37. How to dissolve this birth *karma*? Simply by your breathing

Another important thing to note is that if you don't add gathered agamya karma to this birth's prarabdha karma, this birth karma can dissolve just by breathing. It will dissolve in your thought pattern itself.

For example, on seeing someone if lust awakens in you, in that intention and emotion itself the karma of this birth, the prarabdha will dissolve. Instead when you commit the action to fulfill the lust, the act generates gathered karma, the agamya. If you don't do the action, you will not collect gathered agamya karma. By breathing out the desire

Karma is not a law of reward and punishment. It is a reflection of your mental state.

this birth's prarabdha karma will dissolve. Breathing awareness into the desire has the capacity to burn your unfulfilled desires and can dissolve this birth's karma.

In our second level Nithyananda Spurana Program, participants are taken through a meditation in the pranic layer to dissolve desires, which are the samskaras stored in that energy layer. They list all their desires, then chase their desires during the meditation and by breathing in awareness into their desires they dissolve the samskarasof this birth.

Pointing the same sword inside

Karma is not a law of reward and punishment. It is not a way god uses to punish people for committing sins. It is a reflection of your own mental state giving you the experience of 'heaven' and 'hell'.

A small story:

A traffic policeman caught a man speeding. He was about to issue him a speeding ticket.

Suddenly a woman started screaming from the back seat, 'See, I told you that you will get caught! Who asked you to drive so fast? And when I tell you to be careful, slow down and watch out, you tell me to shut up. Now see you got caught!' The cop asked the driver, 'Who is she?' The driver sighed, 'My wife'.

The cop tore up the ticket and said, 'Drive on. You have been punished enough!'

When you are angry, it is not that you will incur sin and pay for it in your next life. You are suffering with your anger now. That itself is the hell you suffer! You are suffering inside in the same way that you are torturing the person you are angry with.

The fire you spit outside will burn with the same intensity inside you also. No matter whether it burns the other person or not, the fire of anger will surely burn you. The sword used to cut someone outside will cut you inside with the same intensity. Remember, it is a double edged sword.

A beautiful story from Buddha's life:

A man once came and spat on Buddha's face. Buddha wiped his face and asked the man, 'Do you want to say something more, or is this all?'

Ananda, his close disciple, was very angry. He was fuming that some man came and just spat on his master and that too for no reason at all. He said to Buddha, 'Master, if you give me permission I will handle the man.'

Buddha replied, 'Have you forgotten that you are a monk, a sannyasi ? That poor man is already suffering with his anger. See his angry face, his body shaking with that anger. Before spitting on me, do you think he would have been celebrating and dancing? He is mad with his own anger. In that state of madness, he came and spat on me.*

What is a bigger punishment for him than being in such a state? And what harm has he done to me? I just had to wipe the spit off my face. Now you don't get agitated, otherwise you are building the same anger inside you. Why are you punishing yourself? That is foolishness. Feel compassion for the poor man instead.'

The man was listening and was surprised and confused to see Buddha behave in this way. He was expecting Buddha to become angry. That is what he wanted. Instead the compassion and understanding Buddha showed was just too shocking for him!

Buddha said to him, 'Go home. You look tired, you have punished yourself enough. Forget about what you did to me. You did not harm me. This body will

Sannyasi - Renunciate.

return to the earth and people will do all kinds of things like spitting. Go home and relax.'

The man was completely shaken by Buddha's response. He went back home. He came back that evening, fell at Buddha's feet and cried, 'Please forgive me!'

Buddha calmly said, 'I was not angry in the first place. How can I forgive you? But I am happy to see you relieved from the anger and in a state of harmony. Just remember, never do such acts again. This is how you create hell for yourself.'

Dharma and Karma

An important thing you should know: accept honor only from the person who has experienced you. He can never dishonor you. Even if he dishonors only he will suffer. You will not suffer. Live on the path of dharma* , righteous conduct, having a clear understanding about you and allowing only the people who experience you to honor you. You will see that even if those people dishonor you, you will not be touched in any way because dharma* is so powerful. It fills your inner space and protects you.

Dharma means to be clear, honest to your center, to your understanding.

Dharma means to be clear, honest to your understanding.

Dharma* is what we call righteous or conscious behavior. It is not the moral behavior demanded by society. If you follow the law of society you are protected in the outer world. If you follow the law of dharma you are protected in the inner world. When you are in dharma you will always be right and you will never fall in depression.

We bother so much about following the law to have the protection from the outer world. Understand, follow the dharma. You will never fall into the difficulties and depressions that come from the inner world.

