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How long does karma take to come back to you?

Kristopher

Kristopher

Senior Registered
Its my own opinion that karma will be played out in another life. I don't think anything we do "wrong" in this life will come back to us in the same life time. I have noticed that, in general, people who believe in karma, tend to think it happens all in the one life. (I don't mean people on this forum. A lot of people who believe in karma may not believe in reincarnation, to my knowledge)

For example, If a slim kid bullied a fat kid at school for being over weight, then years later, in their teens, the slim kid was fat and the fat kid was slim, does that support karma? I imagine this wouldn't be cause and effect but more to do with free will. The person who became fat could have eaten healthily and exercised to avoid putting on weight. While the person who was fat would have made changes by their free will to lose weight.

I have heard so many different views on karma. Dr Weiss appears to see it as a punishment at times(that's the impression I got), Dr Newton sees karma as nothing more than a lesson we are happy to learn. And on this forum people have had many different views. Do we agree that karma from one life happens during other incarnations and not in the same life time? or do you have a different view?
 
I don't see karma as punishment, nor reward, nor a lesson for soul growth. Karma if anything is memory. The Stevenson cases with birth defects is probably the best example of karma, those children were born with fingers missing etc, not because they wronged someone else, or cut off someone else's fingers, but because they experienced trauma in that part of the body, which left an imprint on the aura, which had carried over to another life and prevented certain parts of the body from developing properly. Memory in other words.
 
The cases of birth defects, which were detailed in Dr. Ian Stevenson's study may be more exemplary of the body's ability to somehow remember traumas of the past. In this respect it would be correct to call it memory of some kind without the components of justice, balance or morality. But, would we refer to this as Karma? Karma is just a human word that seems to have the connotation of balance. Yet, because the above cases of birth defects suggest imbalance rather than balance, can we call these cases of Karma? I suppose it can be suggested that someone losing their fingers in a farm thresher in one life and being born without fingers in the next could be a form of long-term Karma (or punishment), perhaps for an action in an even earlier lifetime; but I would tend to look upon this explanation with a critical eye; only because I think that Karma and memory are two different functions which, sometimes, become entwined and, therefore, confused with each other.


When someone is shot in the head during a past life and is reborn with unexplainable scars where the entrance and exit wounds were located, we may be talking about a subtle kind of memory that is somehow transmitted from one body to the next. The victim in such a case didn't cause this to happen, therefore, the Karmic explanation should not exist. The situation doesn't imply that there is balance as a condition of cause and effect. Certainly there is action and reaction, but the action was on the part of the shooter and not the victim; and, therefore, there is no balance.


As I mentioned earlier, Karma is just a human word, which, as far as I know, may not accurately describe what occurs in Reincarnation at all. It could be that there is no balance at all, although I tend to believe in Karma as it is defined by the Dharmic texts. But, I also tend to believe that our minds can get stuck in modes of thinking, which are sometimes reflected in our bodies from life to life; and that this "habitual" behavior has nothing to do with Karma, except that it can confuse us even more.
 
Kristopher :) said:
Do we agree that karma from one life happens during other incarnations and not in the same life time? or do you have a different view?
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It has been my own experience among most Americans, that whenever the word, Karma, is used, the concept of reincarnation is implied. Although the word has entered our lexicon and has enjoyed very wide usage by believers as well as non-believers, it is still a word whose meaning implies reincarnation. Most people, I think, use it half-jokingly, to mean that someone will get what's coming to 'em, or "What comes around, goes around."; and they probably intend that such will happen within this one lifetime. However, it may still be considered just wishful thinking, since many people realize that justice is elusive in this lifetime. Yet, when the word is used, I still think that most people know from whence the word came and what it roughly implies, whether they believe in it or not.
 
I wish it happened quickly...there's a couple people who I'd like to see "get what coming to them." :D


But I am of the opinion that karma probably doesn't happen in the same lifetime but might actually take many lifetimes to be fufilled. It might take that long for the proper scenario to occur that is their "karma" or for that person to accumulate the knowledge and understanding needed to understand the pain/harm they inflicted.
 
