What is Law of Karma Part I

http://download.dadabhagwan.org/books/English/PDF/karma.pdf

There are certain presumptions for understanding the Law of Karma and how it works.  Two most important of these are, believing in Law of Reincarnation and Secondly, believing that We are a Soul(carrying impressions from our past lifetimes) experiencing human life.  If you don't believe in reincarnation and journey of the soul, then this is not meant for you.

Even if you believe in these, there is lot of confusion about how law of karma works.  Many people think that our current actions create our karma.  Whereas, the book Science of Karma published by Dada Bhagwan Foundation clearly explains the secret behind Law of Karma which is so precise, perfect and absolutely fair and Just.  Courts of this world may acquit a person as non guilty, but if someone has wronged somebody even in thought, then Law of Karma will definitely bring such a guilty person to justice either in this lifetime itself or in the next Lifetime (when people may wonder why such a good person is suffering).

The Book explains in detail that the World is being operated by Scientific Circumstantial Evidences.  Yes, nothing is happening in a hap hazard way.  There is a Law of Cause and Effect, a Rule, behind each and every happening in our life and all around us.  Nothing is by chance.  Things are happening automatically in a precise and exact manner as it should.  There is no partiality, no preference.  Pure Justice.  The principle is same, what we give out, we get back.  We reap what we sow.  Majority of human beings discount the fact that thinking intensely about something is as good as actually doing it.  It creates a definite karma.  Karma is very subtle.  It is not just action, but actual thought and intention behind that action, that is karma.  

what we are undergoing in this lifetime is result of action we did in past lifetime.   We gave exam in last lifetime, in this lifetime we are seeing and undergoing the result of that exam.   And while facing this result, what we are thinking and opining deep within is the new Cause we are setting in motion for which we will  get result in this lifetime (effect of effect) or in next lifetime.   So if someone hits me, it is the result of past enmity this soul had with me  in a previous lifetime - fruition of manner in which that soul had wanted to hurt me and couldn't do for some reason.  Now when we met in this lifetime, perfect circumstantial evidences were created that fulfilled the pent up wish of this Soul. Now what we both are thinking about this hit will set a new karma, the fruit of which we will get in this lifetime(effect of effect) or the next.  My subtle thought would instantly create a new karma if I  wanted to hit back that person which I will, either in this lifetime itself or in the next.  

This is the principle of Cause(action) and Effect(Result).  Action is not what we do with our hands.  Action is what we think, how we judge, our belief behind any outward action.  This cause is our inner intention (bhav) behind any action.  Action is visible but intention behind that action is not.  It is this intention behind our each visible action that binds karma which brings out result in next life time.  What we see is result ( of past karma, i.e.,   the intention)  what we think while undergoing the result is New Karma(new cause set in motion).   And this is definitely in our hands.  

If all is predestined then we need not do anything? -- It definitely doesn't imply that if all is result of past intentions, then we should take in all in the name of  justice.  No way.  Simply because we do not remember our past intentions.  Do we?  Therefore,  we need to take all necessary steps to do a job, take all required precautions to accomplish that job without causing any hurt /loss to anyone - with pure intention.  If despite all this, things go wrong, then know deep within that its result of our past karma.  Do your best till the last moment and yet if you fail, apply the keys of this spiritual knowledge to pacify your heart that it was not meant to be.  This way it doesn't hurt.  Book gives a simple example.  You cannot cross a traffic light with your eyes closed.  Look around carefully, if all is safe then cross.  Now if something happens, then its your destiny as ordained by you in a previous lifetime.

What is Intention?  It is the thought/belief/opinion/judgement that goes behind our each action.  Intention is so very subtle, intangible.  None can see our intention.  Only we know it.  and sometimes even we are not aware of it.  Because we act fast, without even thinking.  For example when we see a beggar and give some money, we think we are helping the beggar.  But actually we are helping ourselves.  We give because it makes us feel good/ happy. We feel less guilty that we have so much.........Think deeply.   

