Karma gets painted as some invisible referee, keeping score and calling fouls if you’re out of line. One mistake, and life will make you pay for it.
But that’s not how it works.
So, if that’s not it, then… what is karma?
To understand it fully, you’d have to first accept that suffering—the very thing people go to great lengths to avoid—isn’t inevitable. “Suffering is self-created,” says Sadhguru, the renowned yogi behind the Isha Foundation, in his Mindvalley program called A Yogi’s Guide to Joy.
Realizing this, you’ll eventually see that karma isn’t a cosmic debt collector but rather a natural system in motion. It’s not the trap people think it is but moves where you move it—via your individual choices, habits, and awareness. And it’s certainly not negative.
The moment you realize this truth, everything shifts.
What is karma?
Karma is, simply put, the result of our decisions and actions. Think of it like planting seeds in a garden. Every thought, action, and reaction is a seed dropped into the soil of life. Some blossom into “joy,” while others grow into “struggle.”
The thing is, most people don’t realize that they’re the ones holding the watering can in the garden of their own making. That no matter what’s already grown, the garden can always change if they want it to.
What does “karma” mean?
The word comes from the Sanskrit word kri, which means “to do.” So, what it really boils down to is action. That’s it. No mystical force. No cosmic judge. Just the natural momentum of everything you think, say, and do.
Every action—big or small—leaves an imprint. Working just like memory, karma builds habits, reactions, and tendencies that shape how life unfolds.
And what you, Sadhguru explains, is “a consequence of evolutionary memory, genetic memory, karmic memory, and a variety of other levels of memory.” Turns out, what we do—our habits, choices, and interactions—directly impacts our quality of life.
Your life is your karma. If you take charge of it, your life will become beautiful.
— Sadhguru, trainer of Mindvalley’s A Yogi’s Guide to Joy program
And our experiences—both good and bad—influence not just us but future generations. Researchers at Emory University once discovered that mice trained to fear a specific scent passed that fear down to their offspring, proving how deeply experiences shape us at an unconscious level.
So, holding onto resentment will seep into how you react to people. Practice kindness, and it’ll be the lens through which you’ll view and maneuver the world. The point is, the moment you’re aware of a pattern, you activate your inherent power to shift it.
“Your life is your karma,” Sadhguru says. “If you take charge of it, your life will become beautiful.”
7 karma symbols to remind you of your free will
Sometimes, a reminder is all it takes to step out of autopilot and into conscious action. Fortunately, you can find spiritual symbols of karma across many traditions. They’re visual anchors that come knocking on your door to remind you that life moves where you move it.
Here are some of the most powerful ones:
1. The endless knot: the interconnection of everything
No action exists in isolation. The endless knot—a sacred symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism—illustrates this truth.
Every loop is woven into another, showing how thoughts, words, and actions ripple outward and influence everything they touch.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Ever tossed a stone into a pond and watched the ripples spread? Karma works like that. The energy you send out—whether through action, intent, or even unspoken thoughts—has a way of coming back, often in waves you never saw coming.
2. The lotus: rising above your “circumstances”
The lotus flower grows through murky waters before blooming in the sun. From the karmic perspective, this symbolizes spiritual transcendence.
Translation? No matter what past actions have shaped the present, you are always capable of growth.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Maybe you grew up in a toxic environment or made choices you regret. But none of it has to define where you’re headed. Like the lotus, you can rise beyond old patterns, change your mindset, and create an entirely new reality.
3. The Wind Horse (Lungta): karma is in flux
In Tibetan Buddhism, the wind horse is a symbol of energy in motion. It represents the power of intention and momentum, showing that karma is never static.
Ultimately, it shifts with every choice you make.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Feeling stuck? The energy you put into something determines where it goes. If you keep feeding the same habits, they’ll keep running your life. But the moment you shift your focus, new possibilities can open up.
4. The wheel of life: breaking the cycle
The wheel of life, which is called bahavachakra in Buddhism, represents the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth as shaped by your choices. At its center lies a still hub, reminding us all that awareness can stop the wheel from spinning out of control.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Think of karma like muscle memory. Repeat the same movement at the gym, and it gets ingrained as a good habit. And it won’t be long before your form displays strength in a whole new way.
5. The Ouroboros: transformation through karma
Similar to the wheel of life, the Ouroboros is fodder for life’s endless cycle of renewal. Depicted by a snake eating its own tail, it reflects the power of learning, evolving, and transforming through direct experience.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Notice how video games won’t let you move on until you pass the level? Life works the same way. Until you learn the lesson, the “challenge” keeps respawning—just with different characters and settings.