Green26 said:
I don't see karma as punishment, nor reward, nor a lesson for soul growth. Karma if anything is memory. The Stevenson cases with birth defects is probably the best example of karma, those children were born with fingers missing etc, not because they wronged someone else, or cut off someone else's fingers, but because they experienced trauma in that part of the body, which left an imprint on the aura, which had carried over to another life and prevented certain parts of the body from developing properly. Memory in other words.
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I don't understand how birth defects can be related to karma? I think birth defects would probably be due to traumatic experiences.
 
Kristopher :) said:
I don't understand how birth defects can be related to karma? I think birth defects would probably be due to traumatic experiences.
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That's probably because the concept of karma that most people have does not exist IMO. Think of it only as cause and effect, if I have my fingers blown off in one life, that memory or "effect" may linger in the energy body and have a knock on effect to another body in another lifetime. If you murder someone in one life, that doesn't mean that person will come and murder you in the next life. There are no moral considerations or, judgement or justice in karma, just pure causality. That's why I prefer not to use the word karma at all, as religion and new age movements have obliterated any resemblance to reality.
 
Good question Kris. I think the answer to this question goes a lot deeper than any of us can probably know. There is a page I have book marked on my computer that deals with this subject... it is entitled El Morya on Karman and Reincarnation. I'm sure there are a million other places on the internet also. I love the quote there: "The first battle is between the free will and karma. Nothing can excuse man from taking part in the struggle between these two principles."


Tman
 
This is gonna be awkward so bare with me ...


Come full circle, reap what you sow, karma, reap the whirlwind; these terms all have similar origins. It's just that at different times during human evolution they've been given different names but the gist of their underlying meaning indicates that a person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences.


IMHO, I believe to some extent a person may experience consequences to some degree within the same lifetime.


It really comes down to ones awareness and perception of any given set of circumstances and what one chooses to believe and accept based on those circumstances and whether or not the person is open to the realization that a current event has a root connection to a past event.


In my current life for example, I've always loved animals. But it took me a very long time in my opinion, to truly appreciate and respect the animals who I have had an opportunity to have shared the time I had with them. It took a traumatic event to make me realize how much I had taken for granted.


If you recall, my username: "Lilmsmaggie" is in honor of a cat


I once had. I made the mistake of relinquishing Maggie to a shelter that was supposed to have a "no-kill policy."


The same night that I had surrendered Maggie to this shelter, I began having a bad feeling about my decision. The next day, a Sunday, I tried in vain to contact the shelter, leaving voicemail messages, sending email, in an attempt to tell someone that I had a change of heart. That I wanted Maggie back. As that Sunday progressed, I had a troubling sense of foreboding. I remember mentally saying to her: "It's Ok Maggie, I'm coming for you." The next day, Monday, I was filled with anxiety and I kept thinking: "Hang in there Maggie, I'm coming for you."


I tried contacting the shelter again that morning without success. I even tried contacting my vet to see if they might be able to contact the shelter. Finally, around 9 am that morning, my vet's office called to tell me that they had succeed in contacting the shelter and that I could come and pick-up Maggie.


Sadly, between the time I received that phone call and the the time it took me to drive to the shelter, one of the attendants had put Maggie down. His excuse, she had bit him, when he tried to clean out her cage. Mind you, she had been there less than 24 hrs.


So what's my point? For me, I had to learn the consequences of a decision I made. But it wasn't to learn or understand something from a single action or decision. It was cumulative. The loss of Maggie was just the focus point that "I had to have an awareness of and understand of something much deeper."


I can honestly say that it was a profound moment in my life. It was an epiphany that forced me to open my eyes.


So yes, I believe that it is possible to have lessons, consequences, come full circle or reap what you sow in this lifetime. We just have to be perceptive enough to understand when the moments occur.


If we choose to accept reincarnation, then we must also accept that there are no accidents and no mistakes. Events in our lives happen for a reason.
 
Lilmsmaggie, I'm so sorry about what happened to your cat, and I have to say I am absolutely appalled by the barbaric actions taken by that shelter because of a bite! Your cat was in unfamiliar surroundings, and probably felt threatened, she lashed out in her own defence. If that were my cat, there would be serious consequences for that so called 'shelter'. How dare they put an innocent animal to sleep for defending itself.... and without even contacting you the owner first?!?!