This intention is in our hands, our free will.  This intention creates our destiny.  'Why' we do something.  Our strong beliefs.  The label we give to certain actions .........  All our actions are aimed at helping ourselves only.  Even when we are doing service to others, we do it because it makes us feel good.  Isn't????  If we just do the charity and stay indifferent then its Okay (you will not create a new karma).  New karma is created the moment we mentally take credit for this service.   understand that what we are spending today is due to our strong intention to give set in motion in last lifetime.  Have you heard of those stories where family complained that the father gave away so much in charity without any reason.  Well what he did in this lifetime is call he made in his previous lifetime but couldn't do so for some reason.  He is doing it now.  

For example two persons may be giving 100 dollars in charity One, with the intention of getting praise while other person may be giving the same amount but intention is just to help quietly and move on.  For same actions our intentions could be  different.  Result would definitely be different.

I understand Law of Cause and Effect in this way.  That there is something like a A Universal Super Computer that is automatically recording each and every intention (cause which will bring effect in future lifetime) we set in motion through our deep imbedded intentions behind every action we are being made to do today (effect of causes set in motion in previous lifetime).  It notes down my intense opinions and view points about everything this I encounter.  In other words, the way I am judging others. ( No wonder we are told not to judge others lest we be judged. ). Then in next lifetime it places a person with related persons, in one place, experiencing their judgements about each other until one understands how wrong they were.........

In their previous lifetime both thought how wonderful it is to use one's position to make easy money.  So in this lifetime, both will get chance to make easy money.   One person may take bribe and feel good about it while the other is taking(as a result of his past intention) but internally repenting about not being able to correct himself.  Effect/result of different new intention is different.  This is where our free will comes in.  The one feeling good would be getting bribe again but we all know what is the result of such an action when caught.  While the person repenting will not  find himself in such a tricky situation again.  Nature will keep him away from this kind of life because he has set a new karma of positive life.

Natural Laws are perfect and Just.  Whatever happens is Justice.  Since we do not remember our past, we often feel injustice.  But it is not so, Because law of cause n effect takes note of each and every subtle conversation going within us.  None is controlling these Natural laws. Its working, just the way Law of gravitation is working.   If we understand this Law, we can use it to our own advantage. Here, its been referred to as  Scientific Circumstantial Evidences.  At appropriate time, all evidences come together and an event happens.  Humans take credit for it which is a total blunder.  We are mere one instrument in grand scheme of things.  but we can make an important change.  We have power to change our future.  We are also part of this nature, made up of energy.  We have advantage of intellectual faculty which other species like anima ls do not have.  They understand love, are smart but their intelligence level is not as high as human.   Our thoughts are so very powerful.  If only we could correct ourselves, the moment we linger longer on a negative thought.  But are we so mindful all the time.  

A human can think and check and control his thoughts and intention.  But off late we see many humans stopping to use their intellect and sense of discrimination and going on sense less killing and other crimes.  Their behaviour goes down to animal level.  They could escape from  courts of this world but natural laws ensure that they pay for their wrong doing.  Payment is heavier if crime was done willfully and without remorse.  Little less if it was not   done willfully and happened accidently.  But payment is heavy for sure..   As per this book these are sticky karma you cannot escape even if you are in different body garment now.  This is a very deep science and cannot be explained properly in few lines.  In all the above discussions my view is simple...no argument...no disputation with views of others here.....I AM OK, YOU ARE OK.

https://download.dadabhagwan.org/books/English/PDF/karma.pdf

Vandana Ritik Mulchandani
Noida

Why are we different from each other?

You explain one thing to ten people but  on inquiry you realise that some of them got it exactly your way while some got it half and a few got opposite or nothing at all. 

This happens because of the difference in the levels of intellect in each individual.  Intellect may be defined as our capacity to understand, assimilate and, if required, use knowledge at the appropriate time.  Our academic learning polishes and refines our intellect but it is certainly not the source of intellect.  We are born with our intellect.  But then, What is the source of our intellect?

