Karma: The External and Internal Consequences of My Actions

Some Terms in Yoga Psychology

There is a technical language in the sutras referring to the yoga theory of memory and action.  It is a subtle psychology with the subconscious playing a major role. The sutras are cryptic and often difficult to decode, but they are augmented by a vast literature of older and newer commentaries.  This diversity has produced some variation in interpretation, emphasis, and the use of terms themselves.

Although some of the key terms below vary somewhat by tradition and commentator, these definitions may be a useful beginning place. These are concepts and not directly observable “entities.”  They share this theoretical status with more modern terns such as “personality,” “ego,” or “superego.”  Such terms describe processes or patterns of behavior that can be helpful in understanding how humans think and act, but they not refer to specific entities that can be seen.  Their usefulness depends on just that — how productive we find them in actual practice.  Some terms seem to have a meaning that can be roughly translated into more contemporary language, such subconscious (smrti), or personality traits (vasanas).  This is a bit risky and misleading, but might be a good starting point for “translating” the terms into something familiar.

smrti: memory, remembering, “deep memory” [See Note below on variations in usage\

samskaras: impressions (in memory), subliminal activators, memory traces, the basic traces of experience, past and present, that provide the “seeds” of thought and action

samsara: Not to be confused with samskara.  This refers to the wheel or cycle of birth and rebirth as understood in the notion of reincarnation. 

vasanas: Often translated as “traits,” or action tendencies, or habit energy  For some commentators the vasana are traits of an individual that rest on the samskaras, the basic subliminal impressions/”activators.”

kleshas: These are afflictions that affect thinking and acting.  They are enumerated in Patanjali’s sutras as ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion (negative attachment), and fear of death.  These are ways of thinking that rest on the samskaras and produce the individual’s habitual behavior (roughly, vasanas).  The purpose of practice outlined in Chapter 2, Sadhana Pada (“Practice”) is to attenuate the kleshas (Sutra II.1) and allow the practitioner to reach clarity and enlightenment (samadhi).  Rooting out the kleshas means mental, physical and spiritual practice that promotes the positive samskaras and counters their opposites.

In BKS Iyengars’ commentary on the sutras he often not strictly distinguish between samskaras an vasanas.  Some other commentators suggest that the samskaras are the basic building blocks (depth-memory elements) that support and motivate the vasanas, habit energy or personal “traits.”  Many other commentators seem to use the term vasana less and speak more of the samskaras. In general, though, it can be helpful to view the samskaras as elements in deep memory that motivate action, and combine to form habitual patterns of action or traits (vasanas).

There is a general agreement on the basic cycle or circuit of experience and depth memory.  Experiences (past and present, or even in past lives) produce samskaras which provide the basic elements of depth-memory, or smrti.  The samskaras act as motivators of thought and action.  Some may refer to vasanas, which might be understood as clusters of samskaras that provide habitual thought and behavior patterns of the individual (“traits”).  Each thought and action derives from these traces in deep memory, and contributes to the creation of new samskaras.  Thought and action also strengthen or weaken the samskaras and the vasanas.  In principle, one can change one’s “nature” (thought and actions), by stimulating certain samskaras and countering or ignoring others.  Samskaras that are countered or ignored “dry up” or are “burned,” so that they no longer produce thought and action. 

These traces are considered to be a part of the individual.  They produce thought and action that, in turn, and affect the samskaras in depth memory.  Drying up or burning   negative seeds and “watering” or feeding positive seeds changes the nature of the individual’s deep structure of motivation and activation.  In this way thought and action become part of the individual.  We “own” our actions in our nature. Yoga practice, including meditation, are means for discerning the workings of the samskaras and vasanas in our lives.  This discernment allows us to practice in ways that affect the strength of the various elements in depth-memory and change our ways of reacting (vasana).

Karma: Action and the Seeds Within

Karma is a law of cause and effect on at least two levels.  My actions have consequences in the outer world and among others, and they have consequences in my inner world because they define and change my nature.

Sanskritists say that karma, kriya, and other closely related words like karmendriya are linked to the root syllable -kr, which means action.

In Patanjalis sutras, kriya yoga is defined at the beginning of Chapter 2 (“Practice”) as the yoga of action and consists of tapas, svadyaya and ishvara pranidhana (zeal/determination, self knowledge and study, and worship of a higher power).

The root meaning also appears in the term karmendriyas which refers the “organs of action” — such as the physical limbs of the body.  They move, and create action.