The inner world problems are much stronger, more difficult and more dangerous than the outer world problems. When inner world problems happen, immediately you are shaken and you will invite outer world problems.

In all your relationships be righteous, be clear. You will see that even when somebody who experienced you through your teachings dishonors you, you will not feel affected. That person will fall into

Dharma - Sanskrit equivalent of the Pali word dhamma used by Buddha. Also translated as 'righteous behavior'.

depression. Just like a law of the land that is laid down logically and enforced properly by society, the spiritual law of dharma is enforced by Existence. Dharma is enforced properly and it is still alive.

Please understand, enlightened beings are happening again and again in the planet earth just to remind you of this one truth that dharma is still alive. The cosmic law is still alive.

There is a beautiful scriptural statement: dharmo rakshati rakshitaha. When you protect dharma, dharma will protect you. When you uphold the cosmic law and live by it, the cosmic law strengthens you. The law of dharmais so powerful.

People ask me, 'Swamiji, I have seen good people suffering and bad people enjoying. How do you justify this?'

Understand the truth that first of all good people never suffer. They may appear to be suffering. If there is suffering somewhere the dharma was lost. It is a perverted understanding that good people suffer and bad ones enjoy.

A funny one-liner:

What is luck? The factor that is responsible for the success of those you don't like.

Perverted understanding is not dharma.

One more important thing, you don't even have to be honest to the higher understandings that have not become part of your experience. No. Be honest and true to your own understanding. That is more than enough.

If you are in the level of dharma, just completely be in that dharma. That is svadharma, being in tune with, honest with the dharmathat is your core.

You will then see that there will not be any unnecessary movement within you. You will not fall into the low mood. When you protect dharma, it protects you. I tell you, when you protect the dharma, it gives so much of strength and so much of courage.

Responsibility

The theory of karma simply says that whatsoever is happening to you is your doing. Nothing happens to you from outside of you. You create whatever happens to you. Most of the time you are not aware and you are not conscious. So you are not able to see yourself doing it.

If you are sad, watch and meditate on your misery. Observe how you created the sadness. See how the root of your misery lies within you. The mind constantly tells you everybody else is responsible for your misery, spouse, friend, boss, or the man down the street. It always goes on throwing responsibility on somebody else.

A small story:

There was an ad in the newspaper for a professional that ended with, 'We want a responsible man for the job.' A man applied for the job. In his interview, he introduced himself saying, 'I think I am just the person for your job.' The employer asked curiously, 'Why?'

The man replied, 'Wherever I worked, whenever anything went wrong, they told me I was responsible.'

Be very clear, nobody except you is responsible for what you feel, what you do.

Nobody can make you suffer without your silent permission. Once you understand that whatever happens is from deep inside you, you will suddenly see things changing. Take full responsibility for yourself and see how you become integrated in whatever you do.

When you stop blaming others, when you understand that you are responsible for everything, you will become more and more aware of every action, every thought of yours.

That awareness is enough. You will act intelligently. If you want to be sad, you will be sad. Nothing wrong with that, just be total in that sadness. If you feel there is no need to be sad and you want to be happy, be happy. That's all.

Watch how you create your misery. How did you build it inside? Watch how you are continuously creating your moods. Don't fool yourself by throwing on others the responsibility of what you create. Then you will never change. You will remain miserable because you are helpless. If you think others are creating everything, what can you do? What is your role? Then nothing is in your hands. You can only wait for others to change. But the change can never happen because others are not creating your feelings and emotions in the first place.

Karma and the next body

How do we choose the next birth?

Once the life force leaves the body, within three kshanas, it chooses the next body.

At the time of death the three most enjoyed experiences in that lifetime stand out as one's last thoughts. The choice of the next body arises from the mindset based on these three experiences.

These three thoughts will be based on one from each of the total karma (sanchita), this birth karma (prarabdha) and gathered karma (agamya). Based on this, the prarabdha karma will take shape for this birth.

Practicing spiritual life solutions in one's lifetime will reduce the gathered sanchita karma of that life because these understandings will help one to live with awareness.

Meditation helps to reduce the prarabdha karma. It acts not only upon the conscious and physical levels but also has the capacity to penetrate and clean the unconscious on a physical, mental and being level.

However, the largest balance in the bank of karma, the total sanchita karma, can only be dissolved through the master's grace.

The more these three karmas are reduced, the less the constraints of choice for the next body. Since each of the three karmas will dictate a corresponding intense experience to be lived, the next body will need to provide a space for these experiences to be lived.

