Karma is not to be treated as a religious belief. Intrinsically, either it is true or it is not true. Only those who impartially examine their own lives and the lives of the others understand the truth about it. Beyond the mere reasoning ability, intuition plays a significant part in revealing hidden truths. Sustained interest in examining and consistent association with the matter for a while are needed before intuition starts making its impact. This world’s truly happy people are those who have sensed the value of intuition and who allow it to guide them in their lives. These are the people who understand Karma and so they harness it to help them. Strangely, emotional attachment to religious systems quite often discourages the adherents from impartial investigations into hidden truths, for fear of being veered away from the religion. However, such fears keep them on the surface layers of consciousness, leading to religious fanaticism and shallowness of their psychology.
The truth of Karma has a great deal to offer in terms of leading a fanaticism-free, vibrant life. Edgar Cayce, known as the Sleeping Prophet, lived in the US during the first half of the twentieth century, and has written some revealing essays on Karma and how it has been misunderstood. He was able to help thousands of people (who sought his advice) free themselves from problems by reading the karmic connections to their past life incidents. He did this reading by himself getting into a hypnotic state while the subject sat near him. Edgar said that to think of Karma as a punishing process can only be a most unfortunate conclusion. His essays on Karma go a long way to bringing clarity in that direction. One sees how one is accountable for one’s actions while not attributing ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ kind of punishment by Karma.
Karma is energy – the energy associated with nature flowing through our physical and psychological system, through the other living beings, through the inanimate things etc. That flow is governed by the laws of nature. In that flow there is no room for chance happenings; nothing can be a random variable. Things appear to be random only because of unawareness of the hidden truths. So, a river flowing through many geological and geographical terrains, letting a score of things transpire on its way, can be an apt metaphor for the flow of Karma.
From the above metaphor, we can perceive some hidden truths. When a river is in floods, it overflows the banks, hits the cattle, destroys the crops, drowns the people and so on. But, if we can construct a dam at the right place, the dam would function as a flood control measure and release the flood in a phased manner. Then, all the destructive consequences of the flood are effectively eliminated. Other advantages such as power generation and water for irrigation also ensue. Construction of a dam needs the understanding of the static and dynamic nature of water. The same way, to harness the energy of Karma needs our understanding of its characteristics, its live movement. Then, we find that Karma is a great friend of ours and that it is actually a hidden redeemer. All these things can help one lead a peaceful life in which one knows how to be happy and how to make others happy.
These matters are dealt with in a detailed way in the book "in Quest of the Deeper self". Please visit http://spirituality.yolasite.com