As per Brahmakumaris,( the Indian Spiritual Organisation) intellect or intelligence is one of the three faculties of the Soul – the life force - running our body vehicle.  The other two faculties are Mind and Samskars (Impressions) left on our soul by all our experiences.  For example,  when a child puts finger in hot water, it leaves an impression of hot water causing burn so the child will avoid touching hot things in later life.  This is a small impression.  Can you imagine bigger and almost permanent impressions left by our intense Love or abhorrence of any person, place or a thing.  It becomes a strong impression and carries forward life after life till we correct it ourselves.

Now the body garment may change but the soul remains the same and with every birth brings with it the sum total of all the impressions carried forward from previous lifetimes.  You see a child of three years dancing like an expert.  This is very strong impression of one of the earlier lifetimes.  In each lifetime, the soul adds on more impressions and reaches different levels of its own growth. Of course human being cannot remember simply because remembering will cause so much confusion and problems.

In each lifetime, we start from where we left in previous life.   This explains the spiritual reason behind different levels of brain power in each person.

Our souls are on different levels of growth irrespective of age of our body. One person understands even a complicated logic while the other cannot understand even the simple logic, irrespective of body age.  This happens because they are on different levels of soul development and therefore you cannot expect a student of class II to understand books of class V.  The intellect level too works on these lines. 

Therefore, Common sense cannot be on exact level for all. It too differs.

In The Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna advised that each individual has to act righteously i.e., act as per his/her own commonsense, choose the best option (as per their intellect) and leave the results in the hands of Lord (the source that is running show of the world). We are not to judge. People get results as per their own efforts. Doing something is in our hands but how it is going to turn out is in hands of All That Is that knows all your past present and future and gives results accordingly.

Once we understand how we have reached our present state, we realize that we cannot do much about our past but with this knowledge we can now choose to create a better future. 

As per Dada Bhagwan, all visible actions are result of your impressions brought forward from previous lives.  Therefore understand that the real work is undergoing internally.  Now we can use this information, think positively, on purpose, and create positive impressions.  More intensely we pursue this, much better the results would be. 

This is the reasons we have to realize how powerful our own thoughts are.  Till now we  let these thoughts flow, uninterrupted, on their own.  But hence forth we exercise our freewill and choose (deliberately) to check and correct our thoughts.  Feel and think positive about everything. 

This is called living in total awareness.  This is path of Self Realisation i.e.,  Knowing myself,  my true nature.  When we know who we are, we experience our oneness with our SOURCE.

We realise that there is no outside source running our life, we ourselves have created this life and invited our so called family and friends into it and vice versa.  Source is same.  In actual we are responsible. Our internal actions are controlling our results.

This is spiritual law.  Understand it properly and utilize it effectively.   It will never fail you.

Vandana Ritik Mulchandani

Noida

The Science of Karma

Add caption

The book 'Science of Karma, ' published by Dada Bhagwan Foundation, states that in the Cause & Effect Cycle, the Effect is result of Cause set by us in motion.  Therefore whatever happens in our life is our own individual responsibility.  This Cause or Seed is our inner intention behind any Action. Action is visible but intention behind that action is not. It is this intention which brings out results. 

This intention is in our hands, our free will. This intention creates our destiny. For example two persons may be giving 100 dollars in charity - one with the intention of getting good publicity/ praise while other person may be giving the same amount but intention is just to help quietly and move on. For same actions our intentions could be different. Therefore results too would be different.  The first one will get mention is some newspaper while the other will be helped when he needs it ( not necessarily by the same person he helped).  But effect will always be there.