It is like this. If I say, 'Let me meet a person who can speak English,' I have more choice than if I say, 'Let me meet a person who can speak English, Spanish and German.' Similarly, if you have all the three types of karma, of this birth, gathered and total, there are more constraints on your next birth.

For example, the desire influenced by your total sanchita karma may be, 'I want to be beautiful.' The desire influenced by your karma of this birth, prarabdha, may be, 'I want to be rich.' The desire influenced by your gathered or agamya karma, may be, 'I want to settle down in USA.'

It is more difficult to get a body for the life energy's next birth that will lead to the satisfaction of all the three desires within the short gap of three kshanas. So, it ends up choosing a body that satisfies the strongest desire amongst the three desires. The combined desires, the mindset, with which the life energy leaves the previous body is the vasana, the seeds of desire we earlier talked about.

These three desires, these three thoughts will be seen in one glimpse in three kshanas, as one vasana . The vasana is like a television channel and the body that attracts the vasana is like the television set tuned to this channel. The depth of the vasana and the body that matches the vasana attracts the life energy. Just like a television

set tuned to the satellite channel's frequency receives the corresponding electromagnetic waves, in the same way, the vasanais attracted by the body.

The life energy, the spirit, departing from the previous body enters the new body that it selected as that body leaves the womb of the mother. It enters the body in the birth canal. The darkness of the causal layer that it left from the previous body corresponds to the darkness of the mother's birth canal. Since the body has been prepared by the energies of the parents, the life energy chooses the combined energies of the parents based on the desires, the vasanas, the mental attitude, with which it leaves the previous body. So the parents do not choose the child. It is the child that chooses its parents.

Having chosen a particular body, the spirit or life force has to satisfy the other two desires it had but could not choose an appropriate body for. However, during its transition through the darkness, the deep pain experienced by the spirit erases all memories of the vasana it carries before it enters the new body. The new entity no longer remembers the desires with which it left the previous body. Instead of fulfilling the desires with which it left the previous body, since it has forgotten them, the life energy in the new body seeks new desires and collects more karma.

It is the child that chooses its parents.

of them is gone, the choice constraints are fewer and the life force can be more focused in the choices. Cleaning the gathered agamya karma and this birth's prarabdha karma can be done by the individual by understanding about life and by meditating. The master's grace will reduce the total sanchita karma.

Now, of the three types of

if one

karma,

Once the total sanchita karma is cleansed, there is no reason to take another body. Then, if the next birth still happens, it is for no reason but out of overflowing joy and bliss. The birth is thus chosen consciously because there is no pull of karma. The life lived is a leela or reasonless play of an avatar or incarnation.

How did the cycle of birth and death start?

For all of us, our total sanchita karma initially was a divine play. For an enlightened master, it is still a divine play as he has no karma at all. Playing because you can play is the divine play.

We took birth out of choice. We forgot our prarabdha karma, started gathering agamya karma and expanded the total sanchita karma. Then, to exhaust the increased load we had to take another birth where we

collected more desires and karma. This is how the cycle of life and death continues.

Please understand, your gathered agamya karma is your bondage. The total karma and this birth karma can be a divine play. The result of this play is the karma of that birth. After birth, if we play without gathered karma, it will continue to be a divine play. The bondage comes with gathered karma.

Will a human be born as an animal, bird or insect or can he be born as human being in the next birth?

This is a very good question. Let me boldly declare this truth and clear all the myths that have been surrounding this one question on the wheel of karma!

When a human being takes birth as human once, he will continue taking the life of a human unless he has acted against his consciousness like torturing others or committed violent acts in physical, mental or verbal forms against Existence which is in the form of the master, nature and human consciousness. The intensity of these acts is what gets recorded in the cosmic karmic record. Understand, it is not the act itself but the intensity of the act that matters.

When a person spends his whole life in lower consciousness, he can be reborn as an animal. For example, if he spends his whole life in only eating or sleeping, he can be reborn as an animal.

If the person has not experienced even once in his lifetime, the unique human qualities like falling in love, seeking enlightenment, he will be reborn as an animal, because he had a human body but the channels of human experience have not been awakened.

Do we have to wait for the next birth if we feel strongly

about something but it is not our prarabdha**?**

No. You can change your prarabdha through a simple, strong will or sankalpa* . The strength of the sankalpa* can cause a rebirth in you in this birth itself. The next birth can happen now itself. For example, people, especially householder disciples who feel they are caught up in their responsibilities ask me, 'Swamiji, please bless me that I should be with you at least in my next birth.' There are so many examples where they have been able to come and live in the ashram* just a few months later. It is just the strength of the will.