DEFEATING KARMA

In the introduction to Lama Kunga Rimpoche and Brian Cutillo’s translation of MIRACULOUS JOURNEY - Further Stories and Songs of Milarepa, Lotsawa,1986, Vivian Sinder and Brian Cutillo write,

Mila's interactions established karmic connections with all sorts of people, enabling him to plant seeds for spiritual development in ways not always immediately comprehensible. The word karma means action. It refers to the operation of cause and effect in the mind; the complex network of past actions which conditions current perceptions and concepts, resulting in the habitual structuring of self and world. Any action, physical or mental, has repercussions within the realm of personal experience; each moment influences the next. Because the relationship between action and experience rules samsara, liberation is not attained by ignoring cause and effect. Instead, by working with it to create conditions conducive to spiritual growth, one creates a solid ground for the ultimate leap to freedom.

Milarepa spoke to simple folk about the need to make use of this precious human existence for spiritual advancement and not to ignore karma.

Similarly Agathiyar says one needs sufficient merits to be born as a human and speaks about the extent of karma from minutest to the most obvious. Agathiyar goes to show how minute and intricate the actions of karma are. For instance he explains the amount of karma that we keep on creating daily, right from picking a tender leaf or a flower bud to the most severe atrocities that humans do. 

A man has to take hundreds of thousands of birth several times just to realize and understand the existence, importance and intricacies of karma. Just as one can stay in the neighbourhood or vicinity of a temple, pass by the temple each day, numerous times but would not consider entering the temple to offer his prayers, similarly Agathiyar says for one just to have the thought of considering the outcome of karma in all his actions, he has to take on many births. My travel agent who arranged for me to go to India both times in 2003 and 2005, has been taking tourist from Malaysia to Vaitheeswaram to have their Nadi read but he had yet to read his Nadi. He never felt the urge or neccessity to consult the Nadi until a few years back.

Seeing a person is seeing karma in effect. Seeing a person is seeing his karma baggage. Mans thoughts is closely associated and driven by his karma. The subsequent actions that arise, result due to the planetary movements, that create an avenue, the space and time for him to reap what he has sowed. Ones karma creates incidents and situations which brings forth experiences to the person concern. These experiences then start to shape his thinking and opinion. If we closely follow, we realize its a cycle. Man has a choice to put an end to this cycle of birth by taking initiatives to exhaust his present and past karma and becoming aware not to create new ones.

Ones previous good karma and the amount of austerities or tavam put in in the past lives decides and determines the state of spiritual life and circle into which and where one would take birth respectively. If one prepares for the next birth by doing good, right here and now, a conducive environment is created for him to further advance spiritually in the next.

On the contrary, Agathiyar cautions us against doing or engaging in bad deeds as a chain of bad deeds eventually transforms itself as a disease. But the most compassionate Siddha has a solution for us. Visiting temples related to these diseases helps ease, bring relief or contain the disease. 

Bad deeds also create ignorance in one that makes it difficult for him to distinguish between the truth and false but rather go after things, working hard to a stage of self-exhaustion, and stressing himself out, all for the sake of things that neither last long nor are permanent. Instead Agathiyar says if at all there is a need to be stressful one should be stressed out that he has not yet achieved oneness with Erai or the Lord.

Agathiyar reveals the secret of rebirth. While the Devas and the more superior atma or souls take birth voluntarily, most man take birth as a result of curses, sins and karma that needs to be exhausted. Man with his sense of differentiating between the good and the bad, can initiate good deeds and do charity and service to humanity, thus eradicating all of his karma in a single birth. Animals are not capable of doing so, hence have to be born again and again as animals to exhaust all their karma. The atma that has taken on a form of an animal, for it to regain the human form, it will takes millions of kalpas. An animal birth is taken to exclusively cleanse itself of karma. It does not add further karma. It lives as long as it has karma to be exhausted. Once its karma is exhausted it dies. Eventually after many births it takes a birth as a human where it can think for itself. That’s the reason the human birth is considered superior and rare.

Agathiyar reveals further that by just being an animal, its karma is not automatically eradicated. Man through his actions of trapping it, capturing it, and torturing it helps remove its karma by taking it upon himself. But be aware whatever little merits that man has is passed on or transferred to the animal. At times, if karma permits, the animal purposely takes on the torture and pain to expedite their evolvement from an animal to back to a higher being.

Karma comes around and around weakening one. The only way out is to seek God, be devoted and perform charity. Thavathiru Rengaraja Desigar of Ongkarakudil has brought together a massive following of devotees who are committed in doing charity by way of feeding hundreds each day. This is a good start. Surendaran Selvaratnam visits both Kallar ashram and Ongkarakudil. I shall post photos that he had taken during his short visit to these places recently, once he passes them to me over this weekend.