Friday, November 3, 2023

Karma and Self Response-Ability

 What you call karma- the bags of tendencies and predispositions you carry with you-is only your memory and imagination. So if you inhabit this moment deeply, fully, completely you have dropped your karmic load....The present is your only address. The here and now is your only abode. Sadhguru, page 168.

As I read and study Chapter 8 of Sadhguru's book, Karma, I am reminded, once again how important it is to accept what is instead of fighting against it. Our present moment is all there is existentially...it is inevitable.  There is nothing we can do about it. Our minds caught up in memories of teh past and imaginations of the future (times that truly do not exist) may continually go around and around but they are not getting us anywhere.  We cannot be anywhere but here and now.  This is all there is. This idea of "me" is a product of the mind, created by our stored impressions ( samskaras...reminded again how Sadhguru's explanation of  karma lines up so beautifully with Singer's explanation of samskaras) and it too is made up thing.  Without a "me" we are simply Life, simply existence experiencing existence. There is just reality. There is no karma accumulation in that. 

If we can distance ourselves enough from mind to accept the moment for being exactly what it is, we will quickly shed off old karma,  as we stop accumulating new karma. We can be free. 

Here are some beautiful words of wisdom I have absorbed from this chapter

  • And so  these are the only two things you are suffering right now; your memory and your imagination. page 150
  • your individuality is entirely made up. 151
  • If you are aware, you become a positive, dynamic acceptance of this moment. ...happiness is not an occasion, a goal,  a destination. Happiness is your constant state of existence. And this is the end of suffering. 154
  • as you are a part of existence, existence is also a part of you. 156
  • if you become absolute acceptance, then everything-past, present, and future-is here and now.  157
  • Your mind is very deeply conditioned by your past. This conditioning is what we call karma. 158
  • With equanimity your entire structure of karma begins to collapse.  All it takes is the willingness to experience everything the way it is. You are not avoiding experience or pursuing it. You are simply open to enjoying the different flavours of life without seeking one or escaping the other. page 160
  •  I am not the accumulations of my mind. [had that realization during the incident last weekend] page 164
  • Can see My mind belongs to me but I am not my mind. page 164
  • Basis of karma is simple: You are the source of all your baggage. When you clearly perceive this, your essential quality changes. ...If you see someone else as teh source, you will always be distracted, disorientated, bitter, frustrated, agitated, and angry. When you see yourself as the source, you are centered. Your energies are now focused within you. You are no longer enacting rituals of blame and rage in your head. You are no longer enslaved to your internal environment or your mind. Sadhguru, Karma ( Harmony Books, 2021), page 165


All is well. 

Sadhguru ( 2021) Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny. New York: Harmony Books


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