That's a deep question. The way I look at things, I basically sum it up as "What goes around, comes around." Period. Only do unto others what you would have done unto you.
I take this philosophy into account in everything I do. If I cut someone off on the freeway, I automatically put my guard up, because I KNOW that this is going to happen to me soon. When it does and I get cut off, I don't get mad, because I'm consciously aware that "I got what was due to me!"
Might seem strange, but it's a recipe for healthy living. Even if someone cuts me off without me being owed a "cutting off", I try not to get ticked, because I know if I retaliate, it will just come back to me.
So who decides what's good and bad? Deep down within myself, I just seem to know what is right and what is wrong. I would think that we all have this natural born ability, if we listen to our heart.
Keep smiling,
Jeff Mash
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That is an interesting question. But I do not think that good or bad really come into the picture or are that important. What I really think is the base of it is you reap what you sow. A really good example of this is with what has happened with Corporations recently. The top dogs were doing some illegal or just dishonest things. Well it all came back to get them. I do not exactly see this, or any Karma, as some great being sitting somewhere dishing out judgements but rather as natural law. For every action there is a reaction. You are walking down the street and give a stranger a friendly smile. It brightens their day and they pass someone else giving them a friendly smile in turn brightening that person's day. That person passes you on the street giving you a friendly smile. A simple example, but I think it shows how your actions can come back to you. Likewise by doing something dishonest or negative can come back to you as well. So who decides what is good or bad. I would say it is you. It would all depend on how you see something and take it in as being good or bad. What is good for one person may be seen as being bad to another. The actions can continue in the cycle, but they all may be seen as having different values.
First off I agree with FallnAngel in that karma is neither good nor bad.
I think karma is the totality of the learning lessons we need to go through in order to reach the source divinity we departed from way back when (first incarnation). When we act and decide in a manner that is aligned with the karma we advance more easily thus receiving what could be called 'good' karma.
When we go against the lesson plan we get an additional lesson heaped on us, usually this sucks. This could be called 'bad' karma'.
But in reality both cases are neutral.
2cents
jouni
Very good question. I'll pass on some info on this I received from a guru named Swami B. V. Tripurari. This may or may not answer your question.
"When we witness the passing of our good and bad karma without reacting to it, we progress in spiritual life."
He continues...
"...You should make an effort to be equipoised. Try to view both the
happiness and distress (Good or Bad karma) of your life philosophically, knowing them to be different than they appear. Try to understand these experiences in light of the teachings of Bhagavad-gita. In this way you will gradually change your angle of vision. This is the gateway to realizing the truth of our karmic experience.
Witnessing the passing of our karma means to view the world from one
step removed. This is the life of a spiritual practitioner. He or she is not a liberated soul nor a soul bound by karma, but rather a spiritual practitioner, one step removed from the world, one step short of liberation, and one and a half steps short of love of God."
So to someone who's a spiritual practitioner, it shouldn't matter what karma we are experiencing as we should be indifferent to it, realizing that it's just a temporary position and the situation will change in the near future.
Hope that helps
What exactly is dictated as good or bad karma? who or what decides what is good or bad?