Wednesday 9 October 2024

KARMA IS NOT MENACING

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in his book "Karma and Reincarnation - An Inspired Talk" speaks about Karma which is the the law of cause and effect and action and reaction. Sanchita karma is the sum total of past karma that has yet to be resolved. Prarabdha is that portion of Sanchita karma experienced in the present life. If we are currently dealing with Prarabdha karmic patterns for this birth, then how we will react to them is Kriyamana karma which is presently created.

"Sancita is the accumulated karma of the past and is partly seen as man's tendencies: character, his/her powers, capacities, and weaknesses, that came to be through his/her many births."

"From the midst of the Samcitas is selected a portion, Prarabdha and, at the time of the beginning of the body, time energizes this portion for reaping which cannot be avoided but must be experienced in the present life. Prarabdha is only exhausted by being experienced."

In essence, the Atma designs the right vessel and vehicle to contain and drive the past Karma to extinction, at least a portion of it that "we" can shoulder in a particular birth. Do not blame yourself for having to face your Karma for it is the Soul that has chosen to experience. Though the "I" in you suffers and feels the pain, anguish, misery, suffering, pleasure, and joy, the truth of the matter is that the Soul is experiencing all these through this body and its mental faculties. So when we equate the Soul or JeevAtma to the larger ParamAtma, the former being a part of the latter, it is God having the experience through "us". Let it be. It is only when the "I" intervenes that it becomes personal and we add to the baggage. 

This is what Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama in "Karma and Reincarnation", Piatkus, 1992 suggests too, "Dissolving karma through learning detachment - non-action within an action." 

From Henry Wei in the "Guiding Light of Lao Tzu", Synergy Books International, we learn that,

"So much emphasis does Lao Tzu lay on the most important doctrine in regard to spiritual cultivation known as Wu Wei or non-action which is in the sense of non-interference, that is to say, non-interference with the trend of nature or the flow of Tao."

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami speaks about yet another Karma.

"Vartamana or Kriyamana, the third type is karma which is now being created. That karma is being done. The actual, that which is now being made for the future, or the coming karma."

Paramahansa Yogananda in his "Autobiography of a Yogi", Self Realization Fellowship, 1990, writes,

"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."

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami continues, 

"While God is the creator and sustainer of the cosmic law of karma, He does not dispense individual karma. He does not produce cancer in one person’s body and develop Olympic athletic prowess in another’s. We create our own experiences. It is really an exercising of our soul’s powers of creation. Karma, then, is our best spiritual teacher. We spiritually learn and grow as our actions return to us to be resolved and dissolved... there is the self-created experience that presents opportunities for spiritual advancement." As "It is an effect of a previous cause", the concept, and idea of revealing our past Karma is to bring us to understand the law of cause and effect and action and reaction, outcomes of our actions, and handle the situation on hand carefully and make us accountable for all our actions. Agathiyar too told me to understand the workings of Karma and live accordingly. 

Karma are markers on the timeline as in any video editing software. When one arrives at these markers certain happenings take place that trigger a sequence of sub-happenings which some can stomach while others might find threatening and disastrous. These upheavals that upset the routine can be in the form of an illness, an accident, a tragedy, a loss, etc. It could also be in the form of tiny moments of happiness, cheer, joy, and the showering of wealth, property, etc, all rewards of our past actions. 

A child who is for instance terminally ill has come pure, is pure by nature, and will leave this world pure. It came carrying no Karma, for the concept of Karma is for one to either go through the pleasures of lives or sufferings accordingly, to experience and learn lessons, and correct or accept and receive them in this life. As these special children are born with certain setbacks that prevent them from actively creating Karma, and they are not capable of knowingly doing harm to others nor do they carry vises or sins, and since they are indifferent to joy and pain, bliss and suffering, they are here on the last leg of their journey that brings an end to the cycle and not take another birth again. These children are souls that are ready to reach God. They are very close to God and God loves them very much. 

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami asks us to "Imagine how intricately interconnected all the cycles of karma are for our planet’s life forms." So do not blame yourself for having to face your Karma for it is touched by so many factors that come into play. You are not solely responsible for the outcomes. We all bear equal responsibility. Since we each carry our own baggage, no person can look another in the eye and blame the other's situation or dilemma purely on his Karma. We are all in it together.