Karma is traditionally linked to the notion of some form of reincarnation or rebirth in another life or realm.  A belief in reincarnation implies that your karma in this life will affect future lives, just as karma in past lives affects your current life.  In this sense, karma is the balance of your actions.  Generally speaking, these are the external consequences of action.

There are also deep internal consequences of my actions.  The feedback from my thoughts and behavior to the deep memory strengthens or weakens the traits that I will display.  My thoughts, speech, and behavior continually reinforce and change the deeper level of my consciousness.  This is affirmed in the fifth of The Five Remembrances:

My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.

My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

This specific formulation comes from Buddhist practice, but it is part of the broader understanding in both yoga and Buddhism that my actions have deep and wide-ranging consequences that stay with me throughout my lifetime.  A belief in reincarnation includes the consequences of all actions of the present and past.  For those with a belief in reincarnation (and the wheel of samsara, or cyclical rebirth) consequences stay with me through many lifetimes.  “Karmic debt” (a negative balance) may lead to suffering in a next life, while a positive karmic balance leads to a better life in the future.,  this cycle of rebirth  —  samsara —  is the “wheel of karma,” and only stops when one is so enlightened that all consequences have been transcended.

These actions change my deeper structure, but that I can act in a deliberate and discerning way to guide that change  The belief that they become part of me does not mean that I cannot change.  It means just the opposite — through practice and meditation I have the ability to affect change deep within myself.  These changes will, in turn, affect the way I think, speak and act.

Thus, karma is linked to the belief that the cycle of incarnation is the result of consequences of past actions and that these actions determine future rebirths.  There is more to this, of course, but the deeper meaning of the “Remembrance” above is that my actions stay with me and have consequences even as everything else in me and around me changes and disappears.

Karma and my Present LIfe

Karma is more meaningful to many when it is connected it to the notion of reincarnation, but this is only one part of the process.  It is not even a necessary belief in order to practice effectively.  Belief in reincarnation is not necessary to practice yoga, or to practice within the Buddhist tradition.  On the contrary, my present life is deeply affected — my actions have consequences deep within me, and they are “mine” regardless of my denials, forgetfulness,  and carelessness.  The balance of consequences of what I do in this life is my responsibility.

The internal consequences of actions the individual are often understood with the metaphor of seeds that exist in store consciousness (smrti)  Each action subtly alters the nature of the individual by changing the strength of the samskaras.  This point sometimes gets lost in the West where we often hear the terms “good karma” or “bad karma” to mean, more or less, good luck or bad luck.  This refers only to the external consquences, and not to the seeds of action that are affected in the deeper nature of the individual.

All actions have consequences – some strong and others weak, some immediate and others delayed, some positive and others negative, and so on.  But no action is without some effect.

There is an old conundrum in logic: “If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound.”   Of course, one yogic answer might be that the fate of the tree is not unnoticed simply because if was not marked by a human observer.  A tree falling affects a myriad of insects and other beings that may lose or gain a home, or food, or life.  The soil may be enriched by the decaying tree, or the forest canopy may be diminished.  There are many consequences to the life and death of a tree, whether noticed by a human observer or not.  The same is true with human actions, whether immediately observed or not.

Some human actions have immediate and obvious effects.  Others may have delayed effects or unintended or unanticipated consequences far removed from the time or place of the action.  We cannot anticipate these consequences, but we can recall the Buddhist image of a butterfly fluttering its wings and setting into motion a chain of events that end in a hurricane elsewhere in the world.  Less dramatic and less metaphorical are such actions as teaching a student or child, or anyone else, something that may only have an effect later.  The effects may even be unknown and unrecognized by the “teacher” and the “learner.”  But, like the tree in the forest, the consequences of actions are far-reaching.

Here we have one explanation of the last of the Five Remembrances which says that: My actions are my only true belongings….I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.” Unlike possessions and relationships and health and life itself – the consequences of my actions are far-reaching, whether I know it or not.

Consequences in this Life, and After

To repeat: In one form of Eastern teaching, karma implies a moral balancing of the consequences of one’s actions.  A negative balance may lead to a next life in lesser position.  A positive balance may produce a rebirth at a higher moral level.  When one’s life transcends all consequences, the cycle of rebirth (samsara) stops because there are no more effects to be balanced in a future life.

Even this superficial description of karma and reincarnation leads to the obvious question: what if I don’t belief in future lives?  Can I get away with whatever I like in this life?