You cannot blame yourself for the loss of Maggie, you put her in the hands of people who you thought you could trust, and they let you, and Maggie down, horrendously. Whatever your opinion of karma is .... THEY have brought it on themselves, you have nothing to blame yourself for.
 
My Vet office and I share the same opinion. They had a responsibility to at least wait 24-48 hrs. AFTER to check for rabies, but they didn't do that.


I don't necessarily blame myself per se - but I do accept responsibility for the decision to take her to the shelter.


As I said, in the bigger scheme of things, I did have to learn something. Unfortuanetly it took the loss of a life to bring it about.


Some of us humans do not appreciate just how precious life really is. I felt helpless that day. The realization of what had happened. The finality of it. I couldn't help thinking if I was grieving this way over a cat -- how much more would my grief had been if it were a child, or relative or close friend?


What I find really horrendous, is the abuse some animals go through at the hands of those who just don't get it. That all life is precious. It's a miracle that any of us are alive - period!

ChrisR said:
Lilmsmaggie, I'm so sorry about what happened to your cat, and I have to say I am absolutely appalled by the barbaric actions taken by that shelter because of a bite! Your cat was in unfamiliar surroundings, and probably felt threatened, she lashed out in her own defence. If that were my cat, there would be serious consequences for that so called 'shelter'. How dare they put an innocent animal to sleep for defending itself.... and without even contacting you the owner first?!?!
You cannot blame yourself for the loss of Maggie, you put her in the hands of people who you thought you could trust, and they let you, and Maggie down, horrendously. Whatever your opinion of karma is .... THEY have brought it on themselves, you have nothing to blame yourself for.
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Lilmsmaggie - I am so sorry. :(


I do agree that we don’t always see how precious life really is. Before I kill even an insect I remind myself that I cannot give life - why do I think I have the right to take it from another living creature?


If it’s any consolation perhaps Maggie will return to you one day. I have a cat now that I dearly love, and he reminds me of, and has similar personality traits, to a very sweet kitten my mother once had.
 
There is a silver lining ...


I don't want anyone getting the wrong impression. Maggie was adopted together with a male litter mate. He has been here assisting me in my learning process. He's taught me a lot. In some respects, he's more dog than cat. He follows me all over the house. His favorite place is in my lap. He even sleeps with me. I'm just a visitor sharing his space.


He's helped in the adjustment from Maggie's loss.


Within every thing bad, there's an equal and opposite good. Ying & Yang. If something's a little bit bad, then there's a little good laced within it. If it's catastrophic, there's something phenomenal inside.


If you fall down a six-foot pit, you won't need to climb eight feet to get out of it - only six. It's the law of opposites or the law of polarity. Every book has a front and a back. Every box has an inside and an out. Every challenge in your life has an equal opportunity within it.


We just need to be attuned to that within us which guides us.


On a quantum physics level, the same subatomic particles that make up me, make up you. We are all connected at a quantum level. I can't hurt you without hurting myself, and I can't help you without helping myself.


Whether it is a notion, intuition, a feeling, there are always sign-posts and signals along the way to guide us. Maybe its an inner-voice in which we share our conscious level thoughts and images with a higher-level of consciousness and it is at this level of consciousness, compromise and decisions are reached.


I firmly believe that a greater percentage of our conscious experiences involving other people, animals, places, events; places we've never been but have an uncanny sense of place hold our answers. They are in our lives to teach us something, to support us in what we've already been taught, or even to test our knowledge of what we've learned up until now.


There is something to be learned from everything, and nothing is a waste if you can learn from it. As Napolean Hill said in Think and Grow Rich, "Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."
 
Concept of the direct effect


Hi Nightrain,


I observed this idea in one of your posts:

I suppose it can be suggested that someone losing their fingers in a farm thresher in one life and being born without fingers in the next could be a form of long-term Karma (or punishment), perhaps for an action in an even earlier lifetime...
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This idea could be a potential defence for the so-called Karma theory. But since the teachers of it use a very different language i.e. they focus on the Birthdefect itself as the effect - there now arises a serious question: whether this theory itself was the result a wishful thinking or etc?


