Q&A: What are the levels of karmic causal connections?
What is Karma? Part V: More on the middle teaching
Note: These next few articles will be devoted to answering questions asked by readers. If you have questions, please submit them by clicking the button below.What is karma?
Need a little detailed explanation about what it is, and how we should work on it.
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिता: ।तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥Kim karma kimAkaramaIti kavayoApiAtra mohitaahTatTe karma pravakshyaami yajJnaatvaa mokshyaseAshubhaatWhat is karma? What is not karma (ie. inaction)? Even the Wise Ones are confused about this. I shall [now] explain that to you, knowing which you may free yourself from inauspiciousness (ie. the bonds of karma).
- Bhagavad Gita, 4.16
Over the past several weeks, we have been discussing the particularly complex topic of karma, as a response to a question posed by a reader.
We began with a discussion of the various levels of the teaching. Karma, like most topics in Indian philosophy, is taught at three different levels, depending on the nature of the student.
At the first level is the basic teaching, where good actions lead to karmic merit, which results in good outcomes, and bad actions lead to karmic demerit, which results in bad outcomes.
Here, the teaching is simple - do good, and good will come to you. As a corollary, we can see that when bad things are happening to us, there is a silver lining - our karmic demerit is being exhausted. The other side to this is that when good things are happening to us, our hard-earned karmic merit is being used up. Deeply understanding this idea breeds equanimity.
The second level of the teaching, where we are right now, is the most complex.
Here, for many of us, a number of questions naturally arise: What is “good” and “bad” action? Where do actions come from? How is karma stored, and how does it fructify? What are the different types of karma? What is the mechanism by which actions generate results? What kinds of results does karma create? Why do bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people? Do we have free will, or is my destiny set in stone?
These are some of the kinds of questions that the middle teaching on karma helps to answer.
We began our discussion on the middle teaching with the root of karma - avidya, or the Primal Ignorance. Avidya leads to desire (ie. kaam), which then bubbles up in the form of action.
This is summarized concisely in Adi Shakaracharya’s famous formula:
Avidya → Kaam → Karma.
We then discussed the interdependent relationship between karma and the kleshas, or mental colourings of Yogic psychology.
What we consider to be “good” or “pleasant” results is dependent entirely on the kleshas in our minds. Objects in themselves are neither pleasant nor unpleasant - it is our likes and dislikes that make them so. What’s more, our actions stem from the kleshas. We act to attain sense perceptions that we enjoy, and to avoid those sense perceptions that we dislike. Note, sense perceptions here extend beyond physical perceptions to subtle sense perceptions such as thoughts, imaginations, identity, and so on.
We then went over the mechanism through which actions take place - the vicious cycle of vrittis and samskaaras - mental whirpools and mental impressions. Mental impressions are like seeds which sprout into thoughts, words, and actions when the conditions are just right. Then, these thoughts, words, and actions leave further impressions on the mind, creating a perpetually spinning wheel - the infinite cycle of karma.
This cycle happens at three levels, represented by Om (ॐ).
Physical actions and experiences, represented by A (अ). These appear as, and further generate thoughts in the mind, represented by U (उ). These thoughts leave traces - samskaaras, represented by M (म). When the time is right, the samskaaras bubble up into thoughts, which then bubble up into further words and action, starting the cycle anew. This classification will be used again from a different angle in today’s article, so if you need a quick refresher, take a look at the article here:
Finally, last week, we discussed the different types of karma. Karma can be classified in many different ways, a few of which are listed below:
By the type of samskaara created: Pravritti and Nivritti karma
By the quality of the fruit: Black, white, mixed, and colourless karma
By the timing of fructification: Sanchita, Praarabdha, and Aagaami karma
By the presence of desire: Sakaama and Nishkaama karma
You can find more on the classification of karma here:
Q&A: What are the different types of karma?
In this article, we will cover the three levels of causation through which karma bears fruit.
Then, over the next few weeks, we will discuss how karma generates experiences, the ideas of doership and enjoyership (ie. kartrittva and bhoktrittva), before finally moving on to the final teaching on karma.
In between, if you have any further questions on karma - or on any other topics - please submit them here:
For those of you who have already submitted questions, thank you! If I have not already reached out to you directly via email, I will try to address them through the next few articles.
Three levels of karmic causation
We now know that the word “karma” means “action”, but the principle of karma is beyond the action itself, involving the consequences of those actions as well. These consequences are known as karma-phala (कर्मफल), literally “fruit of action.”