One person may take bribe and feel good about it however, the other person is taking bribe but internally repenting about not being able to correct himself. The first one will have to pay back in future because he is sowing seeds for negative result  while the other person is setting up a good intention which will ultimately make him a better human one day.  If these two reincarnate, in the next lifetime, the first one will have to pay back in someway for taking money where not required.  He will pay and feel cheated (he caused this suffering to other and had rejoiced) while the other person will not be accepting any undue payment(he had set an intention of not taking bribe).  This all is happening internally but world will say for the first 'poor fellow had to pay unnecessarily even when it was not required' for the second person response would be 'this man won't take what doesnot belong to him'.   

Have you not wondered when you see, a good man is suffering despite doing all good while a wicked man is successful and not getting caught.  This law explains behind the scene causes/reasons for this. However nature catches with wrong without fail.  So while good man  has an option to bear the effect by taking all his sufferings with internal knowledge of why it is happening. He may take all necessary action to stop his suffering which will stop the moment his account is settled.  But If he cribs and complaints, he will be caught in whirlpool of suffering.  Ancient Indian saints have therefore advised mankind to take all events in life with equanimity because of this reason.  

No body else is doing anything to you.  You are reaping result of your own actions.  Since you are ignorant about working of this law you feel cheated.  But once this law is clear you can check and control your inner working for a better future.

Effect of different intentions is different. This is where our free will comes in. 

Our intellect is supposed to be used, to discriminate between right and wrong and take necessary appropriate action. Because law of cause n effect takes note of it. None is controlling it. We ourselves are controlling it. In fact we are one of the controlling elements in entire scene. So many things are required for any event to take place. We are just one instrument who can make an important change. We have power to change our future. We are also part of this nature, made up of energy. We have advantage of intellectual faculty which other species like animals do not have. They understand love, are smart but their intelligence level is not as high as human. 

A human can think and control his thoughts and intentions. But off late we see many humans have stopped using their intellect and sense of discrimination.  They are going on sense less killing and other crimes. Their behaviour goes down to animal level. They could escape from courts of this world(because of their past accumulated good causes)  but natural laws ensure that they pay for their wrong doing either in this lifetime (if this accumulation is big) or in the next lifetime(then they will wonder what wrong did I do since they cannot remember what they did in previous lifetime). 

Payment is heavier if crime was done willfully and without remorse. Little less if it was not done willfully and happened accidentally. But payment is heavy for sure.. If you keep your hand on hot coals unknowingly does your hand not burn.  

As per this book, intense feelings of Anger, Hatred, Pride and Greed towards any person or thing will definitely bring a result in the next lifetime.  In current lifetime you are settling old scores with your present family, friends, neighbors, even strangers due to effects set by you  in motion in previous lifetimes.  No body meets you accidentally.  Everything around you is due to a reason.  Since you do not remember you remain ignorant.  Strong emotions form  'sticky karma' which you cannot escape even if you are in different body garment now. Look around for sticky karmic entanglements with your own family members.  You cannot escape them.  

These explanations had a bid impact on me.  This is a very deep science and cannot be explained properly in few lines. In all the above discussions my view is simple...no argument...no disputation with views of others .....I AM OK, YOU ARE OK.

Vandana Ritik Mulchandani

Noida

Life is a Note Book

Life is like a blank Note Book that we bring along at the time of our birth on earth. In this Note Book we write down our earthly experiences and life stories. We write down a record of our actions, reactions, influences and lessons etc that we learnt in each life time. Our actions and reactions on earth affect many individuals around us and they become part of our soul group because we will have to come back to settle our interpersonal karmic scores with them if they are not finished in our present life time. Our actions may also affect our environment and society too which will have to be settled in future births.

We take our Life Note Book back when our life time ends. We go back to Paradise - our real HOME - and review our life story and decide which lessons are left to be learnt and what karmic debts remain unsettled. With the help of heavenly counselors, we make a blueprint of our next lifetime on earth in such a way that it will not only help us learn many more lessons but will also settle our past karmic debts of either giving or receiving from members of our soul group. Sometimes soul(s), other than from our group, volunteer to help us in next life time to help us complete our unfinished lessons. Sometimes, some high level souls, volunteer to suffer a big pain – physical, mental, material – so as to learn many lessons in one lifetime. This is because pain is supposed to be the biggest teacher in any lifetime. Suffering a pain/trauma in one lifetime renders learning of many lessons unnecessary.

