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The Principle of Reverse Karma

Posted by Ram Raghavan on 11 June 2009

Why is it that 1% of the world’s population controls 99% of its riches? Why is it that some men have all the success with women while others can only watch from the sidelines? Why is it that some people have jobs handed to them on a platter while others can’t elicit a single response after trying for years? Why is that some people get everything they never asked for while others get nothing they always wanted? What is it that defines this divide between the have’s and have-not’s? What creates this divide? What determines who falls on which side of it? How does one cross over from one side to the other? Is it even possible?

The reverse correlation between effort and result
Conventional wisdom teaches us that the only way forward in life is through unceasing work. The harder you work, the higher you go. The reward reaped is directly proportional to the effort put in. But how true is this? My own personal observations in life have been in direct contradiction to the conventional rule: having been on the lookout for jobs for more than a year, I have found none, while friends and family have had incredible jobs offered to them without their even looking. No luck for me finding a partner for over two years, friends getting hitched the month after they developed an interest in the very concept of marriage. Never had luck getting even the purely procedural things (like a driver’s license for instance) although my skills and papers were never in question. Personal these observations may certainly be, but the underlying phenomenon they illustrate are fairly universal. For instance, the conventionally accepted rule would suggest that the ranks of the unemployed would grow and shrink in a predictable, orderly manner – those who have looking for jobs the longest getting hired the earliest. But does this happen in reality? The rule would suggest that the people who have been looking for their mate the longest would get married the earliest – but does this happen in reality? The rule would suggest that the people who go hungry the longest would get their meals the earliest – but obviously, this does not happen in reality. Indeed, I have observed that I never get the things I work the hardest for, and yet almost always get those I hardly care about. A reverse correlation between effort and result!

Karma: Desire, Effort and Result
To understand the correlation between effort and result, one needs to understand the causal relationship underlying them. While we are constantly reminded that the result achieved is a consequence of the effort put in, it is often forgotten that effort is itself a consequence of something else – desire. Indeed in the complete causal cycle, desire is the cause, effort the symptom and result the consequence. Overlooking this simple aspect is a recipe for failure. Karma dictates that the consequence of every action is determined predominantly by the cause of that action. In other words, the results you achieve are determined largely not by the quantity or quality of the efforts you put in, but the desire that fueled those efforts. Predicting the results then becomes more easy – all you need to do is understand the desire from which the whole enterprise arose. Certain desires are destined to succeed while certain others are doomed to fail – in the first category are desires that are self-absorbed, in the second are those that seek a greater good. And since desire, arising as it does from the individual’s heart, is inherently an emotion of self-aggrandisement, the deeper the desire, the less likely it is to succeed.

Can the causal cycle be broken?
It can’t. The desire-effort-result cycle can not be broken. It needs to be acknowledged, understood and embraced. The key to success lies in acknowledging that desire is the lock that keeps the door to success closed. The lock of desire, much like the concept of friction, is a necessary evil. It is necessary because it allocates time-space in your thoughts to achieve something and restricts entry to thoughts that conflict with it. It is an evil because its existence is a seed that undermines the likelihood of success of the sprouting of the said seed. The key to success lies in acknowledging that desire must used as an anchor that, by keeping you moored to the reality of goals, directs your life towards a meaningful direction, while simultaneously understanding that the weight of desire must be held at just a bare minimum in order not to so heavily weigh you down that it jeopardises your journey towards that goal. In other words, allow desire to be the spark that motivates you, but don’t let it become the monster that consumes you.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
One of most commonly observed and acknowledged phenomena of mis-distribution of fortune is the fact that those who have much get a lot more, while those who have less get a lot less. Indeed, this observation has been the root cause of many seminal events in the history of mankind: discrimination and violence, socio-cultural revolutions and even the establishment and dissolution of empires. And yet the most important lessons, that of the underlying cause, have not completely been learnt. The underlying cause here is the cycle of desire-effort-result. The import of the causal cycle in this context is the fact that those who have much have less to desire, and so what they do desire is more likely to be achieved. While those who have less have more to desire, and so what they desire is less likely to be achieved. This, for the have’s, leads to a vicious circle where they desire less, giving them more, which in turn leads them to desire even less the cycle repeating ad-infinitum. And the opposite for the have-not’s. In order to change the fortunes of one’s life, it is this vicious circle that needs to be broken.

Breaking the vicious circle
In order to break the vicious circle of fortune, one needs to do something drastic. A wheel spinning at 100mph can do a lot a crash-damage before coming to halt all by itself. The circle can be broken by halting the efforts – understand that the efforts are only a path towards the consequence, the consequence having largely been decided by the cause itself, that no amount of effort would have changed the consequence. The cycle can be broken by dealing with the consequence – accept it, learn from it and apply the lessons learnt. But by far the ideal way to break the cycle is by breaking the cause – desire. If the cause evaporates, so do the symptom and the consequence. Desire can be broken by analysing what it is that your life really misses, whether it is really essential to emotional fulfilment and exploring alternate directions to focus your energies – directions that are more meaningful both to you and to the people around you. Not acknowledging these realities could lead you into continuing with an unrewarding tumble in the endless vicious circle of fortune – until you lose the conviction that your life could be any better and lose the capacity to do bring about any meaningful change in it.