6. Hamsa: the power of conscious action
The Hamsa hand is a symbol of protection and intention, found across cultures for centuries.
In Judaism, it’s the Hand of Miriam. In Islam, the Hand of Fatima, with both representing strength and divine blessing. Even ancient Mesopotamians and Phoenicians used similar symbols to ward off negativity, proving that the idea of energy shaping reality—with the universally recognized human hand—is nothing new.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: Every decision you make has power. Even small, conscious actions, like choosing gratitude over complaint, can transform your entire life experience, right down to the day-to-day.
7. The Dharma wheel: aligning your choices with purpose
Also known as dharmachakra, this symbol is all about moving through life wisely, intentionally, and responsibly. It’s a sigil to remind you that life doesn’t happen to you but rather for you.
So you should align your actions with something bigger than yourself.
The real-life lesson it teaches you: A teacher who uplifts their students, a leader who leads with integrity, a stranger who offers kindness in a tough moment… Each person here is living out a karmic relationship—that is, the idea that our actions ripple outwards to affect others.
The 3 types of karma explained (sanchita, prarabdha, and kriyamana)
Karma exists in different stages of activation, accumulation, and impact. Some of it is rooted in the distant past, some has unfolded in your life, and some is forming right now as you read this.
To make it easier to digest, yogic philosophy breaks it down into three types: sanchita, prarabdha, and kriyamana (also called agami).
Let’s break it down:
1. Sanchita karma: the collected past
Imagine it as a massive storage unit holding every thought, action, and experience you’ve ever had—across lifetimes (if you believe in that).
Some call this the akashic records, a kind of energetic ledger that stores the imprint of every action ever taken. Interestingly, quantum physics and spirituality often intersect here, with theories suggesting that everything in existence is interconnected through an unseen field of energy and information.
In this way, your past actions don’t just disappear—they ripple forward, shaping the patterns of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
The trick is to remember that you’re not bound by it and you always have a choice. The moment you’re aware of your ingrained patterns, you activate the power to break free from them and recreate yourself anew.
2. Prarabdha karma: what’s playing out in the present era
This is the karma currently in motion, or what’s already been set into action, like an arrow that’s been shot. Your bodily health, the current career path you’re on, or the relationships you’re nurturing today? That’s prarabdha at work.
The point of it has less to do with what you’re experiencing and more to do with how you experience it. “You could be in a palace and be miserable,” says Sadhguru. “You could be on the streets and be joyful.”
In other words? Your reaction to a situation, more than the situation itself, is what shapes your life story—day in, day out.
3. Priyamana karma: the karma you’re creating right now
This is the karma you’re actively shaping with every thought, action, and reaction in the present moment. Think of it like writing the next chapter of your life, except the ink isn’t permanent. Every choice you make can shift the trajectory of your future.
“What is within me must be 100% the way I want,” Sadhguru explains. “Otherwise, I am a lost case.” In other words, while past karma may have set the stage, how you respond right now is what truly defines your experience.
Say someone cuts you off in traffic. You can react with anger, reinforcing frustration as your default state. Or you can let it go, refusing to carry that negativity into the rest of your day.
Small decisions like these compound over time, shaping the reality you live in. And the best part? You always have the power to rewrite your story.
How does karma work?
Imagine a world with no traffic lights. No rules, no signals—just a free-for-all at every intersection. Chaos, right? That’s exactly how life would be if karma didn’t follow certain principles. It’s all about keeping things in flow.
Karma is just about cause and effect.
— Sadhguru, trainer of A Yogi’s Guide to Joy
Like traffic laws keep order on the road, the 12 universal laws of karma keep life in balance. No cosmic overlord is forcing them against your will. The thing is, they just exist, shaping how energy moves through thoughts, actions, and experiences.
The more you understand them, the better you navigate life’s intersections:
The 12 laws of karma
Sure, you don’t have to follow these “rules of the road.” But if you ignore them, expect a few crashes along the way. But respect them, and you’ll move through life with ease, self-awareness, and flow.
Dive deeper into what each means:
- The great law. Whatever energy you put out—good, bad, or indifferent—eventually comes back. Like tossing a boomerang.
- The law of creation. Life doesn’t just happen; you’re constantly creating it through your thoughts, words, and actions.
- The law of humility. What you refuse to acknowledge will keep showing up until you do. Reality doesn’t bend for denial.