Before labeling someone as sinner, just because you see that person suffering in life, STOP and THINK again. The person could be a courageous soul who has volunteered to take challenges and learn many lessons in one single lifetime itself. Similarly, do no judge yourself and stop torturing yourself by thinking that ALL your sufferings are result of some bad karma. Some souls volunteer to take sufferings on themselves to teach their loved ones some lessons necessary for their growth.e.g, kindness, helping, understanding, giving, serving etc. Sometimes seeing suffering of one person, society learns to take big steps to prevent the same happening to others. This soul could have agreed to suffer for uplifting the consciousness of the general public. If you label such a person as sinner, you could be making a wrong judgement and thus adding on to your own karmic debts. Therefore, Avoid 'postmartem' of victims of pain, trauma, accidents, deadly diseases. Let God/Universe or their own higher self judge them.

It depends on the soul whether it wants to learn many lessons in one life time or few lessons each time spread over many life times. Wise men know this secret and therefore do not try to judge the conduct of other souls around them. Wise men have advised us to follow our own life path with a calm state of mind and observe Silence i.e., refrain from commenting on life patterns of others because we do not know what lessons they are learning. Telling others about what is wrong in their life pattern means not agreeing to the Laws of Universe thus creating further karmic debts and adding more chapters to the Life Note Book.

We take re-birth in that particular environment and family where learning all the chosen lessons for this lifetime will be possible. Needless to say that we choose our own parents and social Circle before taking on human body depending upon our soul needs. We bring back our Life Note Book and start writing a new chapter of the new life time. Our soul knows that we are starting at the point where we had finished off in previous lifetime. When we are reading a book, keep it aside for sometime and again comeback to read it, we start from where he had left it unfinished. We do not start reading it afresh. Similar with Life Note Book.

To make life easy for us, God erases the memory of past lifetimes from our physical mind. This is the Gift of God that we bring with us in new lifetime. Further, God promises that if we continue to stay in touch with him, our lessons will be learnt within stipulated time and once we have finished learning for that particular lifetime, we will be called back HOME. This explains why some die old while some die young, why some survive big crashes while others die due to a minor illness. Death is a means to stop writing chapter of that lifetime and exit. Death takes place when lessons assigned for that lifetime have been learnt. We may learn them soon and go early. That is why we say Life and Death are not in control of human beings.

Further, all lessons that we learnt in previous life times keep on adding and we bring them back with us as already inbuilt samskars (soul impressions) and therefore they need not be learnt again. Sometimes, we come back with those samskars only which are sufficient enough to learn lessons of this particular lifetime only. We can compare it to our education at school. We cannot recall what all we studied till 10th grade but still that is sufficient for admission to the next grade once we have passed the final exam. It is automatically presumed that we already know and understand the academic knowledge taught till 10th grade.

This explains how one child is sharp in a particular discipline in early childhood itself. It is not a miracle. These talents have already been learnt before, imprinted on the soul and carried forward from the previous lifetimes. This also explains the reasons for inequality in society. All souls are at different levels of learning as recorded in their Life Note Book.

This process goes on life after life and new chapters are added to our LIFE Note Book. Each individual has a separate Life Note Book containing all pastlife records. Each soul is the actor and director of its own Life Story. An actor plays different roles, lives different characters in many films without losing his own original self. With each film his performance improves and talent sharpens. Similarly, a soul takes on many bodies, lives many lifetimes, and improves its learning, adds on to its knowledge. The soul suffers because unlike the actor, it forgets its original state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss in the process. More the delay in regaining the lost memory, longer the Life Note Book becomes.

