The word karma is Sanskrit and means action. The belief is that everything a person says or thinks will have some kind of affect in the universe. In Exploring Meditation, by Dr. Susan G. Shumsky,
Dr. Shumsky explains it as dropping a pebble into a pond and watching, "ripples radiate outward in concentric circles."
How Does Karma Work?
There is no single, simple answer as to how karma works because different people have different philosophies when it comes to karma.
Some people believe that as long as you live a good life and do good deeds for other people, goodness will come back to you. Others believe that faith is predestined and what happens in this lifetime is a result of actions from a previous life.
Buddhism and Karma
In Buddhism, it is believed that there are different categories of karma. Some of the categories include common karma, which is collective and is shared by a family or people of a nation. Another kind of karma is mutable. This mean if a person does lots of good things, it will help a person's karmic debt from bad things they have done in the past.
Buddhists don't believe in predestination and feel that each individual has control over their words and actions, which in turn has an affect on others, since everyone is interlinked.
Not familiar with Buddhism? To learn more please view Buddha And Meditation.
Reincarnation and Karma
Some individuals who believe in reincarnation believe that karma is carried over through different lifetimes. In other words, something that happened in a previous lifetime will affect a person in this lifetime. If the karma isn't resolved in the current lifetime, then the person will have to incarnate again until the karma is worked out.
Can Karma be Changed?
If life reflects back what is put forth, then it would be feasible that karma could be changed. At least this is the belief of some people. The thought is by connecting with spirit and embracing the divine, people can alter their karma. Some believe that one way of doing this is through meditation.
Meditating on Karma
To try to have positive karma, meditation is a way to bring in positive energy and thoughts and send positive energy out to the universe. There are people who find that meditating allows them to go deep into their subconscious and connect God, angels and spirit guides. The belief is that if one connects with the divine, the laws of karma can be broken.
Interested in meditation, but, don't know how to do it? To find out more, please view the articles Sitting Meditation and Breathing Meditation.
It's difficult to determine how karma works as there are so many different beliefs associated with this concept. The important thing to remember is that there are consequences to all actions. Karma is considered to be the law of the universe and everything you do will have an affect on someone.
Sources:
Exploring Meditation, Dr. Susan G. Shumsky, (New Page Books,) 2002.
How to Meditate, Jyotish Novak, (Crystal Clear Publishers,) 2008.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism, Gary Gach, (Alpha,) 2004.
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