If you are in a state where you think your karma [present set of life circumstances that may be a consequence of your actions] is a burden that must be eliminated, you are not yet ready for liberation. Only when you learn to transform every memory-conscious/unconscious, pleasant/unpleasant, beautiful/horrendous-into joy and well being are you ready.
Sadhguru, Karma: A Yogis Guide to Crafting Your Destiny. New York: Harmony Books, page 235
Not Yet Ready
Are you ready to accept whatever unfolds in front of you as a necessary part of your evolution, regardless of what it is, and transform it into joy and well being? I am trying to do this but it isn't easy, let me tell ya. I think I am accepting, even embracing, then boom...I slip back into resisting. Around and around I go in this big karmic loop.
Yet, I am learning, that in order to be free of karma we must let our samskaras go...those impressions that got "stuck" inside us because of our resistance to what is. We are suffering not from the occasional unconscious, unpleasant and even horrendous experiences we encounter but because of these knots of resistance in us. We don't want our stored stuff to come up. We don't want our buried samskaras to rise to the surface the way they do when we encounter certain things we decided we liked or didn't like out there. So we resist Life. Sigh. We work really, really hard to control it all "out there" so we feel better "in here", when it isn't ours to control. We resist fulfilling our karmic debt and we resist enjoying Life fully as it is. This is our suffering.
Hmm! I am trying to understand karma better. I am trying to relate it to our "samskaras" and to our dharma, our practice of awakening. I still get all caught up in it. It isn't something we are meant to understand conceptually but experientially. Lord Krishna Himself said the way of karma is unfathomable. Bit by bit the learning from experience is coming.
What is Karma?
Karma is action. Action consists of thoughts, feelings, words and deed. Every action has an effect. Both the effect and the action can be current, occurring in this life-time ( Kriyaman (and Agomi) Karma). It can be something already begun, possibly from another life-time or from the body itself which is a composite of memory ( Prarabdha Karma). It can also be represented in something called Sanchita Karma which is an accumulation of all karmic actions and whose effects will likely be felt in another life time.
Karmic needs and debts manifest not only as an individual's set of life circumstances, but in the way in which they deal with them. Hindu America Foundation, 2014
Sticky
Karma is basically the sticky residue of our actions. That which sticks. What sticks? That which we attach our volition to, our intellectual energy to; that which we judge and discriminate to label as anything but neutral; that which we desire; that which we don't want; that which we stuff and store away from psyche's awareness; and that which we resist. Is this not our samskaras?
I look around my present set of circumstances and ask, "What have I done to deserve this? Man, I must have been really unconscious, really unwholesome, really reactive in this or another life time. " I rack my brains to remember what I was like as a child. I think I started out happy, friendly and very much in love with Life. I was always compassionate and naturally wanted to be helpful to all living things. Somewhere along the line, however, I got broken and gradually became so absorbed with my own pain I began to react to Life in a fearful, defensive and unwholesome way. I began to resist what is.
I was born with a certain amount of karma memory ...genetically and physically...as well as mentally determined. Then I added onto the karma with my response to Life, accumulating a lot more. Is that why this is all "seemingly" happening now?
Not so Woo-woo
I can think of this Karma as an inner trajectory , rather than a universal one, as a psychological and practical thing rather than a mystical one. I can think of is as a "self-fulfilling prophecy". When we are hurt by others, we develop core beliefs about our lack of worthiness. We assume the worse of ourselves and others. When we hurt inside we become self protective. When we become self protective, we pull back from certain things and make very protective choices. We become fearful of anything outside our comfort zone. The need for comfort increases as the fear of anything outside this zone arises. Our life choices reflect that. We seek to manipulate "out there" so as to be as comfortable as possible "in here." Our life circumstances then reflect our choices.
We also learned to think, feel, speak and do from our caregivers who were taught by theirs, and we unknowingly teach our off spring to do the same. Our children learn from us. They also inherited our memory DNA. They too become "self-" protective . It becomes a vicious cycle. I am living the results of all three types of karma now.
Escape or Serve the Time?
The thing is, I still sometimes see karma as something I need to escape, run from. One of the greatest reasons why I devote myself to a sadhana is to be free of suffering. Sometimes that freedom looks like a change of external events...less challenge, less of the "yucky" thrown in my face all the time. I want to escape my karma. Other times that looks like me finding peace no matter what is happening around me, of transcending...of being freed from my karma, not the circumstances, once and for all. That will mean, I suppose, living out my karma, serving my time.
If you are escape from prison you will be on the run for the rest of your life. But if you are freed from prison because your term is up, you are a free man.
Sadhguru, page 235
I know that karma is not a crime and punishment type of thing but as long as we resist it and life circumstance we are in a type of prison. Are we not? How do we free ourselves from that prison? We can escape and run away through resistance and outer world focus and manipulation, but we will never truly get away. Karma will follow us becasue it is stuck to us. Or we can do as Nelson Mandela and Gandhi did, patiently wait to be freed.
I see that it isn't what is happening that I must change to transcend my karma, it is my relationship with it that needs to be changed.
Not trying to change the disturbance, you are trying to change your relationship with the disturbance. Singer
Whether we understand what it was that got us imprisoned in the first place or not (I may never know what I did to accumulate such karma) we can simply accept where we are at and serve out the time for our sake, and the sake of all those who come after us. If we think of our karma serving a purpose for the greater good, we may even find joy and well being in it. Hmm!
In the meantime, we can avoid adding to that karma, adding to our samskara load. We can become intimately familiar with the working of our minds and notice how they are reacting to life circumstance. Before we get lost in the thinking and feeling, before we speak and before we act...we can take a deep breath and relax. We can then ask, "Do I really want to add more time to my sentence? Do I really want to add more suffering to this experience I am in, for myself or others? "
Instead of saying, "I can't handle this" and reacting according to that thought...we can instead say, "I can handle this. It will pass and it will take a little of the karma away, a little more samskara away every time I allow it to be what it is as it passes through".
Let's just stay open and allow it all to pass through. Someday we will be free.
Hmmm! All is well in my world!
Gurudev Sri Ravi Shankar (Dec 2, 2022) What is karma? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yePTvXf2oIQ&t=2s
Hindu American Foundation (2014) What is Karma? https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KarmaMokshaandSamsara2.0_0.pdf
Sadhguru (2021) Karma: A Yogis Guide to Crafting Your Destiny. New York: Harmony Books,
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe ( August 27, 2023) The Art of Letting Go. https://tou.org/talks/
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