The God – Universe helps in writing a better script provided the soul volunteers and remembers to take the help. A soul is given free-will to exercise this option of staying close to God during earth life time. This divine intervention helps to keep the script short and crisp. When the soul has experienced all the human dimensions and realized its own True Nature, the last chapter of Life Note Book completed and the Life Note Book is finished.

Wise men always prefer to be in touch with God – the inner consciousness, and write their Life Note Book in as few chapters as possible. Unwise men go astray. The Life Note Book runs in pages, chapters and volumes and they remain entangled in vicious cycle of life & death and the Life Note Book remains unfinished. As a soul, we have the option to choose and decide how voluminous or brief, the script of our Life Note Book should be.

Vandana Ritik

New Delhi

Picture Courtsey: shirdisaibababhajan.blogspot.com

What is Prarabdh (our Destiny)

Soul - A soul has to take on a body made up of five elements to come to this earth. It is said that soul has to take birth to learn and to experience each and every aspect of human emotion without forgetting its original state i.e, purity, love and bliss. It is through this human life that a soul can finally merge with the holy divine Supreme from which it was separated millions of years ago. In every birth, the soul strives to reach the perfection so that it can get enlightened and become aware of the truth about oneness of the universe i.e., ALL IS ONE. All souls are the tiny part of that Supreme Divine Power thereby implying that all souls have that tiny spark of Supreme Spirit within. However, after taking human birth, in ignorance, the soul cannot recall its original state, gets entangled in the earthly enjoyments and forgets its mission of self realization and subsequently the God realization.

Karma - In its human form the soul cannot sit idle. It performs various karmas to get on with the life, becomes attached to materialism over and above spiritualism. Whether the karma is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it is immaterial. The universal law takes note of all the actions a soul performs to carry out its earthly existence. It is said that all such karmas accumulate and become Sanchit Karma(Accumulated Karma). It is said that all our karmas are recorded and stored in our Akashic records. A soul cannot merge with the spirit unless it has worked out the cause and effect of its Karma because universal law functions flawlessly and impartially. When the soul is reborn again, it brings with it some portion out of this Sanchit karma to work out in the present birth. This portion of karma is called Prarabdh. It is said that seventy five percent life of a soul is preordained and a soul has no say in it. Soul has to bear it whether it brings wordly happiness or worldly sadness. For the balance twenty five percent life the soul can use its God given freewill which creates Kriyaman Karma(Active Karma). These kriyaman karma also result in accumulating more Sanchit karma.


Prarabdh - Outcome of Prarabdh are those happenings in the souls earthly life which happen without any or little effort. Soul feels happy when it gains materialistic comforts, pleasures and position in life but it gets totally baffled when it loses the very same possessions unexpectatedly, without any explainable reason. Soul does not realize that this is the fruit or effect of cause of its Prarabdh in this lifetime. For example, we find a good human being doing all the best for the world but yet suffering from a deadly disease, a selfish person getting success in almost any activity it undertakes. All this is happening due to Prarabdh of these souls


Imagine how it could be when different souls come together in a lifetime and form a family. Each soul has its own Prarabdh and its own individual journey. But universal law is perfect. It arranges the soul groups so affectively that one soul’s Prarabdh matches with the Prarabdh of other souls. Thus souls living in a family life not only perform their respective earthly duties but also work out their Prarabdh together. This way they keep coming back on earth again and again, learn their lessons and help each other to work out their balance karmas till their last earthly desires has been fulfilled. The soul discards its human body once its Prarabdh of current lifetime is worked out completely. However, Maya plays such a strong role that it takes ages for an ignorant soul to work out all its karma and realize that the Supreme Divine Power is nowhere else but within.

