An intriguing question! And here is the scientific answer to what are karmas and how does the Soul remain connected. To begin, we will explore karma and then look at the connection to the Soul.

Karma
Supporting any action with the claim, ‘I am doing it’ is karma. To confirm the action with the belief of, 'I am the doer' is called binding of karma. For example, when the body is carrying out its duties, and one claims that ‘I am doing, I am thinking or I am feeling’, all of these charge karma. However, if one has the awareness that, ‘I am not the doer’, and understands which entity is the doer (nature), then karmas are not charged.

The karmas are charged because of one’s ignorance of their real Self.

The Soul
The Soul is one’s real Self. The Soul, by its inherent nature, is completely pure. However, the Soul is covered by the charged subatomic particles of karma. A Soul covered with karma is called a ‘living being’.

The Journey of Soul
The initial state: The living being has no identity and is awaiting an entry into worldly life.
Before a living being enters into the worldly cycle, in the initial stage, the Soul is totally covered by layers and layers of karma. The Soul beneath the coverings gets neither spoilt nor destroyed. It always remains pure, even when it is totally covered with dense layers of coverings of karma all over it.

The living beings, when in such a state, are called ‘Nigod’. There are infinite Souls in this stage where they are fully covered with karma. Not a ray of light of the knowledge of Soul is able to come out through the coverings. This implies, not a single sense has been developed in these living beings and therefore, they are in a complete dormant stage.

The worldly state: The living being gains identity and develops in the world.
When one Soul from this world attains liberation, one Soul from the Nigod enters the worldly cycle. With this, the latter begins its journey in this world.

Only a little covering from over the Soul of the Nigod gets removed from where little light of Soul comes out, and thus, one sense is developed. The living beings, at this stage, are in bondage of karma. At every stage, the living beings go through enormous suffering due to a load of karma coverings. These coverings on the Soul keep reducing as one’s development progresses naturally.

Very gradually, the living being develops from one-sensed to two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, five-sensed, and then the living being comes into human life-form, where one’s mind, intellect, ego get developed.

When in human form, one creates new karmas with the help of the mind, intellect, and ego. Based on these karmas, the living being reincarnates in either celestial, human, animal or hell realm. In each life, the being suffers the effects of the causes (karmas) made.

Ultimately, when one gets Self-realisation, the worldly development completes there; new karmas stop being charged. When all the old karmas also discharge without any interference, one attains total liberation!

The liberated state: The ultimate liberation happens, as the Soul leaves the mortal world.
Here, the Soul is totally disconnected from all karmas. These are the liberated Souls. They are Absolute Souls, free from the bondage of every karma. This stage can only be attained when every single karma has been dissolved! And therefore, they do not come back in this world.
How does the Soul remain connected with Karma?
The Soul (always pure) and karma (the subatomic particles) come into connection owing to the wrong belief that has arisen on account of the ignorance of the Self.

There are 2 things:
1.The real Self i.e. the Pure Soul; and
2.The relative (worldly) self, i.e. John (you may insert your name here). John is the model that has been created on account of charging of karma in the past life, and which is discharging right now in this life.

The two remain connected until there exists a wrong belief that the worldly self (John) is my real Self.
By wrong belief, we feel oneness with John, his mind, thoughts, his intellect, speech, behaviour. Whenever John makes a decision, we feel, ‘I have made a decision (I am the doer).’ Consequently, if somebody insults John, we feel, ‘I suffered due to this insult.’ So, our belief is wrong. And due to wrong belief, we are involved in John, and hence, we continue to bind new and new karma.

This connection can only be broken after one attains Self-Realization
When the Enlightened One, with his divine spiritual powers, changes our wrong belief to the right belief, we attain Self-Realization (in just two hours, through Gnan Vidhi in Akram Vignan). Through this knowledge of the Self, one stops charging new karma by remaining in the awareness of, ‘I am a pure Soul and not the doer.’ This results in the Soul breaking free from the connection of karmas!

To know more: https://www.dadabhagwan.org/path-to-happiness/spiritual-science/the-scie...

Author's Bio: 

Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifest within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization.