Karma

The word Karma is often misinterpreted to mean what is unavoidable in ‘life’ or ‘fate’. ‘An Indian farmer doesn’t plough his land according to modern methods, since he considers that it is his Karma to be poor, etc … ‘

This has nothing to do with the objective concept of Karma in the Tantric or Yogic science. Karma stands for everything that you are not conscious of, that you have not yet become conscious of; what you have experienced without fully understanding, without fully comprehending, without really confronting it or seeing it for what it is.
A thing, a person, you or me, whatever - it could be an inner or an outer experience - is seldom experienced for what it is but rather what we consider it to be.

We often lack the ability to see things (or fellow humans, you and me) as they really are. When do we treat each other equally with acceptance and understanding? When do we consider ourselves better or cleverer than others, when are we feeling inferior, intimidating ourselves - idolizing?

What are things really like? We don’t know, and, on the basis of that, we start by fantasizing (in thoughts, dreams, etc.) how we think things are, what we think we are like and what others are like, other groups - they, them, society, Yoga, etc. Thus we put ourselves in conflict with reality on the unconscious plane, a reality which we cannot accept on its own terms.
Everything that does not get understood or rather experienced for what it is, forms our unconscious thoughts, wishes, frustrations and ideals. This affects how we act, the situations we get into, what we give out, how we affect our surroundings, etc. This is, briefly, what Karma stands for.

The ‘law’ of Karma, our unconscious, strives to keep us in situations in which we can re-experience what we did not understand before - whatever caused us to react or worship and not to see in a balanced way - that is the law of action and reaction.

Bad actions form bad Karma, good actions form good Karma - who can make a distinction? If I lie, it will certainly affect me more or less unconsciously. I lie to avoid something, something I don’t want to face; perhaps I lie to myself and thus I can’t see the consequences of the lie - a so-called vicious circle is formed. … I get a ‘bad’ conscience and that affects my mood and my surroundings. A ‘good’ action on the other hand gives me some satisfaction and thus some peace of mind. But both good and bad actions form Karma!

On the other hand, the yogi’s Karma is neither good nor bad. The yogi sees and experiences, confronts everything attentively - sees it as it is, never judges. Nothing is either attractive or repulsive, it simply is. He creates no future Karma, either good or bad, he simply lives.

To a certain point he does concern himself with getting rid of his old Karma and perhaps also with burning out other people’s Karma; he lives or mirrors that. Karma Yoga can be seen from this interpretation of the word.

Right or left, black or white, what is it that you must do? It is all about your self - in our great totality.