Nayaswamis Jyotish & Devi
Karma is how God gives us the lessons we need to evolve spiritually. Paramhansa Yogananda describes karma as a mechanism created by God for our “education and entertainment”. Yet, rarely are we either educated or entertained by our karmic tests – unless we accept them in the right spirit.
Karma is the spiritual equivalent to Newton’s law of action and reaction in physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we put out positive, loving energy, we receive positive, loving energy in return. If we put out negative energy in the form of judgmental attitudes or dishonesty, that same type of energy comes back to us.
Swami Kriyananda describes good karma as anything that brings us closer to God, and bad karma as anything that takes us farther away from Him. Is winning the lottery good karma? Not if we spend that money on ourselves and increase our sense of ego.
The power of a particular karma is determined by the energy and will power that went into creating it. These same two factors can also change our karma. For instance, if in the past you tried to hurt people by unkind acts, you can neutralize that karma by devoting equal energy to helping and uplifting others.
When we’re facing a difficult karma, the first thing we need to do is to detach ourselves by accepting karmic tests as coming from God. Also, we need to control the tendency to blame others and bring a positive reaction to it that will help expiate the karma.
Detachment also means accepting whatever comes and being grateful for it. Accept not only what comes, but also what doesn’t come. If you can catch yourself when you first start to have a negative reaction, at that moment it is easier to neutralize the karma.
How do we become free of karmic patterns? When we respond to karma in the right way, we pass the test and don’t have to repeat it. Otherwise, we get to retake the test, sometimes over a period of lifetimes. It’s important to become aware of your karmic patterns, the things that happen repeatedly. If a karma is repeating in your life, that’s a sign you should spend time working on that particular karmic pattern.
Generally speaking, if we respond to adversity with the right attitude, then what initially looked like bad karma becomes something positive spiritually. But there’s a subtler form of bad karma that comes from identifying with the body and the material world. This type of karma can make us restless, impede our efforts to meditate, or prevent us from going deeper into the spiritual life. To overcome karma of this type we need to work on removing the subconscious blocks and inner conflicts by focusing our energy strongly in positive new directions.
The most powerful antidote for our past bad karma is the practice of Kriya Yoga, which works directly on the vrittis in the spine, where our karma resides. Through the deep practice of Kriya, we burn up, or “roast”, the seeds of our past karma. Our job is to respond to karma with the right attitude and effort, but it is divine grace that ultimately frees us from all karma.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India: Speaking Tree: 29th Mar, 2019
Nayaswamis Jyotish & Devi
Karma is how God gives us the lessons we need to evolve spiritually. Paramhansa Yogananda describes karma as a mechanism created by God for our “education and entertainment”. Yet, rarely are we either educated or entertained by our karmic tests – unless we accept them in the right spirit.
Karma is the spiritual equivalent to Newton’s law of action and reaction in physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we put out positive, loving energy, we receive positive, loving energy in return. If we put out negative energy in the form of judgmental attitudes or dishonesty, that same type of energy comes back to us.
Swami Kriyananda describes good karma as anything that brings us closer to God, and bad karma as anything that takes us farther away from Him. Is winning the lottery good karma? Not if we spend that money on ourselves and increase our sense of ego.
The power of a particular karma is determined by the energy and will power that went into creating it. These same two factors can also change our karma. For instance, if in the past you tried to hurt people by unkind acts, you can neutralize that karma by devoting equal energy to helping and uplifting others.
When we’re facing a difficult karma, the first thing we need to do is to detach ourselves by accepting karmic tests as coming from God. Also, we need to control the tendency to blame others and bring a positive reaction to it that will help expiate the karma.
Detachment also means accepting whatever comes and being grateful for it. Accept not only what comes, but also what doesn’t come. If you can catch yourself when you first start to have a negative reaction, at that moment it is easier to neutralize the karma.
How do we become free of karmic patterns? When we respond to karma in the right way, we pass the test and don’t have to repeat it. Otherwise, we get to retake the test, sometimes over a period of lifetimes. It’s important to become aware of your karmic patterns, the things that happen repeatedly. If a karma is repeating in your life, that’s a sign you should spend time working on that particular karmic pattern.
Generally speaking, if we respond to adversity with the right attitude, then what initially looked like bad karma becomes something positive spiritually. But there’s a subtler form of bad karma that comes from identifying with the body and the material world. This type of karma can make us restless, impede our efforts to meditate, or prevent us from going deeper into the spiritual life. To overcome karma of this type we need to work on removing the subconscious blocks and inner conflicts by focusing our energy strongly in positive new directions.
The most powerful antidote for our past bad karma is the practice of Kriya Yoga, which works directly on the vrittis in the spine, where our karma resides. Through the deep practice of Kriya, we burn up, or “roast”, the seeds of our past karma. Our job is to respond to karma with the right attitude and effort, but it is divine grace that ultimately frees us from all karma.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy: Times Of India: Speaking Tree: 29th Mar, 2019