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The Principle of Reverse Karma

Why is it that 1% of the world’s population controls 99% of its riches? Why is it that some men have all the success with women while others can only watch from the sidelines? Why is it that some people have jobs handed to them on a platter while others can’t elicit a single response after trying for years? Why is that some people get everything they never asked for while others get nothing they always wanted? What is it that defines this divide between the have’s and have-not’s? What creates this divide? What determines who falls on which side of it? How does one cross over from one side to the other? Is it even possible?

The reverse correlation between effort and result
Conventional wisdom teaches us that the only way forward in life is through unceasing work. The harder you work, the higher you go. The reward reaped is directly proportional to the effort put in. But how true is this? My own personal observations in life have been in direct contradiction to the conventional rule: having been on the lookout for jobs for more than a year, I have found none, while friends and family have had incredible jobs offered to them without their even looking. No luck for me finding a partner for over two years, friends getting hitched the month after they developed an interest in the very concept of marriage. Never had luck getting even the purely procedural things (like a driver’s license for instance) although my skills and papers were never in question. Personal these observations may certainly be, but the underlying phenomenon they illustrate are fairly universal. For instance, the conventionally accepted rule would suggest that the ranks of the unemployed would grow and shrink in a predictable, orderly manner – those who have looking for jobs the longest getting hired the earliest. But does this happen in reality? The rule would suggest that the people who have been looking for their mate the longest would get married the earliest – but does this happen in reality? The rule would suggest that the people who go hungry the longest would get their meals the earliest – but obviously, this does not happen in reality. Indeed, I have observed that I never get the things I work the hardest for, and yet almost always get those I hardly care about. A reverse correlation between effort and result!

Karma: Desire, Effort and Result
To understand the correlation between effort and result, one needs to understand the causal relationship underlying them. While we are constantly reminded that the result achieved is a consequence of the effort put in, it is often forgotten that effort is itself a consequence of something else – desire. Indeed in the complete causal cycle, desire is the cause, effort the symptom and result the consequence. Overlooking this simple aspect is a recipe for failure. Karma dictates that the consequence of every action is determined predominantly by the cause of that action. In other words, the results you achieve are determined largely not by the quantity or quality of the efforts you put in, but the desire that fueled those efforts. Predicting the results then becomes more easy – all you need to do is understand the desire from which the whole enterprise arose. Certain desires are destined to succeed while certain others are doomed to fail – in the first category are desires that are self-absorbed, in the second are those that seek a greater good. And since desire, arising as it does from the individual’s heart, is inherently an emotion of self-aggrandisement, the deeper the desire, the less likely it is to succeed.

Can the causal cycle be broken?
It can’t. The desire-effort-result cycle can not be broken. It needs to be acknowledged, understood and embraced. The key to success lies in acknowledging that desire is the lock that keeps the door to success closed. The lock of desire, much like the concept of friction, is a necessary evil. It is necessary because it allocates time-space in your thoughts to achieve something and restricts entry to thoughts that conflict with it. It is an evil because its existence is a seed that undermines the likelihood of success of the sprouting of the said seed. The key to success lies in acknowledging that desire must used as an anchor that, by keeping you moored to the reality of goals, directs your life towards a meaningful direction, while simultaneously understanding that the weight of desire must be held at just a bare minimum in order not to so heavily weigh you down that it jeopardises your journey towards that goal. In other words, allow desire to be the spark that motivates you, but don’t let it become the monster that consumes you.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
One of most commonly observed and acknowledged phenomena of mis-distribution of fortune is the fact that those who have much get a lot more, while those who have less get a lot less. Indeed, this observation has been the root cause of many seminal events in the history of mankind: discrimination and violence, socio-cultural revolutions and even the establishment and dissolution of empires. And yet the most important lessons, that of the underlying cause, have not completely been learnt. The underlying cause here is the cycle of desire-effort-result. The import of the causal cycle in this context is the fact that those who have much have less to desire, and so what they do desire is more likely to be achieved. While those who have less have more to desire, and so what they desire is less likely to be achieved. This, for the have’s, leads to a vicious circle where they desire less, giving them more, which in turn leads them to desire even less the cycle repeating ad-infinitum. And the opposite for the have-not’s. In order to change the fortunes of one’s life, it is this vicious circle that needs to be broken.

Breaking the vicious circle
In order to break the vicious circle of fortune, one needs to do something drastic. A wheel spinning at 100mph can do a lot a crash-damage before coming to halt all by itself. The circle can be broken by halting the efforts – understand that the efforts are only a path towards the consequence, the consequence having largely been decided by the cause itself, that no amount of effort would have changed the consequence. The cycle can be broken by dealing with the consequence – accept it, learn from it and apply the lessons learnt. But by far the ideal way to break the cycle is by breaking the cause – desire. If the cause evaporates, so do the symptom and the consequence. Desire can be broken by analysing what it is that your life really misses, whether it is really essential to emotional fulfilment and exploring alternate directions to focus your energies – directions that are more meaningful both to you and to the people around you. Not acknowledging these realities could lead you into continuing with an unrewarding tumble in the endless vicious circle of fortune – until you lose the conviction that your life could be any better and lose the capacity to do bring about any meaningful change in it.

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This entry was posted on 11 June 2009 at 20:04 and is filed under Abstraction. Tagged: . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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