This terminology for consequences conjures the imagery of each action planting a seed which bears fruit when the time is right.
Now, in order for consequences to occur, there must be some mechanism by which the actions connect to the consequences. If there were no connection, any action could have any result.
But this is not the case in our experience. While there is some level of uncertainty, actions don’t just have completely random results. Mango seeds result in mango trees, not apple trees.
So what then is this mechanism? What connects actions to their results?
The mechanism of karma - the connection between karma and karma-phala - is nothing but causality. Causality itself, as we will discuss in future articles, is ultimately illusory. However, it certainly doesn’t seem that way - there is no doubt that causal connections appear to us every day.
If I don’t eat, I feel hungry after a while. If I eat food when I’m hungry, I no longer feel hungry. The connection between these two events is generally repeatable, and common with the experience of others. As a result, we say that these two events are connected causally.
To summarize this, we say there is a causal connection between two events when the later event would not have happened without the prior event, even if the prior event doesn’t always lead to the future event.
When it comes to karma, the connection between the cause and the effect - the action and its consequence - happens at three levels, which can be represented by the three audible sounds in ॐ (Om) - A (अ), U (उ), and M (म).
In order to understand these three levels of causal connections, let us use a simple example:
You just finished dinner with some friends at a restaurant, and are walking towards your car with a bag of leftovers. On your way, you see a person sitting on the street. They look at you and ask for some food, telling you that they are hungry. You give them the food in your hand. Then, they open up the bag, and start to eat, smiling as they take each bite.
To simplify this, let us say that the action - the karma - in this situation is the point at which you handed the person your food, in a moment of generosity. Let us investigate the causal connections of this karma at the three levels of causal connection represented by ॐ.
The first level of causation is represented by A (अ), and refers to physical, or gross (स्थूल/sthoola), causal connections. These are the effects which can be perceived using your five sense organs (ie. the jnanendriyas).
In the example, when you gave the person your food, and they began to eat it, their hunger dissipated, and they felt happy. You can perceive this happiness with your jnanendriyas by seeing their facial expressions or hearing their words of gratitude. Here, at the gross level of karma, you became directly and viscerally aware of the consequences of your actions almost immediately after the action took place. This is perhaps a simple example, but it is true for all actions that we do - big or small. All of our actions have least some consequences that can be directly seen, if we notice closely enough.
The second level of causal connection is represented by U (उ), and refers to mental, or subtle (सूक्ष्म/sookshma) causal connections. These are the effects which happen within your mind.
In the example above, when you gave the person your food, three things happened in the mind, in quick succession:
You experienced the action itself
You experienced a positive feeling at seeing the other person happy
Your mind built a connection, or association, between the action and the positive feeling.
The action itself was perceived in your mind as a vritti, which, like all vrittis, left a trace in your mind as a samskaara.
Second, you likely experienced a positive feeling at seeing the other person’s happiness at your action. This is also perceived as a vritti in the mind, which left a second samskaara in the mind.
Finally, a connection between the two samskaaras was generated. This connection is a third samskaara, which will likely encourage future actions of a similar type (ie. acting generously), since the action led to a pleasant feeling in the mind.
If this action is repeated again, it will join up with the previous samskaaras, eventually creating a cluster of samskaaras known as a vaasanaa (वासना), or habit pattern. In this case, the vaasanaa may be towards generally acting with generosity towards others, and will likely lead you to act generously in the future as well.
The final level of causal connection is represented by M (म), and refers to the unseen causal (कारण/kaaraana) connections.
In this example, the fact that you left the restaurant at the same time that the person started to feeling hungry, the fact that they were sitting on the street outside of that particular restaurant, the fact that you had food left over from your meal, the fact that they were willing to eat what you had to offer, and so on, were all results of an immeasurably complex web of past causes, which are beyond the scope of our abilities to perceive.
In the same way as this web of unseen causal connections led to the action - the karma - of you giving the food, your action kicked off a set of additional future consequences most of which you will likely never know.
This web of causal connections, unseen, yet undeniably present, is known as adrishta (अदृष्ट), literally “unseen”.
