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Karma (Sanskrit: कर्मन karman, Pāli: कम्म Kamma) means "action" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.

In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which spring from :

* mental intent (Pali: cetana)
* mental afflictions

which bring about a fruit (Sanskrit, Pali: phala) or result (vipāka), either within the present life, or in the context of a future rebirth. Other Indian religions have different views on karma. Karma is the engine which drives the wheel of the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth (saṃsāra) for each being.

Every time a person acts there is some quality of intention at the base of the mind and it is that quality rather than the outward appearance of the action that determines the effect. If a person professes piety and virtue but nonetheless acts with greed, anger or hatred (veiled behind an outward display of well-meaning intent) then the fruit of those actions will bear testimony to the fundamental intention that lay behind them and will be a cause for future unhappiness. The Buddha spoke of wholesome actions (kusala-kamma)—that result in happiness, and unwholesome actions (akusala-kamma)—that result in unhappiness.

Meditation: A Way of Life

Meditation offers an alternative to the purely materialistic values of modern life. It is a means of harmonising or resolving the apparent conflict between the spiritual and material aspects of living. Meditation is not an escape from reality, but a path of discovery of the true Self, the spiritual being, the soul. The basic objective of meditation is to enable an individual to become in outer manifestation what he or she is in inner reality. Meditation leads along the path of becoming, towards the spiritual ability to be, to know, and to do. Meditation, therefore, involves the whole life expression, subjective and objective. It concerns the use of the mind by the soul to initiate action in line with the plan for humanity. Within this Plan-centred process, the meditating unit is stimulated, enlightened and given right opportunity to contribute to planetary evolution the individual richness each one contains contains in potential. True occult meditation is practiced as a service to the human race.

Today the soul of humanity is in process of taking control of the personality way of life. The long process leading towards the soul-infusion of the race has been initiated. The practice of meditation can now serve to speed and implement the process within the planet as a whole; for while, in the past cooperation with the planetary meditative rhythm has been the service of a pioneering few, today it can become a way of life for many.