Karma
Paramahansa Yogananda in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI, Self Realization Fellowship, 1990, writes,
Did I create fear in others?
Categories Of Karma
There are options available according to the temperament and needs of an individual. When man does nothing he does not tread on others feet, he does not mess up others life, he does not change things and create happenings and he does not resists changes. He does not actively participate in the happenings around him but instead will be just watching. This applies to mendicants, monks and saints.
For those like us who are engaged in daily activity, activity is allowed and in fact encouraged provided he does not expect gains and is not attached to its results. He actively participates in the happenings around him but is not attached to the results of these activities.
The subject of karma has been extensively researched and written by many outstanding saints and authors.
"What you are is what you have been, what you will be is what you do now" goes the saying of the Buddha.
"If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look at your present actions" says Padmasambhava.
Annie Besant and Bhagawan Das in SANATANA DHARMA by the Theosophical Publishing House, 2000 write,
"Karma literally means action, but as every action is triple in its nature, belonging partly to the past, partly to the present and partly to the future, it has come to mean the sequence of events, the law of causes and effects, the succession in which each effect follows its own cause. What is called the consequence of an action is really not a separate thing but is a part of the action, and cannot be divided from it. Nothing occurs which is not linked to the past and to the future."
Eknath Easwaran in DIALOGUE WITH DEATH - A Journey Through Consciousness, Jaico Publishing House, 2002, says,
Hindu and Buddhist mystics would go so far as to say that we have come into this life expressly to fulfill our unfulfilled desires, which as unconscious drives or samskaras shape everything we do. The slightest thought has consequences, as does the slightest act. Over the years it is the sum of all these consequences, large and small, that shapes our lives. Nothing that he says, thinks or does is without consequences. Thoughts are the very source of our karma, for from our thoughts flows everything: words, actions, desires, decisions, and destiny."Eknath Easwaran goes further to remind us that "Karma is not imposed by some cosmic lawgiver outside us."
Swami Rajarshi Muni in YOGA – The Ultimate Attainment, Jaico Publishing House, 2004, explains karma.
"During each earthly existence, a soul creates innumerable karmas in the form of thoughts, words, and actions. These karmas leave behind corresponding subliminal impressions that are carried forward with the subtle body from one life to the next. When these latent impressions become activated at opportune moments in the present life, or in a future life, they awaken into desires, which then amass volitional energy sufficient to lead the soul to perform new karmas. Thus the karmas of the present life lead to the karmas of future lives. They establish a continuous and unending chain of causes and effects."
Ram Das in PATH TO GOD - Living The Bhagavadgita, Harmony Books, 2004, says it beautifully,
"Every act we do creates vasana, life waves, based on the desires connected with the act. Even when we die, they continue; the physical body dies, and what remains are those subtle life waves, those mental tendencies that function like a kind of psychic DNA code to determine your next round."
Ram Das extols his guru in the way his guru could see the whole pattern of life evolving.
"Since I could only see the stage that I was in at the moment, I always caught up in reaching for this or grabbing for that or pushing away the other thing. But Maharajji could see the whole pattern evolving. When you’re at that stage, you see in advance the direction the karmic waves are taking, and you know exactly why it’s all happening the way it is."
"The effort is part of the karma, as much as the goodness or badness: karma is not a finished thing awaiting us, but a constant becoming, in which the future is not only shaped by the past but is modified by the present."Sogyal Rinpoche in his book THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING, HarperSanFrancisco, 1993, mentions,
"Usually we forget what we do, and it is only long afterward that the results catch up with us. By then we are unable to connect them with their causes. The results of our actions are often delayed, even into future lifetimes; we cannot pin down one cause, because any event can be an extremely complicated mixture of many karmas ripening together."
Ramalinga Adigal in his ―MANUMURAI KANDA VASAGAM mentions the probabilities for one’s rebirth. It is an eye opener and quite frightening too.
Did I create fear in others?
Did I hurt my loved ones?
Did I summon and tarnish others,
Did I stop others from making donations?
