Hindu texts mention that there are 840,000 species of life forms beginning with the aquatics, and culminating in the human being. From “ATMA” - “Reincarnation: The Soul’s Secret Journey”, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, The International Society For Krishna Consciousness, we gather more information.
“The different categories of material bodies (species) exist because there are millions of categories of material desires. These different life forms are nothing more than machines designed by the material energy to fulfill different material desires.”
“Our entanglement in the material sphere is the result of an unending chain of actions and reactions developed in this and previous human lives. This is known in Sanskrit as karma, a law of nature analogous to the modern scientific principle of action and reaction.”
From KARMA AND REINCARNATION - An Inspired Talk by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Swami says,
"In physics - the study of energy and matter - Sir Isaac Newton postulated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Push against a wall. Its material is molecularly pushing back with a force exactly equal to yours. In metaphysics, karma is the law that states that every mental, emotional and physical act, no matter how insignificant, is projected out into the psychic mind substance and eventually returns to the individual with equal impact."
"For, as we exist now is a sum total of all our past lives. In our present moment, our mind and body state is the cumulative result of the entire spectrum of our past lives."To the question as to who monitors or keeps tab of the accounts and details of karma, there a some possible answers provided. Since young my parents have spoken of one Chitragupta who with his aids keeps tab of all our actions and eventually reports back to his superiors, the Almighty. And I was told that God delivers the life one deserves according to this report. The Chinese community too have a Kitchen God whom they feed with sweets in the believe that he would report back to his superiors sweet things about his subject once a year.
From “ATMA” - “The Ultimate Antimaterial Particle”, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, The International Society For Krishna Consciousness, we understand clearly how karma manifests itself.
“One personal form of God is the super soul dwelling within the hearts of all living beings; witnessing every thought and action and awarding the living beings the result of their karma, arranging for them to accept an appropriate physical body lifetime after lifetime.”
From KARMA AND REINCARNATION - An Inspired Talk by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Swami explains further,
Swami explains further,"The akashic memory in our higher chakras faithfully records the soul’s impressions during its series of earthly lives, and in the astral/mental worlds in - between earth existences."
Ancient yogis, in psychically studying the time line of cause/effect, assigned three categories to karma.
- The first is sanchita, the sum total of past karma yet to be resolved.
- The second category is prarabdha, that portion of sanchita karma being experienced in the present life.
- Kriyamana, the third type, is karma you are presently creating.
However Swami is quick to add that "However, it must be understood that your past negative karma can be altered into a smoother, easier state through the loving, heart - chakra nature, through dharma and sadhana."
Swami reveals about karma from the astrological aspect,
"Hindu astrology, or Jyotisha, details a real relation between ourselves and the geography of the solar system and certain star clusters, but it is not a cause-effect relation. Planets and stars don't cause or dictate karma. Their orbital relationships establish proper conditions for karmas to activate and a particular type of personality nature to develop. Jyotisha describes a relation of revealment: it reveals prarabdha karmic patterns for a given birth and how we will generally react to them (kriyamana karma). With astrological knowledge we are aware of our life’s karmic pattern and can thereby anticipate it wisely."Astrology and horoscope to a small extent can reveal one's karma or past life. When I asked Dr Krishnan, astrologer and Siddha practitioner, about my past birth, looking into the position of the planets at the time of birth, he gave me two possibilities. I could either have been a priest or a medicine man.
When clients of Dr. Krishnan told me that his predictions based on the astrological charts came true, I was puzzled why none of the Dr’s predictions for me materialized. Not that it bothered me, but I was curious as to know why a reading by a well renowned astrologer like Dr. Krishnan did not go well with me. So one fine day I asked the Dr., not referring to me though, if at all there was a possibility that whatever he predicted would not materialize.
He answered, “Yes, there is a possibility it won’t materialize if you have a curse.”
“And how would we know if someone had cursed us?” I asked. “Could you tell me if I am cursed, from reading my charts?” I continued.
Dr. Krishnan explained to me that it was not possible to know if a curse had befallen someone from reading the astrological charts and that the only way to find out was through consulting the Nadi. That was the first time I heard about the Nadi and the Siddhas.