In other words:


Let that even earlier Life be X, the life losing the fingers be Y, and the third life be Z. Then they are saying that, as if the direct effect of X is in the Z. But here lies the direct effect of Y.


Thus the theory could have still escaped with a honorable position in this birthdefect analysis - had they just not conveyed this message of a direct effect.
 
alienstyle said:
This idea could be a potential defence for the so-called Karma theory. But since the teachers of it use a very different language i.e. they focus on the Birthdefect itself as the effect - there now arises a serious question: whether this theory itself was the result a wishful thinking or etc?
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Although I did suggest this scenario as one possible explanation, I cannot but wonder whether another feature of human existence is involved besides the theory of Karma. It has been my observation that people often chose situations for themselves, which are neither constructive nor enjoyable, but they choose terrible circumstances out of habit. An example of this would be a person who bounces from one abusive relationship to another; or, someone who fears looking for a better job, because they are at least familiar with the terrible one they presently hold. Could it be that this propensity we have would apply also to our circumstances between lifetimes in such a way that a boy losing his fingers in one life would be born missing them in the next? Such circumstances, then, would not involve Karma as we have defined it, but would be a direct effect of a habitual memory of the body, a non-action or a refusal to make any choice at all. Would we re-define Karma to fit this condition? Or could this condition of habit be yet another theory that works along side karma?
 
Nightrain said:
Could it be that this propensity we have would apply also to our circumstances between lifetimes in such a way that a boy losing his fingers in one life would be born missing them in the next?
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IF we can choose our type of body, parents, gender etc, then why would making sure we had no missing fingers be much a problem to higher sources, just because we lost one in our previous life?


How could our memory interfere with us physically in such a manner? I am not denying that this happens in the slightest, I am just rather puzzled as to why this cannot at least be stopped from passing over into other lives. Does this mean that, for example, every person in the past who lost an arm in battle would have reincarnated without an arm? or maybe it depends on how traumatic is was for each person?
 
Since birthmarks, birth defects, and past lives were a great deal of Ian Stevenson's research, it makes one wonder how far in advance we plan our reincarnations. Here's a strange idea: Did they "choose" to have the defect again purposefully merely so Stevenson (or others) could write about and "prove" past lives? Birthmarks corresponding with death wounds tend to be a way new babies are identified with their dead relatives in certain cultures. A "here I am again!" hint from the soul, if you will.


Or (and here's another scenario) could it be that the lessons to be learned from having an injury (learn what it's like to have a missing arm, for example) weren't "finished" yet in the previous life, so it's carried over?
 
Kristopher :) said:
How could our memory interfere with us physically in such a manner? I am not denying that this happens in the slightest, I am just rather puzzled as to why this cannot at least be stopped from passing over into other lives. Does this mean that, for example, every person in the past who lost an arm in battle would have reincarnated without an arm? or maybe it depends on how traumatic is was for each person?
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I recommend you do some reading on the human energy field, and it's several bodies, particularly the etheric body. Once you realize that we don't actually have physical bodies, that we just perceive them to be physical and solid, you will realize that everything is energy and information, if the energy of a past life trauma is still lingering in the energy body it has the potential to become manifest in another body in another lifetime, which is why past life regression and shamanic or clairvoyant healing can often result in the release of past life ailments, once the energy has been removed from the energy field aura it can no longer manifest anything on the physical level.


Books:


Energy Work by Robert Bruce:


http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Work-Healing-Spiritual-Development/dp/1571745408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312872943&sr=1-1


A really good overview of energy in general and what it means for you in a human body.


Anything Can be Healed by Martin Brofman


http://www.amazon.com/Anything-Can-Healed-Martin-Brofman/dp/1844090167/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312873074&sr=1-1


A good overview of how and why people are born with birth defects or develop other diseases later in life, incudes some past life examples, although he maintains most illnesses come from the present life. He also provides methods of how the illness can be removed from the energy and then from the body. It also contains a section on karma, which is described in quite a different way from how most people would conceptualize karma.


