Karma is defined as an ecosystem in Indian philosophical thought. All actions one does or has done in the past, have consequences for the present and the future, and these are loosely called as karma. Most treatises on karma are silent on what exactly karma is, how it affects our actions and what its nature is. In modern computing, most of the memory and information is stored in a cloud. This cloud is stored in servers — a physical entity, scattered all over the globe that store the information of individuals and organisations. This information can be obtained by the use of an appropriate login ID and password.

The advantage of cloud is that it prevents individual computers, tablets and phones from getting cluttered with extra storage memory. So, most of their memory can be used for processing data rather than storing information. Also, in the event of these machines getting destroyed or lost, the information always remains in the cloud, which can be later accessed via new machines. Similarly, it can be conjectured that all deep emotional memories of each individual go into a spiritual cloud called Knowledge Space (KS). KS can be defined as space that is filled with memories of very deep and intense thought and emotions, fundamental knowledge and discoveries.Similarly, intense negative thoughts and emotions like lust, hatred, jealousy and pain, which are also a product of intense concentration for a reasonably long time, may reside in KS.

Therefore, KS is a depository of both positive and negative emotional memories. Mundane and shallow thoughts are not stored in KS since the energy used in producing such memories is not strong enough to send them to KS. Since life forms are also a part of intense memories, KS may have templates of past life forms which manifest sometimes as ghosts! As we keep on adding information to our cloud, our profile keeps building up. This profile affects and influences our interaction in the cyber world. Similarly, our memories in KS affect our present and future behaviour.

If we remove the cloud completely, we can start afresh with new identity and information. In the same way, removal of memories from KS allows us to get away from the cycle of birth and death. This is what Patanjali talks about in his Yoga Darshan, when he says that resolution of gunas, memories, (their removal) removes their effect and the role of karma vanishes. Just like memories in cloud tell about the personality of a person and remain till they are erased, so too, memories in KS remain and can come to haunt us till they are removed.

Memories in KS, therefore, drive the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation.This is the revenge of karma. So how do we remove gunas from KS so that one can be liberated from the birth-death cycle? The first step is removal of memories from the brain, since it is the driving force for their transfer to KS. This can be done by sanyam, deep thought. Focussing on a single thought for a long time is sanyam. Practised daily and for many years, this has the ability to form new neural pathways.These new pathways remove old memories since the energy required to produce a single thought needs a high amount of processing memory which can only be made available by dissolving existing memories.

Removal of an individual’s memories from KS is very difficult since these are stable memories formed since ages. But when the brain becomes very powerful through sanyam, then it also gets the ability to access these memories from KS. This is the genesis of great discoveries. This naturally gives the brain the ability to modify and remove memories. This could also be the reason why advanced yogis are able to know their past karmas and births. Patanjali alludes to this in his Yoga Darshan when he says, “By making sanyam on previous thought waves and subliminal impressions, a yogi obtains knowledge of his previous lives”. Hence, by removing extraneous memories both from our brain and KS through sanyam, we can dissolve our karma and merge with Universal Consciousness.