"The one who will take admonition and purify himself shall be successful, who remembers the name of his Lord and prays."The Mystery of Karma
By Gurudas
Karma - it is a greatly misunderstood concept in the West. The basic principle is easy enough to grasp - every action, thought, word and deed, has a consequence, which we must deal with and are unable to avoid. If we don't work it out in this life, we will, unavoidably, work it out in another. And thus we have samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
The idea of karma itself, however, is often misused and misquoted in Western society. How many times have you heard someone say "I have really good parking karma," or "My karma is out of whack today." Karma really shouldn't be taken so lightly as that. My Guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, said "Karma, Karma, I'm so tired of hearing people talk of Karma." He meant that he was tired of hearing people in the west talk about karma without any real understanding of what it was or what role it played in their lives.
Karma is the collective sum of everything that has ever happened to us, everything that is currently happening to us, and everything that will happen to us in the future. All of our past actions, in this life and in previous lives, directly shape our current situation in this life. Every thought we think, every word we say, every ant we step on, weaves another thread into the impossibly complex fabric of karma that makes up the universe we live in. Karma determines what sort of people we are drawn to, whether we are very outgoing or introverted, whether we enjoy Chinese food or prefer Mexican. It even determines what parents we're born to. When a child is conceived, the karmic pattern of the two parents attracts a compatible atman, based on the individual karma of the soul that is reincarnating. Karma makes us all directly responsible for everything we do, good or bad, helpful or hurtful.
There are three main types of karma that we are all subject to:
Adi Shankaracharya, in his Vivekachudamani explained Praarabdha Karma with the analogy of the archer. Once an archer releases an arrow, there is nothing the archer can do to alter its course. He can only wait and see where it lands. This is our Praarabdha Karma. It is all of our arrows which are still in flight. And whenever an arrow lands, if we react to it, we fire another arrow. And so on, and so forth. Countless arrows in flight, and constantly landing, and with each landing more arrows are fired. And this is our life (or lives, as it turns out), endlessly acting & reacting & reacting & reacting, ad infinitum. So how do we escape?
Yoga Sadhana
Only by diligent practice of yoga sadhana as prescribed by our Satguru can free us from the endless circle of samsara. By faithful yoga practice (and this means a true & complete yoga, not just the physical postures taught so prevelantly in the west) under the guidance of a Master, we can develop vairagya (dispassion for the things of this world), and eventually cultivate the detached state of Udaasa. "U" means "circumstances," and "Daasa" means "the servant of" (this "daasa" is the same word found in the names of the famous American kirtan wallahs Krishna Das and Bhagavan Das). Udaasa means to become a servant to your circumstances, to surrender completely to whatever happens without reacting, neither out of desire or out of revulsion. Udaasa means you watch all the arrows land without firing any new ones. You watch your Praarabdha Karma dispassionately, with detachment. When we can do this perfectly, we attain the state of Chitta Vritti Nirodha, which is called Yoga.
Chitta is the sum of all our awareness of this creation, our consciousness, and is comprised of Buddhi (objective knowledge) and Manas (subjective knowledge). Buddhi is everything as it actually is. Manas is everything as we think it is, our opinions of objects and events. These together are Chitta. Vritti means activities or changes. Nirodha means cessation or obstruction. Citta Vritti Nirodha is the cessation of activities of consciousness. This is Yoga, union. Union of the mind with the higher ego (Ahankara), union of the higher ego with atman (the higher Self, the soul), and union of atman with Brahman. This union is called Nitya Karma, eternal karma. This is the highest form of karma, and the highest goal of life. Strive for it unceasingly, and you cannot fail in attaining it. After all, that is why we are all here, right?
JAYA GURUDEV!