How to work out Karma - The biggest question is how can the effect of Karmas be effaced? Man's actions or karmas are the manifestations of his thoughts. Karma is any action, thought, feeling, emotion generated by mind of a Man. The mind, by projecting thoughts to sense-organs, enjoys pleasures. It, more or less, identifies itself with these thoughts and pleasures. At that time, it does not think of any thing else. In actual, the earthly thoughts and impulses should be converted into the zeal for securing internal bliss and happiness after attaining a perfect balance between materialism and spiritualism. In simple terms, soul must perform duties required to be performed in its earthly lifetime with a sense of detachment i.e, without feeling sad about losses and without feeling elated about gains. But then it is easier said than done.

Meditation - Meditation is one way for the soul to connect to the higher self. Shirdi SaiBaba advised mankind to look inwards. The soul should find a quiet place, close eyes and meditate. The purpose is to withdraw all the five sense inwards, make them inactive because these senses have been given to the soul to see, hear, taste, touch and enjoy the external world only. The practice of meditation in solitude consists in reverting and raising internal spark of the soul to try to reach the high self. It is said that the seat of that spark is at midpoint behind the eyes called Third Eye or Krishna / Christ Consciousness. When such a condition begins to supervene to some extent, as a result of performing the meditation practices, the working of Karmas, both internally and externally, is automatically enfeebled. On getting some bliss and joy internally, and on witnessing the love, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being, the meditators’ mind is, of itself, detached from the world and its pleasures. The pleasures of the world become insipid. The situation is the same, however, its effect on the meditators mind changes. The soul finds peace in all the situations it finds itself in whether good or bad, it doesnot matter anymore.

After this, the longing for progress in meditation, and higher and higher bliss, goes on increasing. Worldly desires are curtailed. The soul always gives priority to the will, grace and mercy of the Supreme Being in whatever he does. It subordinates its desires to the will of the Supreme Being. Thus the soul is entangled in Kriyaman(active) Karmas very little or not at all. This cuts short the chain of its Karmas.

Prarabdh Karmas, which are unfolding in this very life will be very much mitigated by the grace and mercy of the Divine Spirit. This way the soul is able to withdraw from the eyes, it goes on getting detached from the body and the world. In the wakeful state, the seat of the spirit is behind the eyes. It is here that pains and pleasures are felt and Karmas are performed. Therefore, as the spark of soul is withdrawn from here with the help of spiritual exercises, pains and pleasures cease to be felt. In this way, the effect of Prarabdh Karmas is lightened.

As to the Sanchit Karmas, that are stored in Akashic records (mind-sky/ collective universal consciousness) in the form of seed-impressions. They will fructify in a future life. As the soul penetrates these records in its ascent to higher regions, the Sanchit Karmas appear in the form of thoughts and impulses. They come into play for a short while only and are obliterated and finally the Sanchit karma are also cleared off.

If one has the grace of Sadguru (special messengers of God like Jesus or Saibaba), it will not take long for a soul to achieve the desired results. With Guru/ God’s grace, the soul realizes that meditator, object of meditation all are ONE.

Bhakti (devotion) - As per Sai Satcharita (book containing life and teachings of Shirdi SaiBaba) taking the road of devotion ( towards any one particular God of your choice) is the easiest way to get free from the Karmas. A mind cannot sit idle but if we give it some wise thought, say, chanting ‘Sai Sai’ (you can substitute this with name of God you believe in) always, get rid of feeling of doership and surrender all our actions, thoughts and ourselves to our God, we have taken our first step towards working out our karma fast. Saibaba(God) will work internally and remind the soul of its purpose of taking human birth. This doesnot mean that the soul will not have to work out the Prarabdh. Saibaba(God) will not come in the functioning of the universal law but will make the soul strong enough that it will not feel the effect of Prarabdh i.e, soul will not be ecstatic when it gains and will not feel depressed when it suffers. God or spirit guides and angels will grace us with strength necessary to work out our Prarabdh easily. This is what we mean when we say that God works out the karma of devotees. But then are we willing to work for ourselves, absolve ourselves of our Prarabdh the way Baba(substitute with the name of God you believe in) has advised us.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi