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 sannyasi¹ (renunciate)? That poor man is already suffering with his anger. See his angry face, his body shaking with that anger. And 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 return to the earth and people will do all kinds of things like spitting. Go home and relax.’

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.’

Once the life force leaves the body, within three kshanas², 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, 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 infl-uenced by your gathered or agamya karma, may be, ‘I want to settle down in USA.’

It is more difficult to get a body for your 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 vasana is 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 c o m b i n e d 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.

Now, of the three types of karma, if one 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.

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.

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.

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 the 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.

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

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.

You are like a wave in the ocean of Existence. The wave rises up from the ocean but it is still connected to the ocean. It may think it has an individual existence but that is just a myth. Whether it is rising, above the ocean or falling down, it is still a part of the ocean.

On its own, because of joy, when the wave takes the body, there will be no gathered or agamya karma. When agamya karma is

Ashram - A monastery for Hindu or Buddhist monks.

acquired, it will corrupt the total sanchita karma that was pure. This sanchita karma has to be exhausted in the next birth. Corrupted total sanchita karma generates the cycle of life and birth– this is how the wheel of karma starts.

The new body that the life energy occupies does not remember the prarabdha karma that the life energy brought with it when it took the body. So, you do not remember the desires with which you left your previous body.

Reminding yourself of those desires again and fulfilling them in this birth is what doing tapas (penance) and becoming enlightened is all about.

So what happens when you forget at birth that you have come through divine play? When the total karma weight becomes excessive, you realize, ‘There is some problem somewhere.’ Immediately you wake up and get enlightened again. The rewinding and coming back is enlightenment.

Sometimes, if you get a really bad dream, only a thought like ‘I am dreaming’ will come at first. Then, you actually wake up. That thought of ‘I am dreaming’ coming is turning towards enlightenment. Waking up is getting enlightened.

That thought of ‘I am dreaming. This whole world is a dream’ and then renouncing the false world and catching the reality is enlightenment. In this world, the same experiences repeat making you tired and bored. It gives rise to the suspicion, ‘I am seeing a dream.’ Then, you start doubting the world, doubting the promise the world gives.

It is like the newspaper ads about some beachside resort that show the beach, the table, the food, all looking like heaven, giving a promise of luxury. You doubt that promise, because you realize that if hundred people see this and go, not many will actually feel the ecstasy promised. Similarly in life also, you doubt the promises your mind has been making all along but never fulfilling any.

Till now, what we discussed was a preventive measure for incurring karma. As a curative for karma, I will give you a simple technique. Right from this moment, try and remember all the incidents in your life. Start going backwards from this moment to your childhood days. Remember what you can.

Do not bother about what you cannot. Understand: what you cannot remember is only a hangover. It has not touched you deeply. That is why it is not retained in your memory. Try this technique for a year. Re-living is a wonderful way of relieving.

Our second level Life Bliss meditation program – the Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP) is focused on just this method of exhausting one's karma. It is like a complete spiritual bath in the presence of an enlightened master.

There is a way to again and again remind ourselves not to collect karma and to live without the influence of the earlier incurred karma. The first step is to have a clear understanding that karma is powerless in the presence of an elevated consciousness.

There is an important difference between normal human beings and enlightened masters. A normal person does not have the ability to make his body alive out of his will. His body is either alive or it is dead, that's all. It is not under his control.

But for an enlightened person, it is under his control. He can either make his body alive, or relax. Because of this ability, he can also make another body alive! When an enlightened being chooses to make a stone or metal alive, that stone or metal becomes a representation of his very self.

All the deities in our major traditional temples are energized by enlightened masters. Masters like Arunagiri Yogeeshwara from Tiruvannamalai, Patanjali from Chidambaram, Karurar from Thanjavur, Konganavar from Tirupati and Meenakshi from Madurai have energized the deities in these temples.

Deities are therefore considered to be the very bodies of the enlightened masters. Disciples continue serving the deities even after the masters leave their physical body. The body of the deity is considered to be the body of the master himself. That is the reason why

Arunagiri Yogeeshwara - The temple of Arunachaleswara in Tiruvannamalai is built on the living energy tomb of Arunagiri Yogeeshwara, who is considered an incarnation of enlightened master Shiva. Tiruvannamalai - Temple town where Nithyananda was born and raised. Patanjali - A sage of ancient India and author of Yoga Sutras, which is considered the foundation of the system of yoga. Chidambaram - A place in South India famous for its ancient temple dedicated to enlightened master Shiva in his dancing form as Nataraja and where he is represented as the space energy. Karurar - South Indian mystic saint upon whose immortal remains the temple at Thanjavur (Tanjore) is believed to have been built. Thanjavur - Town in South India famous for its massive temple and learning and cultural heritage. Konganavar - Hindu saint and disciple of Bogar, upon whose immortal remains, Tirupati temple is said to have been built. Tirupati - Famous temple to Vishnu as Venkateshwara or Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, South India. Meenakshi - The goddess at Madurai in south India. She is said to be a saint upon whose immortal remains, the temple has been built. Madurai - Temple town in south India. A major pilgrim center with the temple to Meenakshi and her consort Sundareshwara, an aspect of enlightened master Shiva. the deities receive the same respect offered to an enlightened master.