When I went for my first Nadi reading, Agathiyar confirmed I was a priest in the past birth. Agathiyar explained what I had done in the past and why I stood before him then. Through the Nadi revelations, the Siddhas explain the scenario surrounding every action of us in the past and its consequences. Agathiyar confirmed that I had been cursed (sabam) too in the past birth. During the Nadi reading, I was given the choice to carry out these atonement or Parikaram. I chose to do it with all my heart and soul into it, hence beginning or taking the first step to reduce my karma and alter my life.
From “ATMA” - “The Ultimate Antimaterial Particle”, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, The International Society For Krishna Consciousness, we understand clearly how karma manifests itself.
From “ATMA” - “The Ultimate Antimaterial Particle”, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, The International Society For Krishna Consciousness, we understand clearly how karma manifests itself.
“Only the human species, however is subject to the subtle but exact law, for only in the human form does one have advanced intelligence and freedom of choice. In lower-than-human life forms the soul is covered by much grosser forms of mind and body; therefore the living beings within such bodies are totally under the control of nature. Because beasts, microbes, insects, and plants do nothing more than automatically serve their instincts, they are not held responsible for their activities. They do not incur karmic reactions.”Agathiyar showed me the way too to diffuse the karma. He set me on a journey and pilgrimage to temples where I was given the opportunity to perform prayers and do charity. During my pilgrimage to India, traveling to many places, I met many people, and learnt many things.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami reveals further in his KARMA AND REINCARNATION,
"Karma operates not only individually, but also in ever-enlarging circles of group karma where we participate in the sum karma of multiple souls. This includes family, community, nation, race and religion, even planetary group karma."
Swami reminds us that, "The people who manifest your karma are also living through past karma and simultaneously creating future karma. Imagine how intricately interconnected all the cycles of karma are for our planet’s life forms."
When my daughter was hit by a car, she asked me, "Why it had to happen to her?" I had no answer. But I had faith on Agathiyar. Agathiyar did not let us down. She was healed. When my younger daughter came down with the Dengue Fever, she asked me why it had to be her? I had faith on Agathiyar. Agathiyar did not let us down. Agathiyar came with Thirumular to her hospital bed and helped raised her platelet, as he mentioned later in the Nadi reading. She was cured. When Tavayogi Thangarasan Adigal was hit by a bus, I asked him why it happened. He coolly replied that he still had karma to be burnt.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami answers these questions.
"There is a tendency to cry during times of personal crisis, “Why has God done this to me?” or “What did I do to deserve this?” 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."
Swami suggests we accept karma as lessons to be learnt, rather then fight it for it could could lead to more severe consequences. He forewarns us.
"In this highest sense, there is no good and bad karma; there is self created experience that presents opportunities for spiritual advancement. If we can't draw lessons from the karma, then we resist and/or resent it, lashing out with mental, emotional or physical force. The original substance of that karmic event is spent and no longer exists, but the current reaction creates a new condition of harsh karma."
Pattinathar accepted his fate when he was wrongly accused for theft of the jewelery at the palace and tied to a pole and tortured. Ramana and Yogi Ramsuratkumar accepted abuse from the local village thugs who broke into the ashram and picked up a fight on the streets, respectively. Tavayogi was abused verbally by a thug once while waiting for a cab once. They all remained silent and chose not to react.
For those weak at heart and decide to take their own life's Swami sympathizes, since the soul then has a longer journey to cover.
"The Hindu also knows that death must come naturally, in its own course, and that suicide only accelerates the intensity of one’s karma, bringing a series of immediate lesser births and requiring several lives for the soul to return to the exact evolutionary point that existed at the moment of suicide, at which time the still-existing karmic entanglements must again be faced and resolved."
Simply said seeing a person is seeing karma in effect or action. Worldly life is living out a life of karma, a baggage that we have brought along with us, carried with us, laid out and spread before us. We go through the contents of this baggage, sorting out, arranging them to happen in chronological order and fulfilling the vasanas or desires until the last breath. To unload completely this baggage would be a humongous task, especially in one birth. One must have extreme determination or vairagya to skim through this baggage, accomplish what needs to be done as soon as possible and head back for the place he had come from, now without any baggage. We come as a heavily laden luggage but should leave as a feather.
Lets see how karma brings on sufferings in the next post.
Lets see how karma brings on sufferings in the next post.