The forces of nature, like time or gravity, which appear beyond our control, are manifestations of an intelligent reality in which we are active participants.
Karma, meaning action, is a term in yogic spirituality for explaining the soul’s evolution from life to life. Karma is generally portrayed as the effect of our individual actions, extending from past lives to present and future lives. It is often regarded as a force of determination, like fate or destiny. We speak of a person’s karma catching up with them, “what goes around comes around” or “as you sow so shall you reap,” indicating this inescapable result of what we have done.
Yet if we look deeper, we see that karma reflects the fact that we create our own reality. We fashion both ourselves and our environment according to all that we do in life. Karma, therefore, means that we are universal creators, not simply the helpless products of external forces. Karma is the underlying process of the “self-creating universe.” It indicates that the universe creates itself according to its own inner intentionality. Through the power of karma, we are self-creating beings in a self-creating existence. Even the forces of nature, like time or gravity, which appear beyond our control, are manifestations of an intelligent reality in which we are active participants.