His article on karma is worth a look:


http://www.healer.ch/articlekarma.html
 
Or if you are feeling lazy you can watch this guy's videos on youtube. He created a series of 7 videos on the human energy field, and it is a really good overview for anybody who has never been exposed to the subject matter before:


Unfortunately he hasn't numbered the videos in the video titles, so it might be a little bit difficult to navigate.
 
Ectoplasm = Energy Body ?


Hi Green26,


The concept of Energy Body as you've pointed to in this thread more than once, seems to me like resembling the idea of ECTOPLASM once advocated (and even attempted to be photographed) by some Parapsychologists about 100 yrs ago. And as far as I remember from a Wikipedia page I once studied, no claimed photo of the 'Ectoplasm' was considered authentic.


I personally believe that the cloud-like concept of Ectoplasm (as proposed by these people) could represent some non-physical body only. And that, it couldn't be thus potographed. But such an idea - be it the older word 'Ectoplasm' or the new terminology 'Energy Body' - is not only interesting but deserves consideration indeed.
 
I think that the energy field referred to by the authors of links provided by Green has nothing to do with the Ectoplasm which is often the subject of seance driven anomalies. They are more likely the immeasurable phenomenon that only a few sensitives are able to see and feel; and may only be evidence of something quite different -- an illusion. What we sense, whether by our normal senses or not, may be all be an illusory -- a holographic projection from a different dimension.
 
Nightrain said:
They are more likely the immeasurable phenomenon that only a few sensitives are able to see and feel;
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While it can be difficult to see the energy field around a person with auric sight or with clairvoyance, it is incredibly easy to feel your energy body, though most people have never thought to feel for it and therefore never feel it. Once you know what it is and what it feels like you will feel the energy running though your body all the time. If you have ever had a warm fuzzy feeling on your face while listening to some beautiful music, then you have felt your own energy field before.


Robert Bruce's book teaches you how to become much more aware of your energy field and how to develop it for psychic abilities. Energy work may also assist with past life recall as it is claimed that past life memories are contained in the energy field and by doing energy work you can possibly access them. Energy work will also enhance dream states and meditation too.


Bruce has put an 8 part tutorial on youtube about the basics of his NEW (New Energy Ways) system which is an easy method to learn to feel your own energy body:


http://www.youtube.com/user/RealAstralBob#p/u/48/pTLCdIkDaAk
 
How long does karma take to come back to you?


Kristopher,


As far as your example goes: “If a slim kid bullied a fat kid at school for being over weight, then years later, in their teens, the slim kid was fat and the fat kid was slim, does that support karma?” I don’t think karma is always carried out simply like that, the emotions from that situation, the resentment, anger, etc. can be carried out between them in many completely different scenarios, not just physically weight related.


You asked, “Does this mean that, for example, every person in the past who lost an arm in battle would have reincarnated without an arm?” If everyone carried all their physical wounds from past lives into their current life, reincarnating would become impossible very quickly! (my brother & I have been killed in battle many times, and have no physical traces of this at all in our current lives, amazing really!). I’m sure you have free will and choice here, in how you carry things over.


Many times, instead of past injuries being carried over physically, they are carried emotionally. I think karma (good or bad) comes back to you when the time is right, in this life, or the next, or many, many lifetimes from now. I do think it the severity of the trauma depends on how much that particular injury affects your current life, physically, emotionally, or in some case, both.


Hope this helps answer some of your questions, karma is very complicated, especially when it involves others. I don't think we'll ever fully understand it's complexity. Very interesting topic…
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989988/


The above referenced article deals with a phenomenon recently uncovered in molecular biology - transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.


Here is a direct quote from the above article "...the phenomenon in which something in the environment alters the health not only of the individual exposed to it, but also of that individual’s descendants."


While it does not have a direct causal relationship with reincarnation-related birthmarks and other physical impressions, the above research does point to forces in nature that may someday help refine our understanding of trans-life influences.
 
I think karma comes back to you whenever the circumstances are right - in this life or the next.