- The law of growth. You can’t control everything, but you can change yourself. And when you do, everything shifts.
- The law of responsibility. If the same problems keep following you, look at the common denominator: you.
- The law of connection. Every action, no matter how small, links to something bigger. Nothing exists in isolation.
- The law of focus. You can’t hold anger and gratitude at the same time. What you focus on expands.
- The law of giving and hospitality. You don’t just believe in kindness; you live it. Actions reveal truth.
- The law of the here and now. Stuck in the past? You’re blocking your path forward, so “unclog” your life by stepping out of your own way.
- The law of change. Life repeats lessons until you get the message. The sooner you do, the smoother the ride.
- The law of patience and reward. You can’t rush a harvest. The effort you put in today pays off in time.
- The law of significance and inspiration. Every choice carries weight. Even small acts can send ripples across lifetimes.
The thing is, the universe doesn’t concern itself with keeping scores; it just wants to keep you awake. The more you understand these laws, the less random life feels, and the easier it is to remember that you are in the driver’s seat all along.
The common misconceptions of karma
Yep, it’s real tempting to think of karma as a lurking force, ready to strike when you least expect it. Or a single life sentence you need to serve from womb to tomb (the horror).
At least, that’s what the gossip around town suggests about its status. And you may have heard it all:
“Karma’s coming for him.”
“She had it coming.”
“It’s called instant karma, babe.”
The problem is, none of it is true. Yet, people try to become stable by controlling their lives with these misinterpretations that ironically fuel their false beliefs. “But real stability comes from seeing everything utterly clearly,” Sadhguru says.
So, in the name of clarity, let’s set the record straight and establish what karma is… by understanding what it’s not.
1. Karma is not instant punishment or revenge
If karma worked like express shipping, people would be tripping over their consequences left and right. But it doesn’t—seriously, no bearded man is keeping receipts up there—and thank goodness for that.
As Sadhguru is quick to remind us all, “Karma is just about cause and effect.”
Think about it: Someone cuts you off in traffic, and instead of instantly getting rear-ended by another car (as you secretly hope), they might go about their day just fine. Their actions will have consequences—maybe in how they handle stress, how their relationships unfold, or the type of energy they attract—but it’s not about a lightning-fast reaction.
And that whole “instant karma” thing? Sure, sometimes life serves poetic justice in real-time. But more often, karma is a slow burn, accumulating over time like interest on a bank account… except you’re the one making the deposits.
2. You’re not “stuck” with bad karma
A rough past doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a rough future, no matter how much your hardships and traumas try to convince you otherwise.
And if anything, the real issue isn’t karma trapping you. It’s you unknowingly hitting replay on the same behaviors. “If you do not overcome these tendencies, the past will keep repeating itself,” Sadhguru points out.
Think about that friend who keeps attracting toxic romantic partners. Their faces change, but your friend’s script about them stays the same. They vent to you, swear they’ve learned their lesson… and then, boom—new person, same pattern.
But, unlike what they’d like to believe, it’s not “fate” or a “prison sentence.” Maybe they grew up watching a parent stuck in that same cycle, and now it’s wired into them.
Here’s the good news, though: self-awareness flips the switch. Your past only writes your future if you let it. The moment you stop running on autopilot, you start making new choices. (Pro-tip: maybe slip this truth into your next heart-to-heart with that friend.)
3. Karma’s ultimately about perception
“Karma is not in what is happening to you,” Sadhguru says. ”Karma is in the way you experience and respond to what is happening to you.”
Really sit on this for a minute.
Two people can go through the same event, but their internal realities can be worlds apart. One sees an ending and clings to the blame game, while the other sees growth and sets up a new beginning. The difference in their experiences? Perception.
Like Wayne Dyer once said, “The difference between a weed and a flower is judgment.”
So, the moment you shift your lens on life, you shift your experiences. Let this truth be the boundary between you and the seductive lures of self-doubt.
How to transform your karma in daily life
Your karmic “health” depends on how you play the one you already have. The thoughts, actions, and reactions you have today can either reinforce old cycles or help you break free from them.
“Your experience of life is where your destiny is,” Sadhguru shares. “Because it’s your experience of life that determines the quality of your life.”
What’s interesting here is that his view corroborates with psychologist Carl Jung’s famous saying on shadow work and how self-reflection practices lead to self-awareness: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
So, here’s the playbook on shifting your karma from unconscious repetition to conscious transformation:
1. Assume absolute responsibility for yourself
No more pointing fingers at the past, bad luck, or cosmic punishment. If life is a series of memories imposed onto each other, then karma is, in essence, all of you.