P: I can see how the effects at the gross level, represented by A (अ) affect me - I noticed the happiness, and perceived the result. I directly experience these. I can also see how the effects at the subtle level, represented by U (उ) affect me - I have these samskaaras, and perhaps a habit pattern towards generosity, which will also be experienced by me. What about the unseen, or adrishta effects, represented by M (म)? How do I know if it will affect me or not? If it is not within the realm of my senses or my mind, where is the guarantee that it will lead to a future experience?
Jogi: All causes are connected to all effects. There is no effect that cannot be tied back in some way to all events that preceded it. The connections themselves cannot be known to the human mind, but there is certainty that they exist.
P: How do we know?
Jogi: This is clear because everything is causally connected, and mutually interdependent, with everything else.
All effects, and so all things, are the result of an intricate web of causal connections reaching back infinitely in depth to the beginning of time1, and reaching out infinitely in breadth to all events in the Universe.
Each node in this web holds up those around it, which hold up those around it, and so on, resulting in the various experiences of our lives.
Some of these nodes are visible to us, some are within our minds, but most of them are not within our ability to directly perceive. However, we see their effects in everything around us. You may not know the farmer who planted the seeds, or the causes that led the farmer to sell their food to your grocery store, but you see the effects of all these unseen causes in the food at your table.
More on the topic of the infinite breadth and depth of causal connections here:
This idea is represented in the analogy of Indra’s net, mentioned briefly in the Atharva Veda, and further popularized through Buddhist teachings.
In the beginning of time, Indra - the King of the devas, created the world as a net, made of innumerable jewels, delicately connected to one another. Every object that we know - from physical objects, to subtle objects like thoughts, ideas, identities, and so on - is a jewel on this net. Each jewel is reflective, and is so perfectly placed, that in each jewel, there is a reflection of all the other jewels in the net.
This idea is beautifully described in a Buddhist text commonly attributed to Dushun, the First Patriarch of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism:
“As for the imperial net of heavenly jewels, it is known as Indra’s Net, a net which is made entirely of jewels.
Because of the clarity of the jewels, they are all reflected in and enter into each other, ad infinitum.
Within each jewel, simultaneously, is reflected the whole net.
Ultimately, nothing comes or goes. If we now turn to the southwest, we can pick one particular jewel and examine it closely. This individual jewel can immediately reflect the image of every other jewel.
As is the case with this jewel, this is furthermore the case with all the rest of the jewels – each and every jewel simultaneously and immediately reflects each and every other jewel, ad infinitum.
The image of each of these limitless jewels is within one jewel, appearing brilliantly. None of the other jewels interfere with this.
When one sits within one jewel, one is simultaneously sitting in all the infinite jewels in all ten directions. How is this so? Because within each jewel are present all jewels. If all jewels are present within each jewel, it is also the case that if you sit in one jewel you sit in all jewels at the same time. The inverse is also understood in the same way. Just as one goes into one jewel and thus enters every other jewel while never leaving this one jewel, so too one enters any jewel while never leaving this particular jewel …
… If this one jewel were removed, there wouldn’t be any net at all.”
- Cessation and Contemplation in the Five Teachings of Hua-yan
In this way, all effects are the result of past causes, stretching out far beyond what we are capable of perceiving. The water we drink is rain that will one day bloom as a plant, that has previously soared as a cloud, and that becomes you the moment it passes your lips. If we look closely enough, we can see the entire Universe in every object that we perceive, and in this way, every object, including what we call "ourselves”, is core to the existence of everything else. Every one of our actions - our karma - results in a consequence that is reflected in every one of our experiences, whether we see it or not.
TL;DR
To summarize this, every action has consequences. These consequences can be classified into three categories. In the first category, our actions have some consequences that we can directly perceive.
In the second category, the same actions have consequences that take place in the mind, and which we can perceive if we tune our attention sufficiently (e.g. in meditation).
However, the vast majority of the consequences of our actions fall into the third category - adrishta. These consequences are unseen to us, until they sprout in the form of future experiences, and even then it is difficult to draw the line back through to the original action.
These three classes of causal connections are represented by the three audible sounds in ॐ (Om) - A (अ), U (उ), and M (म).
Thus far, we have discussed how karma leads to consequences in the world, and in our minds. But how does karma lead to experiences? What kinds of consequences occur as a result of karma? And what does reincarnation have to do with any of this? More on this topic next time.
Until then, if you have additional questions, please submit them by clicking the button below:
Next time: How does karma lead to experiences?
So to speak. Karma, like its ultimate cause, avidya, is beginningless. More on this here:
