Talk delivered on 9th May 2012.

MANAGEMENT OF KARMA

 

My dear associates in the path,

 

My humble salutations to all of you the beloved of the Master.

     1.     Several questions arise in the minds of those who are so much concerned about petty issues that the main attention to be in the focus of the Master is forgotten and one thinks of the uselessness of spiritual gatherings. Master himself has stated that he is happy to be among such gatherings and he considers such association to be temples. In every one of you I see the seeker and the vision of lights of hearts is something beyond my capacity to express. For any good event to happen there should be as tradition says ‘sukrta’. 

     2.     Revered Babuji Maharaj, glory unto Him for eternity, having been entrusted with the task of restoring human dignity to its original condition has prescribed many spiritual practices of meditation and methods of purification to us in his effort to achieve His objective. He has given the logic or reason for every one of the practices and covered the complete gamut of philosophy, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, ethics, psychology etc., It may be observed there is a deeper appreciation of the problems of clearing off karma-load in his system. 

     3.     In his ‘Commentary on Ten Commandments’ he dedicates two commandments namely the 5th and 7th, to elucidate the value of the principles of 1. Foregoing Retaliation and 2. Accepting Responsibility. He commands us to “Be not revengeful for the wrongs done by others. Take them with gratitude as heavenly gifts.’ Why it should be so is explained by a detailed account of formation of samskaras. He states that no one suffers in contravention of the principle of karma and that we are the makers of what generally gets known as fate. He explains that when we do something applying our head and heart we form impressions thereof and they remain in seed form till they are washed off by our undergoing the effects thereof which is generally called as bhogam in yogic literature. Bhogam is essential and indispensable law of Nature. Because we think we are the doers we get attached to the bhogam and thus continue to form our samskaras. 

     4.     He further explains that according to the law of Nature everything tends to go back to its source and the culmination of our journey at the Homeland is already ordained. Since we attach ourselves to our samskaras continuously heat is generated and consequently heaviness grows unendurable and return to the origin becomes paramount. Even small effects get expanded when we tend to give power to those effects. This expansion is forceful according to the volume it covers. This expansion further envelops many a time the entire space reserved for bhogam. This is the reason we find our attachments covering several aspects of our life and though the suffering is initially due to a cause it covers the entire being. 

     5.     The actual circumstances for enjoying the bhogam or karma phalam may be internal or external. The external circumstances are natural helps arriving in the form of sufferings caused by the wrongs done by others. To think of retaliation for these wrongs is not proper because they in fact are the persons who helped us to purify ourselves and have put us in obligation. Thus the work done through an external agency, is to be understood as a function of a true friend. 

     6.     If we view the action of others from this perspective we clearly understand that there is no need for us to be the instrument to return a karmic reaction to someone else. For example if an individual is really nasty towards us, we feel the impulse to retaliate and be nasty to him. 

If we follow that track, we will create a new unseemly karma to face in the future. Better to let the law of karma take its own course without our intervention, which will generally happen through some other person with less self-control who does not understand this law of life. 

Let us take an example: a classic Rayalaseema family feuds where someone kills a person whose brother or son makes it a point to chase down the killer and he in turn pays the other in his own coin. This action-reaction cycle never ends. The basic emotion playing here is - revenge. If we ponder over what happens in the next life we understand that there is definitely a karma to be faced for killing in revenge. Wisdom tells us that it is better to let the Police ensure justice. We should understand that retaliation is a terrible, negative force. When we retaliate against others, we build up a bank account of negative karma that will come back on us with full force when we least expect it. 

     7.     Karma generally manifests through other people, and thus it is easy to see the other person as totally responsible for what happens to us. For example, we are attacked by a thief who strikes and steals our valuables. We are quite upset with the malicious thief. However, the mystical perspective is to see ourself as responsible for whatever happens to us. That is, we through our actions in the past, the creator of all that we experience in the present. We caused our loss; the thief is just the instrument for returning our karma.

Of course, it is easy to apply this principle when the effect is an enjoyable one and not so easy to apply it when it is not enjoyable, but in both cases we are equally responsible. In the end, we have no one to praise but ourself when our life is filled with successes and no one to blame but ourself when our life is filled with difficulties. 

     8.     We are thus being taught by the Master that, as long as we externalize the source of our successes and failures, we perpetuate the cycles of karma, good or bad. There is no one out there making it all happen. Our actions, thoughts and attitudes make it all happen and we must accept and bear our karma cheerfully. 

     9.     Master commands that we should not be revengeful for the wrongs done by others and take them as divine gifts. This obviously involves our forgiving the offender. This is another principle of life emanating from the Law of Karma. 

   10.   Quite often our actions are based upon an emotional reaction to what someone has done or said to us. The consequences of such actions are often not clearly and carefully thought about. For example, someone insults one and he in turn, insults him back. If he did reflect, he would have seen that the consequence of harming someone else with his words in the present is for him to be harmed again in the future by someone else's words. This behaviour creates an endless cycle of being harmed and harming others, which is only stopped by considering the consequences before acting and not harming back. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." So, too, instinctive retaliation ultimately makes the whole world angry. The principle of considering the karmic consequences pertains equally to positive actions. The wisest approach is to not simply react to things that happen to us, but to take time to consider the karmic repercussions of all actions before we take them and rely on a just Master. 

The habit of considering the consequences before acting can be developed at an early age when parents and teachers utilize positive discipline methods to help children face the natural and logical consequences of their actions. Master once cautioned me to keep track of my paces, as they make marks. He also told that each mark is a reward or a stumbling block in the path. 

Pranam.