Did I smear my friends?
Did I sabotage friendships?
Did I speak gossip that lead to families being destroyed,
Did I refused to help one in need,
Did I increase taxes and rob others,
Did I make the poor suffer?
Did I act unjustly?
Did I stop the means of income of others?
Did I entice others and cheat them,
Did I rip work but refused to pay accordingly,
Did I adulterate rice with pebbles?
Did I ignore the hungry?
Did I refrain from feeding the poor?
Did I exposed those that had taken refuge with me,
Did I aid those who committed murder?
Did I scout and spy on behalf of thieves,
Did I snatch properties belonging to others and lied to them?
Did I sleep with those who had lost their virginity?
Did I abuse virgins who I had a responsibility to protect?
Did I rape those who already had had a husband?
Did I lock up birds in their cages?
Did I not feed the calves?
Did I build up this body by consuming meat?
Did I poison drinking water?
Did I fell trees that gave us shade?
Did I destroy others out of revenge?
Did I demolish public halls?
Did I not listen to my parents?
Did I not greet my guru?
Did I not give my guru his dues, for his sustenance?
Did I envy the learned?
Did I find mistakes in the writings of the wise?
Did I offend devotees of Siva?
Did I offend the yogis?
Did I prevent the public from conducting their prayers by shutting the doors to the temples?
Did I smear the name of the Lord?
What sin did I do, I do not know,
the siddha questions himself?Categories Of Karma
Just as Annie Besant and Bhagawan Das mentioned that karma was action and that every action is triple in its nature, three distinguished categories of karma are revealed by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.
Ancient yogis, in psychically studying the timeline of cause and effect, assigned three categories to karma.
1. The first is sanchita (samcita), the sum total of past karma yet to be resolved.2. The second category is prarabdha, that portion of sanchita karma being experienced in the present life.3. Kriyamana, the third type, is karma you are presently creating.
Annie Besant and Bhagawan Das in SANATANA DHARMA by the Theosophical Publishing House, 2000 define and expand further these three types of karma. They name Kriyamana as Vartamana.
1. Samcita is the accumulated karma of the past, and is partly seen in the character of the man, in his powers, weaknesses and capacities. That which was in the olden time produced in many births. Mans tendencies come from this.2. Prarabdha is that which is ripe for reaping and which cannot be avoided; it is only exhausted by being experienced. From the midst of the samcitas is selected a portion, and, at the time of the beginning of the body, time energizes this. That, which has begun, is actually bearing fruit.3. Vartamana (Kriyamana) is that which is now being created. That karma which is being done. The actual, that which is now being made for the future, or the coming karma.
Can We Bring An End To Karma?
William Hart in the ART OF LIVING – Vipassana Meditation, Vipassana Research Institute, 2005 assures us that there is an escape route. He says there is a portion of karma that we can take into our hands and hence redesign our lives.
All beings own their deeds, inherit their deeds, originate from their deeds, and are tied to their deeds; their deeds are their refuge. As their deeds are base or noble, so will be their lives. We can each become master of our fate by becoming master of our actions. Each of us has the means to end the suffering in our actions.
1. Samcita karma gathered and collected can be reduced, changed or entirely wiped out.2. Prarabdha karma which is actually bearing fruit this moment cannot be changed. You have to endure it.3. Vartamana (Kriyamana) is in your hands. You can redesign your future.
So How Can We Work Out Karma?
Having understood karma and its domino effects one is required to tread carefully so as not to incur more negative karma but instead increase the positive karma. It is of utmost importance that man stays clear of these negative activities. Man has to refrain from performing even the positive karma eventually for that too would result in being born again to enjoy the fruits of his good action. Does that mean that he would have to even forego doing good that results in good karma and having to take birth again in order to reap the benefits of the good done in the past life? So does that mean to end this circle of birth one would have to do nothing? Will doing nothing be another solution to overcome this birth?