“If you see ‘my life is my karma,’ your successes and failures are yours. The moment you see it is all yours, you will do the best you can,” Sadhguru says.
Here’s how to do it:
- Catch yourself right in the thick of blame mode. Notice when you’re shifting your responsibility onto others or external events. Ask yourself, “Which part of this situation is within my control?”
- Own your reactions. You can’t always control what happens, but you can choose how you respond. If your emotions are running the show, step back and ask: Is this helping me?
- Audit your patterns. If the same problems keep showing up in your life, they’re trying to tell you something. Journal about recurring challenges and see the common thread.
Karma shifts at the turning points of your life. So, when responsibility stops feeling like a burden and starts feeling like power, you can best believe that change is on the horizon.
2. Master your inner world before anything else
Most people try to change external circumstances first—switching jobs, ending relationships, chasing distractions—without ever looking inward.
But the universe doesn’t respond to what you want. Rather, it responds to what you already believe yourself to be—inside.
“Human experience is caused from within,” Sadhguru says. “At least what is happening from within us must happen our way.”
So, before trying to fix your outer circumstances, set your foundation with these steps:
- Observe your mind like a third person. Pay attention to your thoughts without judgment. Are they helping or hurting? If you catch yourself spiraling, pause—this is the moment karma can shift.
- Stop being a slave to emotions. Getting stuck in anger, guilt, or anxiety means handing your power away. Instead, when an emotion flares up, ask, “What is this trying to show me?”
- Practice stillness daily. You can’t rewrite your karma if your brain is always on autopilot. So, give your mind space to reset, whether through meditation, mindful breathing, monk mode, or dopamine fasting.
When in doubt, fall back on this golden rule of thumb: karma doesn’t change when life gets easier. It changes when you get clearer.
Your experience of life is where your destiny is. Because it’s your experience of life that determines the quality of your life.
– Sadhguru, trainer of A Yogi’s Guide to Joy
3. Practice making conscious choices, no matter how small
Karma is shaped in the tiny, everyday moments—a truth most people slip past and don’t even notice until it’s too late to change.
Neale Donald Walsch, the author of Conversations with God and an esteemed Mindvalley trainer, said it best in his book: “A life lived of choice is a life of conscious action. [And] a life lived of chance is a life of unconscious creation.”
Now, the question is: How can you ensure you’re living consciously for the most part?
Find out your sweet spot in three steps:
- Before reacting, take a breath. A delayed email, a rude comment, traffic—these are choice points where you can either repeat old patterns or break them.
- Break one cycle at a time. If you always procrastinate, snap at your partner, or doom-scroll at midnight, start there. One shift at a time creates momentum.
- Choose who you want to be in every interaction. The words you use, the way you treat people, the energy you bring into a room—all of it reinforces your karma.
Small choices compound. Pile them up through habit-stacking or skill-stacking, and suddenly, you’re not just living differently. You become different as a whole.
4. Live as if your future is already here—the way you want it to be
If your current karma is a result of past choices, then your future karma is being shaped right now.
“The past exists only in your memory, the future only in your imagination,” explains Sadhguru in his program. “The only thing you have is now.”
So, make the most of it with:
- Scripting manifestation. Address yourself as if you’re the you that’s already achieved everything you want. Why? Your brain doesn’t know the difference between the past, present, and future. So you might as well leverage this natural “setting” to introduce new beliefs and master how to reprogram your subconscious mind.
- A tribe with your vibe. Your environment influences your choices. So, surround yourself with people who reflect your future reality, not your past.
- Daily intention-setting. Positive affirmations are everything. Even something simple like “Today, I respond with patience” or “I make choices that align with my higher self” can rewire your perception—and karma—over time.
Step into your envisioned future deliberately every single day, and it won’t be long before your entire life shifts.
Frequently asked questions
Is karma real?
If you’re talking about cause and effect and how every thought, action, and reaction has an impact on reality, then karma is as real as gravity.
But if you’re picturing some celestial accountant keeping score of your good and bad deeds, waiting to dish out payback, then no, that version doesn’t exist.
How exactly can science illustrate this? Well, the famous double-slit experiment is where things get interesting: it shows that reality itself shifts depending on whether or not it’s being observed—a.k.a., the observer effect. So if science tells us that our perception literally alters reality, then the idea of karma—a system shaped by our thoughts, actions, and awareness—fits right in.