For example, all the disciples initiated by Arunagiri Yogeeshwara will worship the Arunachala temple for generations together. You will see that whatever is offered to the master will be offered to the deity also.

Masters, even after they decide to leave the body, are continuously available to the disciples through the deities that they energized. For example, even during my lifetime, my physical presence is not possible everywhere at the same time. So these deities are programmed to do my work where I am physically not present! They are my representatives!

The deities possess independent intelligence. Energizing the deities is a big process. It is like giving birth to a child. These energized deities will directly respond to your prayers. They will directly relate with you if you are open in relating with them.

If you see our puja (offering) and our ashram routine, you will see that in the morning, they play the wakeup song to wake up the presiding deity. Then they give a small cup of oil for His hair and a small cup of tooth powder for Him to brush His teeth! Then, they give Him a bath and offer fresh, ironed clothes, just like how they offer to the master. They offer food and perform the evening arati. In the night, they put the deity to bed again in a ceremonious way.

Understand, all this does not add anything to the deity or to the master. It adds only to us! This is what is living with god. This is what is practicing the presence of god. Practicing the presence of the master is puja. Puja is done every day because it is a technique to remember the presence of god every day.

What is needed so as not to collect gathered agamya karma, is life solutions, what I call nithyam (eternal) because you practice them daily. To dissolve the karma of this birth, you need meditation or dhyanam. That is why you see that most of our meditations are based on breathing. Altering the breathing, making it fast, slow, silent etc is what our meditation techniques are all about. The only thing that can dissolve the total karma is the master’s grace or anandam (bliss).

So understand, karma is simply the effects of thoughts, words and deeds that stem from

Arunagiri Yogeeshwara - The temple of Arunachaleswara in Tiruvannamalai is built on the living energy tomb of Arunagiri Yogeeshwara, who is considered an incarnation of enlightened master Shiva. Puja - Hindu ritual worship. Ashram - A monastery for Hindu or Buddhist monks. Arati - Fire ritual performed at the end of most vedic worship done with lighted lamps or camphor, accompanied often by devotional songs. deep ignorance and cause you to again and again tread familiar patterns of misery. The way to break this cycle is to tune into the clicks received from the master and live in an elevated zone of consciousness.

You need to see the motivation for the social service. Honestly look at yourself in the face. What do you want by doing the service?

Do you feel motivated by the fear of having to go to hell if you don't do good deeds? Is it the desire for a good name and publicity? Or is it just to do something to keep yourself busy? Is it the greed of a good afterlife after death? Is it a better next birth?

If you are driven by fear or greed, you can never intensely enjoy doing the service. One part of you will be doing the act of service. Another part of you will be caught in thinking about the benefits of the service. So you are not integrated in that action. You are not completely fulfilled through it.

This action also binds. Outwardly, socially, it looks good and free from bondage. But inside your inner space, you can see it is not. The whole of mankind is swinging around result-oriented action. This is extended to service as well. At least in service, do not think of dollars or fame. Do not plan to impress. Do not plan to make your presence felt.

Do the work for the work itself! Do not plan anything. Just do any service anywhere. This kind of service will infuse tremendous power into your being. For at least half an hour a day do something selfless, without any thought of results or benefits for yourself. You can then experience the true joy of service.

Karma can be exhausted only through deep understanding, awareness and at least one glimpse of consciousness.

In the case of premature death, the soul has to wait for the time it was destined to live, before it can take a new body. In the case of suicide, the suffering is much more intense than what would have been if the spirit had continued living. It is like when you have a plate of food in front of you but you don't have hands or a body to enjoy it!

In the case of accidents, the spirit has to be without body. But there is no suffering as in the case of suicide. The spirit lives in the same consciousness it would have lived had it been alive. It just waits to get the next body.

Past life regression should not be done except by an enlightened being. It has such a strong influence it can affect this birth. For example, if you had been a blind person in a past life, when regression happens, you can become blind in this birth!

An unenlightened being doing the regression will also suffer the karmas of the person he is doing the regression for.

To clear past life regression, one should know how to handle it, clear the past samskaras and close it.

When the master removes the karma, you call that feeling pain. Actually, the master would be removing in a second the suffering of many births, what would have otherwise taken many births to dissolve. So it is practically no suffering in comparison.

Sharada Devi says, the master clearing the samskaras is like you facing a thorn prick instead of suffering a fracture!