A few months ago, I was at the grocery store and I paid for my groceries. When I got out to the car, I realized that I had forgotten to pay for the gallon of milk in the bottom part of my shopping cart. So I went back in the store and paid for it.


Two weeks later, I was at a different grocery store, and when the lady handed me the receipt, she said "And here's a voucher for a free gallon of milk."


I said, "Um, why do I get that?"


And she said it's just something that they do sometimes, that it's randomly chosen by the cash register computer.


Now, I am in my 30s and I have never in my life received a voucher for a free gallon of milk - except right after I went back in and paid for a gallon of milk that I'd accidentally taken without purchasing.


I guess the universe reeeaaally wanted me to have a free gallon of milk. lol


On the other end of the karmic spectrum, when I was a young teenager, I went into a classmate's house and stole from her. (I'm not proud of this, at all)


After that, someone entered my house, and stole from me. I knew who did it, it was not the girl I stole from. I have had many more experiences of these karmic balancing acts being fulfilled in an uncanny way.


So I feel that karma can indeed come full circle in this lifetime, and if it does not get fulfilled, it carries over into other lifetimes. Everything will balance out, doesn't really matter if it's sooner or later. This is my opinion based on my experiences, feeling, and readings. :tongue:
 
Sometimes right away (just try to overthrow the US Government) sometimes in a next life....it depends. It is, as it was already said, not a punishment but a reaction to your positive and negative acts/thoughts (deeds) in a way the Law of Physics works, action->reaction. ticonthumbshumbsup

Kristopher said:
Its my own opinion that karma will be played out in another life. I don't think anything we do "wrong" in this life will come back to us in the same life time. I have noticed that, in general, people who believe in karma, tend to think it happens all in the one life. (I don't mean people on this forum. A lot of people who believe in karma may not believe in reincarnation, to my knowledge)
For example, If a slim kid bullied a fat kid at school for being over weight, then years later, in their teens, the slim kid was fat and the fat kid was slim, does that support karma? I imagine this wouldn't be cause and effect but more to do with free will. The person who became fat could have eaten healthily and exercised to avoid putting on weight. While the person who was fat would have made changes by their free will to lose weight.


I have heard so many different views on karma. Dr Weiss appears to see it as a punishment at times(that's the impression I got), Dr Newton sees karma as nothing more than a lesson we are happy to learn. And on this forum people have had many different views. Do we agree that karma from one life happens during other incarnations and not in the same life time? or do you have a different view?
Click to expand...
 
AOSpare said:
Sometimes right away (just try to overthrow the US Government) sometimes in a next life....it depends. It is, as it was already said, not a punishment but a reaction to your positive and negative acts/thoughts (deeds) in a way the Law of Physics works, action->reaction. ticonthumbshumbsup
Click to expand...
In Germany we have a proverb: Die kleinen Sünden straft der liebe Gott sofort. (The little sins are punished by God at once). I have the feeling this proverb describes the general effect of karma pretty well.


Small misbehaviours - being spiteful for one moment because someone has trodden on your foot or gossiping because you are just in a very bad mood and can't control yourself or something on this scale - have frequently a kind of kickback reaction. You bang your poor toes against a chair leg - oh pain! OMG - or somebody yells at you without any reason and life sucks for the rest of this day.


But the big issues seem just to wait for the right time - or for the right life. Look at politicians or big managers responsible for war and exploitation and whatever misery in this world. They may enjoy their present lives with all their money and their power but would I swap places with them? No, because I'm sure, they will have to pay someday.


Karma is no punishment - but it brings balance. Action and reaction. Cause and effect. What goes around comes around. I believe this is a Universal Law.
 
In Buddhism - there is pre-destined karma with every birth on the samsaric cycle . Then in regular life - as the above posters mentioned - there is cause and effect cycle that happens in your day-to day current life, this birth. Therefore, doing good will definitely reap extra brownie/karma points for you ... meanwhile also preparing for the next life. You see how Buddhists say - past,present and future lives are connected?


The pre-destined conditions will map out your life but those tough or easy roads that actually lead to your ultimate destiny will be based on the day-to-day karmic stuff that you do (good) or don't do (bad) .
 
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