F01. What is karma — the actual definition, not the popular one?
The short answer: Karma means action. But in its full meaning it is the physics of impression — the precise mechanism by which every engagement leaves a mark on the subtle body of the soul, and those marks shape every subsequent experience. Not moral accounting. Not cosmic reward and punishment. Physics.
The framework: The popular version of karma is a simplified moral ledger — do good things and good things happen to you, do bad things and bad things happen to you. This version is not entirely wrong. It is approximately true at the grossest level. But it misses the actual mechanism so completely that it produces confusion rather than clarity about how life actually works.
The actual definition: karma is the totality of accumulated impressions — Samskaras — deposited through every action, every engagement, every thought and feeling that carried enough charge to leave a mark. These impressions accumulate in the subtle body of the soul across lifetimes. They constitute the Sanchit — the total stored account. The portion of that account that is activated and unfolding in the current life is the Prarabdha — the destiny karma that is already in motion. What is being generated right now, in real time, through the quality of present engagement, is the Kriyaman.
The mechanism is not moral. A kind action leaves an impression. A cruel action leaves an impression. Both deposit. Both accumulate. Both shape future experience. The difference is not that one is tracked as credit and one as debt — the difference is in the specific vibrational frequency of the impression and the corresponding experience it will eventually produce. Good impressions produce pleasant corresponding experiences. Negative impressions produce painful ones. But both bind the soul to the cycle. Both keep the account running.
This is why the tradition says that good karma and bad karma are both karma. Both are entries in the Sanchit. Both require corresponding experiences to discharge. Both keep the soul cycling through the realms until the account is cleared or the account holder dissolves.
The turn: Understanding karma as impression physics rather than moral accounting changes what you are trying to do with your life. Not accumulate more good entries. Dissolve the mechanism itself. That requires something different from good behavior — it requires the practice.