Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Karma
The law of cause and effect: the lessons life keeps presenting until they're fully learned.
Meaning
What Karma Means
Karma is the law of cause and effect. It's rooted in the notion of ignorance of Atman, the true Self: remove the ignorance, and Karma is removed with it.
It's described as the force of constant change in our lives. We're asked, and sometimes forced, to change because we're here to evolve. Karma represents the lessons not yet fully learned: the same situations, and the essence of our relationships with others and ourselves, keep showing up in some form until they are.
In Practice
How It’s Used
Dharma, the righteous path of duty, is described in direct relation to Karma: where there is Dharma, there is no Karma, since action aligned with one's true Self doesn't generate the same repeating lessons.
In the training's numerology system, Karma also names one of five core numbers, calculated from the month of birth, having to do with communication and relationships: how clearly a person says what's in their heart, and how well they read others' reactions to them.