Even Neale, in his book, challenges the idea of karma as a rigid debt system, saying that we’re not here to pay for past mistakes but to expand and evolve into our highest potential.
So, if you’re worried about being “stuck” with bad karma, don’t be. The moment you become aware of how you’re shaping your life, you gain the power to shift it.
Explore Neale’s greater view on the topic:
What religion is karma associated with?
Let’s say karma is a river. Every action you take drops a pebble into it, creating ripples that shape the current. Some pebbles barely cause a stir, while the other ones you throw may create waves that flow far beyond what you can see.
This is where different traditions frame karma in their own ways:
What is karma in Hinduism?
Hindu philosophy ties karma to samsara, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The ripples of past actions don’t disappear; they merge into the flow of lifetimes, influencing where the river leads next.
In an episode of Oprah’s Lifeclass series, renowned spiritual teacher and bestselling author Deepak Chopra had this to say on the topic: “Karma means you have to live with the consequences of the actions you have taken in the past. Whatever you put out is coming back.”
What is karma in Buddhism?
Buddhism shifts the focus from mere reincarnation to intention—why you drop a pebble matters just as much as what you drop. The goal isn’t just to stay afloat but to reach stillness, to step out of suffering and into enlightenment (nirvana).
And it all has to do with the intention behind what you choose to do. “Karma means action,” described the Dalai Lama once. “And action motivated by compassion is good.” A selfless act done with kindness creates positive karmic ripples, while actions driven by greed or anger reinforce suffering.
In other traditions
The concept of cause and effect itself is essentially religionless. Its fundamental principles appear across many belief systems, proving it’s a universal truth we all share.
Here’s how karma is understood across other traditions:
- Jainism takes it further, viewing karma as an actual substance that clings to the soul.
- Sikhism acknowledges karma but emphasizes divine grace.
- Christianity echoes it in Galatians 6:7: “A man reaps what he sows.”
- Islam hints at it in the Quran (chapter 99: verses 7-8): “Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”
- Judaism recognizes the concept of middah k’neged middah—or “measure for measure”—to show that actions have corresponding consequences.
- The Mayans viewed the universe as interconnected, with every action influencing the cosmic balance.
Like Dalai Lama once sums it for us all: “Irrespective of whether we are believers or agnostics, whether we believe in God or karma, moral ethics is a code which everyone is able to pursue.”
So, no matter where you look or which holy text you flip through, the law of cause and effect keeps making an entrance. And why wouldn’t it? We share the same Earth, breathe the same air, move beneath the same stars, and are bound by the same unseen forces that shape everything—karma included.
What is karma yoga?
Simply put, it’s the yoga of action—selfless action, to be exact. It’s about doing what needs to be done without expecting a reward, recognition, or a pat on the back.
Sadhguru describes it as “a way of transforming your karma by being fully involved in whatever you do, without attachment.” In real life, it looks like:
- Working without worrying about the results,
- Giving without needing something in return, and
- Simply acting because it’s the right thing to do.
That meal you cook for your neighbors? It’s not meant to garner compliments but because it needs to be cooked so they can nourish themselves.
And that elderly person you help cross the road? You do it not for some cosmic brownie points but because they need help and you happen to be at the right place at the right moment.
Mastering karma yoga, in the end, really boils down to how you show up, not about what you’d get out of life’s moments. And ironically, that’s what changes everything to be in your favor.
Expand your consciousness
If life is an entire operating system, then your karma is the software that runs the show. “Right now, you’re operating according to the software that you have become,” says Sadhguru. And this software’s codes, he adds, were “written into you haphazardly, by anybody and everybody you came in touch with.”
But the good news? These codes aren’t permanent. “If we want some transformation to happen, we have to create a little space between you and your software,” he concludes.
And in that space is where true freedom begins.
To cultivate this it (and your “reprogramming” skills), you need only sign up for A Yogi’s Guide to Living in Bliss, Sadhguru’s free Mindvalley masterclass. Here, you’ll discover his foundation for karma mastery through lessons on:
- How to stop suffering before it even starts,
- Why happiness isn’t something you chase but something you are,
- The force-free way to dissolve stress and anxiety,
- How to break free from old habits and unconscious cycles,
- Why playfulness is the key to deep spiritual growth,
- And more.
No rush, no “right way” to adhere to. Just an open invitation to break free from the clutches of limiting beliefs and dive right into a life of true happiness.
So, if you’ve ever felt like there’s something more to all of this, then consider this “call” the sign you’ve been waiting for.
Welcome in.
