma really a b*tch?

This is the topic I wanted to speak on for a long time. One hears the word “karma” in the popular media or even in normal, everyday conversations quite often and you just assume, that you know, what it means. Usually, it’s interpreted in the following way – what goes around, comes around. Meaning, you get back what you give, you will get treated the same way you treat other people and if you do something “bad” – something “bad” will happen to you in return at some point in life. But is it actually the original way, that this term was intended to serve?

In the yogic practice the concept of “karma” just represents your circumstances. That’s it. It’s the specific situation that you were born into, the life that you are living, the places you visit on the daily basis, your house, your job, your family, your people. When you look around yourself and try to describe your life – that is your karma. In the roman-greek philosophy there is a similar concept of “amor fati” – love your fate. Take the hand the fate has dealt you and play it as your own. It is a nice and soothing way of living, which you can apply on the daily basis in a way of just making the best out of your situation, not resenting what you don’t have and not comparing yourself to other people. So where did this so-called b*tchiness come from?

“Karma” is also something that you create. To a degree, some circumstances were given to you and some of them you made happen. When you, for example, lie to somebody, steal or kill – that is the karma that you have to live with. It is the energy that you created and allowed in your life. You will end up carrying it around for the rest of your life and it is going to add some heavy weight to your guilt and consciousness. In a way, you punished yourself and not the other person. The other person will have to live with the consequence of something happening to them, but they are absolutely free of guilt and control in this particular situation. You are solely responsible for this one thing happening and that knowledge alone allows negativity in your life, which again – might attract some more negative energy in return. Once you are free of punishing yourself and stop taking the blame for other people trying to punish you, life becomes way easier. You create the easiness and comfort in your life, you don’t take things personal anymore and everything just becomes so simple. It is not something that happens overnight after reading about it once, however it can definitely kickstart a journey into discovering a better way of living.

Why am I talking about this? Well, living your karma (supposedly) leads you to discovering your “dharma”. This one is a rarer word and probably you don’t hear it quite as often. “Dharma” is something that is described as your duty, your purpose or the meaning of life. That is something that a lot of people struggle with and living in the fast-paced society of the modern-day era, it is also something that we are so eager to find as soon as possible. What yogis suggest is very simple – just live your karma and with time, the specific circumstances and situations that you end up in will show you the way and will propose you your dharma. Just living the normal every-day life is enough at the moment and you don’t need to be actively searching for any deeper purpose of it. Embrace what you have now, do your best at living your karma and have faith that your dharma will find its way to you.

That is something that I personally struggled with for a long time. I was an absolute handbook victim of being eager and impatient. You want everything here and now, because it’s easy to control and you want the satisfaction of checking out all the boxes. Letting go and relaxing requires a certain state of mind, but it allows you to be present and enjoy life to its fullest. Forget the concept of time and just enjoy the current moment. Good things are worthy of waiting for and that is something that you will hear in almost any religion or philosophy. Patience is a virtue and it doesn’t have to be a negative thing, if you are already happy and at peace with what you have now – it can only get better.

Don’t get distracted by the crumbs on your way to the cake.

Love, Faja