Karma: Beyond “What Goes Around Comes Around”

Carl Morton
Oct 8
4 min read

What Karma Really Means

Most people know karma through the saying, “what goes around comes around.” This makes it sound like a cosmic scoreboard: do good, receive good; do bad, receive bad. While appealing, that view is limited.

Traditional Indian philosophy offers something far more practical. Karma is not punishment or reward from outside, it is cause and effect in the inner world. Every thought, word, and action leaves a trace on the mind, influencing how we think, feel, and act in the future.

Samskaras: Traces on the Mind

In classical terms, each action creates an impression called a samskara. These impressions are shaped by the emotions tied to the action. Over time, they accumulate, forming habits and tendencies that guide future choices.

It’s not the action alone that creates karma, but the emotional residue attached to it. Even pleasant experiences leave subtle traces, reinforcing desires and aversions.

Karma as a Cycle of Cause and Effect

Karma unfolds as a repeating cycle:

Action → Impression → Habit → Future Action

Like ripples from a pebble dropped in water, each action spreads outward, shaping our inner world. And just as ripples overlap, countless actions are happening all the time, weaving together into a vast web of cause and effect.

This cycle explains why we sometimes feel “trapped” in patterns: anger giving rise to more anger, craving feeding more craving, kindness strengthening kindness.

Everyday Examples of Karma in Action

1. A Heated Argument

Losing your temper with someone may feel justified at the time, but the emotional charge leaves a trace that makes you more reactive in the future.

2. A Kind Gesture

Helping a friend strengthens patience, generosity, and empathy, planting seeds for more compassionate action.

3. Enjoying a Treat

Savoring a dessert creates pleasure. Without awareness, it can feed craving. With awareness, the same act can be enjoyed lightly, leaving no binding trace.

In each case, karma is not cosmic judgment. It is simply cause and effect in motion.

Intention, Acceptance, and Freedom

Classical texts like the Bhagavad Gita remind us that not all actions bind. What matters is the mental attitude behind them. Actions done with ego, desire, and attachment create strong impressions. Selfless or devotional actions carry less karmic weight.

But even pure intentions can stir turbulence if we resist the outcome. A heartfelt action might still trigger anger or confusion in others, and if we can’t accept this, it leaves a mark on us too.

This is where acceptance and ultimately surrender, becomes the key. Intention may reduce karmic weight, but acceptance dissolves it. When we act sincerely, then let go of the results, impressions lose their power to bind.

Modern Science Echoes Karma

Neuroscience and psychology echo this ancient truth.

Neuroplasticity shows that repeated thoughts and emotions strengthen neural pathways: neurons that fire together, wire together.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) works by noticing and reshaping ingrained patterns, just as mindfulness and meditation reduce the grip of samskaras.

Acceptance-based therapies show that resisting emotions intensifies them, while gentle awareness helps them dissolve.

Science and philosophy converge: cause and effect is not mystical, it is the natural way the mind is shaped.

Practical Ways to Work With Karma

1. Mindfulness – Notice emotions as they arise without acting on autopilot.

2. Acceptance – Allow experiences, even uncomfortable ones, to come and go without clinging or resistance.

3. Letting Go – When old memories resurface, breathe deeply and release the emotional charge instead of reinforcing it.

4. Meditation – Cultivate inner stillness so impressions dissolve naturally and the mind becomes less reactive.

These simple practices interrupt the cycle, loosening the grip of impressions and creating more freedom in daily life.

Karma as a Path to Inner Freedom

Seen this way, karma is not about cosmic punishment or reward. It is about how every choice shapes the mind.

With unconscious action, we get caught in endless ripples of reactivity. With intention and acceptance, we begin to live more lightly. Over time, surrender brings the deepest freedom: to act fully in the world without being bound by it.

Karma is not destiny written elsewhere, it is the story you are writing in your own mind, moment by moment.

My Personal Journey

There was a time when I believed karma meant “I must have done something to deserve this.” During challenges, such as when a neighbor created chaos around my home, I spiraled into “why me?” thinking, which only deepened my suffering.

Later, I realized: this was not punishment. It was cause and effect playing out. The real key was acceptance. Instead of “poor me,” the question became: “How can I accept and respond to this challenge wisely?”

That shift, from self-blame to acceptance, transformed how I understood karma. And it is this balance of intention and acceptance that I now share with others.

Closing Reflection

Karma is not something distant or abstract, it is alive in every moment. Each thought, word, and action plants a seed in the mind. Whether those seeds bind us or set us free depends less on what we do, and more on how we relate to the results.

By acting with sincerity, releasing the outcome, and practicing acceptance, we begin to live with greater lightness. Karma then becomes not a burden to carry, but a teacher guiding us toward freedom.