There are options available according to the temperament and needs of an individual. When man does nothing he does not tread on others feet, he does not mess up others life, he does not change things and create happenings and he does not resists changes. He does not actively participate in the happenings around him but instead will be just watching. This applies to mendicants, monks and saints.
For those like us who are engaged in daily activity, activity is allowed and in fact encouraged provided he does not expect gains and is not attached to its results. He actively participates in the happenings around him but is not attached to the results of these activities.
The most compassionate Siddhas have been guiding us through time through many modes; in moments of meditation as with Tavayogi and Thavathiru Rengara Desigar; with their direct darshans or visions as with Jnana Jyothi Amma; through dreams as Agathiyar promised in Bala Chandran's Nadi revelation; through objects or items that belong to the Siddhas as Agathiyar mentioned in Surendaran Selvaratnam's Jeeva Nadi or pass on messages through the medium of the Nadi as in my case.
Tavayogi was asked to set up an ashram and to conduct yagams besides feeding the poor and preaching about the Siddhas and their path; Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar runs a mission that feeds thousands daily; Jnana Jyothi Amma was asked to feed the poor kids which she does every pornami or full moon at Kallar; Bala has been dishing out portraits of Siddhas to the joy of the Siddhas; Suren has interviewed gurus and devotees on this path and lastly I was asked to install a statue of Agathiyar and to perform prayers, libation and homam. Initially I did not understand the purpose of doing these actions but later I came to realize the subtle meanings of performing these rituals and providing these services. In conducting the yagam and homam, Agathiyar says one does it for the benefit of mankind on the whole which also encompasses the individual. In feeding the poor and unfortunate, their hunger is alleviated and at the same time the karma of the donor reduced. From Agathiyar's revelation to Dr V.M.Jayapalan, we understand that besides the karma of the donor reduced by this compassionate act, the karma of those who partake the food is also removed.
True to the words of the Siddha Avvai, man needs to perform penances, charity and tapas to end this circle of birth. He needs to cleanse all karma through prayers. The sidhas give assurance that karma shall be cleansed by prayers. The karma shall be burnt away by the very fire of meditation, say the Siddhas. "Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the fires of divine wisdom" says Paramahansa Yogananda. Just as Paramahansa Yogananda advocates prayer, Tavayogi too says that prayers help. Astrologer and siddha practitioner Dr. Krishnan advocates the effectiveness of prayers too. Agathiyar in the Nadi says prayers definitely help overcome karma. Prayer and devotion helps expel karma.
Tavayogi was asked to set up an ashram and to conduct yagams besides feeding the poor and preaching about the Siddhas and their path; Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar runs a mission that feeds thousands daily; Jnana Jyothi Amma was asked to feed the poor kids which she does every pornami or full moon at Kallar; Bala has been dishing out portraits of Siddhas to the joy of the Siddhas; Suren has interviewed gurus and devotees on this path and lastly I was asked to install a statue of Agathiyar and to perform prayers, libation and homam. Initially I did not understand the purpose of doing these actions but later I came to realize the subtle meanings of performing these rituals and providing these services. In conducting the yagam and homam, Agathiyar says one does it for the benefit of mankind on the whole which also encompasses the individual. In feeding the poor and unfortunate, their hunger is alleviated and at the same time the karma of the donor reduced. From Agathiyar's revelation to Dr V.M.Jayapalan, we understand that besides the karma of the donor reduced by this compassionate act, the karma of those who partake the food is also removed.
True to the words of the Siddha Avvai, man needs to perform penances, charity and tapas to end this circle of birth. He needs to cleanse all karma through prayers. The sidhas give assurance that karma shall be cleansed by prayers. The karma shall be burnt away by the very fire of meditation, say the Siddhas. "Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the fires of divine wisdom" says Paramahansa Yogananda. Just as Paramahansa Yogananda advocates prayer, Tavayogi too says that prayers help. Astrologer and siddha practitioner Dr. Krishnan advocates the effectiveness of prayers too. Agathiyar in the Nadi says prayers definitely help overcome karma. Prayer and devotion helps expel karma.