Many religious traditions do not recognize reincarnation, either as a punishment or a reward.  But some religions teach of an afterlife of paradise and reward for a good life, or or torment and punishment for a bad life.

This belief incorporates a sense of karmic balancing by saying that a rewarding afterlife comes from a positive balance of one’s actions.  Sometimes even a sinful life can be forgiven and salvation found in a forgiving deity if there is penitence and devotion.  Both Christianity and Hinduism contain teachings that coming to the Supreme Being, even at the end of a sinful life, can bring salvation (or a propitious rebirth)

Each of these notions answers a question: “Why should I try to live a good life?” Both provide a reason that is dependent on some supernatural force hat judges and rewards (or punishes).  These beliefs can be a powerful factor in affecting change among those who have those beliefs. For those who are less sure of those beliefs, the belief in “internal” consequences is still powerful even though it does not require reincarnation, an afterlife, or a supreme being.  Here, the teachings of yoga and Buddhist psychology provide an answer that applies both to those who believe in an afterlife, and those who are not so sure.

Various yoga and Buddhist traditions use the metaphors of “seeds” to explain the psychology of inner psychology and transition.

In yoga, one view of seeds is that they are action tendencies or habit energy that may be active, intermittent, or dormant.  They emerge when there is a stimulus and trigger actions that are habitual or characteristic for the individual.  These habitual actions are called samskaras and they refer to ingrained behavioral tendencies acquired over the course of a life.

Negative habit patterns can be confronted and attenuated – as promised in sutra II.2 which cites the goal of yoga as the attenuation of the afflictions (kleshas).  Through practice, the samskaras – the seeds of action – are “burned” and rendered powerless.

In a well-known teaching of Buddhist psychology, the metaphor of “seeds” refers to a variety of tendencies and habit patterns that reside in a “store consciousness,” waiting to be activated by a stimulus.  The way the person responds to the stimulus determines whether the seed is “watered” or allowed to dry out or to be “burned.” If I react with anger, jealously, or selfishness, I water those seeds in my store consciousness.  If I respond with compassion, understanding and love, I water those seeds.  The ones that grow are those I water through my actions, the ones that wither are those I counteract and refuse to nourish.

My actions change my very being and create/recreate me according to the way I respond.  If I continue to “react” without reflection or mindfulness, I will continue to reinforce old, negative habit patterns.  If I consciously nourish the positive seeds, they will grow and my actions will be reflected deep in my being.  That is, I change myself through my actions.

This teaching does not require a supreme being or an afterlife (though it can be even more powerful if the individual does hold such beliefs.  It is based on what I become in this life.  Even if one does not believe in an afterlife, this life and all its consequences can be a work of art that reduces suffering for oneself and for others.

So we have various ways that religious/philosophical systems explain the virtues of a good life:

• An afterlife earned through good deeds, faith, and salvation; conversely, damnation and torment for a bad life
• A favorable or unfavorable rebirth – in effect, finding reward or punishment in the next life. Alternately, when full enlightenment is reached, the wheel of rebirth may be stopped and the necessity of mundane suffering is over
• The rewards and punishments are in the suffering, or alleviation of suffering in yourself and others through your actions in this life. Whether or not there is any afterlife, one has defined a life by contributing to or alleviating suffering.  These consequences are to a degree external, but they are also internal as they promote the growth of positive “seeds” and action tendencies ( and deter the growth of negative seeds).

The classic Native American story of the “two wolves” uses a similar metaphor of nourishing good or evil.  In one of its most familiar forms, it is told as a story of a Cherokee elder who is teaching his grandson:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old man simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Note:  Meanings of “smrti”

Perhaps it is not surprising that such an important in yoga and Buddhist psychology should have multiple meanings.

In the yoga sutras, smrti usually means memory or remembering. Some commentators use more contemporary terms such as subconscious or unconsciousness.  In modern meditation practice, smrti is sometimes used as an equivalent or mindfulness, or the related terms of awareness.

Language and usage may vary from one context to another, so it is always important to see how the term is used in by a particular tradition or commentator.

Here I have tried to use smrti in the old yogic sense of memory.  In that tradition, samskaras are elements are seeds or constituents of memory. 

As I understand Thich Nhat Hanh’s buddhist psychology, smrti is close to what he calls “store consciousness” and the samskaras are what he calls “seeds” in English.