Karma

In Indian philosophy we have this concept of Karma. When people are hit by hardship they believe they are paying for their bad karmas from the past. They consciously try to do good, in order to collect good karma for the future. When they do something bad, they try to offer some prayers etc, to nullify the bad karma from that deed. The cycle of rebirth continues because of the karma carried forward from the past lives.

The reason this came up is that I dated an Osho follower for little over a week many months ago. Today suddenly he suggested that I should be pondering over my Karma since it will catch up with me. He appears to be still hurt by our breakup. Just a few weeks before that I dated a Tony Robbins follower for a weekend. He said he is afraid of Karma. This person turned around and started hitting on a very close friend of mine by the end of the weekend :)

Like everything else in life, if you believe the cycle of karma exists, then it does. Your thoughts and beliefs manifest. Now that is a Law. If you believe life is in the here now - always in the present, then that is so.

Osho says "in my vision of life, yes, every action is bound to have some consequences, but they will not be somewhere else, you will have them here and now. Most probably you will get them almost simultaneously. When you are kind to someone, don't you feel a certain joy? A certain peace? A certain meaningfulness? Don't you feel that you are contented with what you have done? There is a kind of deep satisfaction. Have you ever felt that contentment when you are angry, when you are boiling with anger, when you hurt somebody, when you are mad with rage? Have you ever felt a peace, a silence descending in you? No, it is impossible. You will certainly feel something, but it will be a sadness that you again acted like a fool, that again you have done the same stupid thing that you decided again and again not to do. You will feel a tremendous unworthiness in yourself. You will feel that you are not a man but a machine, because you don't respond, you react. A man may have done something, and you reacted. That man had the key in his hands, and you just danced according to his desire; he had power over you. When somebody abuses you and you start fighting, what does it mean? It means that you don't have any capacity not to react."

Life is always in the herenow. If you experience a joyful moment, the moments you create from that joyful moment can also be joyful. If you are stuck in a place of unpleasantness, you need the awareness of how you got yourself there through your own thoughts, beliefs and actions. For this awareness you need Grace. You need to surrender and ask to be shown. These insights and awareness does not come from the mind. It comes from the soul, from your higher dimensions. Before we ever hope to get the awareness, we need to experience the feeling fully. The feeling could be pain, anger, jealousy, despair, remorse.

At the Oneness University, we were told that at the end of each day to take 10 - 15 mins to go over the day and give thanks to all the beautiful moments, the lessons, the coincidences which are a direct manifestation of Grace in our life. Then to go over all the unpleasantness and feel any unfelt feelings, request the Divine to heal the hearts we have hurt. I think what it comes down to is awareness.

Karma is a choice. You can choose to live the past - future reality or you can choose to experience everything in the herenow and break this cycle of Karma.

From the heart,
Samanvitha