THE PATH TO LIBERATION

 

                           

                             IS KARMA  A DIRTY WORD?

                         WE HAVE LOOKED AT HOW KARMA BEGAN. PART TWO OF THIS CHAPTER WILL LOOK AT HOW MIGHT END.

                    BUT A CRUCIAL QUESTION WE NEED TO ADDRESS IS THIS : DO WE REALLY WANT IT TO END?

                       IS MEMORY A BURDEN? IS KARMA AN OBSTACLE? IS SAMSARA A CURSE? IS LIFE UNMITIGATED SUFFERING?

                       NOT IN THE LEAST.

                       LET ME STATE THIS UNEQUIVACALLY: KARMA IS NOT A DIRTY WORD. 

                      CERTAIN RELIGIOUS STRAINS HAVE, OVER TIME, BEGUN TO VIEW THE HUMAN BEING AS INHERENTLY IMPURE OR SOILED OR SINFUL. THEY SEE HUMAN LIFE AS A CURSE RATHEN THAN A BLESSING - A CONDITION FROM WHICH ONE NEEDS TO BE CURED OR SAVED OR RESCUED.

                      WHILE FREEDOM IS A LAUDABLE ASPIRATION, LET US NEVER FORGET THIS FACT: KARMA IS THE BASIS OF HUMAN LIFE. KARMA IS WHAT GIVES YOUR PHYSICAL FORM AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE SOLIDITY AND STABILITY. IT OFFERS A FOUNDATION FOR YOUR LIFE. WITHOUT THIS FOUNDATION, THERE WOULD BE NO POSSIBILITY OF TRASCENDENCE. YOU, YOUR BODY, AND YOUR MIND ARE BOUND TOGETHER ONLY BECAUSE OF THE KARMIC PROCESS. WITHOUT KARMA, NEITHER YOUR BODY NOR YOUR MIND WOULD EXIST. "YOU" AS YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF, WOULD NOT BE AROUND!

                  SO KARMA IS, FACT, A TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITY.

                  EVERY MOMENT, IMPRESSIONS ARE FLOODING IN TORRENTS INTO YOUR SYSTEM THROUGH YOUR FIVE SENSE ORGANS, AND EACH IMPRESSION IS BEING RECORDED. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS. THIS STORED INFORMATION IS VERY USEFUL FOR YOUR SURVIVAL. IF YOU DELETED ALL OF IT, YOU WOULD NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE EVEN THE SIMPLEST ASPECTS OF LIFE. KARMA IS THE GLUE THAT MAKES YOU STICK TO THIS BODY-MIND MECHANISM. IF YOU WASHED AWAY ALL YOUR KARMA, YOU WOULD EXIST YOUR BODY THIS VERY INSTANT!

                   YOUR SOFTWARE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT TURNS INTO A PROBLEM ONLY IF IT BECOME THE RULIN FACTOR IN YOUR LIFE. KARMA IS JUST YOUR OWN CREATION. IT IS NEITHER VIRTUOUS NOR EVIL, GOOD NOR BAD. IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING AT IT THROUGH THE PRISM - OR PREJUDICE - OF MEMORY THAT SOMETHING SEEMS WONDERFUL AND SOMETHING SEEMS HORRIBLE. KARMA IS THE BASIS OF YOUR INDIVIDUALITY, BUT IT IS ALSO BASIS OF YOUR PREJUDICE.

               THE PROBLEM WITH KARMIC MEMORY IS THAT IT HAS STUCK TO YOU. IF EVERYTHING THAT PASSESS BY STICKS TO THIS MIRROR, IT IS A NO-GOOD MIRROR. YOUR MIRROR CAN NO LONGER SHOW YOUR LIFE THE WAY IT IS. YOUR PERCEPTION IS NOW SERIOUSLY CLOUDED. NOW KARMA BECOMES A LIMITATION.

                  OF COURSE, THERE IS MUCH TO CELEBRATE ABOUT MEMORY. MEMORY MAKES US UNIQUE. MEMORY MAKES EVERY INDIVIDUAL DAZZLINGLY SINGULAR. IT IS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE BIODIVERSITY AND CULTURAL VARIETY WE SEE AROUND US TODAY. IT IS MEMORY THAT MAKES THE WORLD SUCH AN INCREDIBLY INTERESTING PLACE TO LIVE IN. MEMORY IS UNDENIABLY A PRIVILEGE. AN ENORMOUS PRIVILEGE.

                  THE RUB IS THAT MEMORY IS NOT JUST A GLUE. IT IS ALSO BOUDARY. IT OFFERS YOU FORM AND DEFINITION, BUT OVER TIME, THAT VERY FORM BECOMES A LIMITATION, AND THE DEFINITION BECOMES A WALL.

                  YOU ARE GRADUALLY FETTERED BY THE DEFINITIONS YOU SEEK TO ACQUIRE. YOU JOYFULLY CELEBRATE THESE DEFINITIONS - PERHAPS OF FAMILY, CLAN, TRIBE, CLASS, GENDER, RELIGION, CULTURE, LANGUAGE - BUT OVER TIME THESE DEFINITIONS HARDEN INTO RIGID MARKERS OF IDENTITY. BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, YOU HAVE CRAFTED YOUR OWN PRISON. WHETHER GILDED  OR IRON BARRED, A CAGE IS STILL A CAGE.

                 THE TRAGEDY IS THAT YOU ARE IMPRISONED BY WALLS OF YOUR OWN MAKING. THESE ARE WALLS AND BARS YOU HAVE ERECTED UNCONSCIOUSLY, AND WHICH NOW DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE. YOU ARE THE BUILDER, BUT YOU HAVE NOW ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE. YOU ARE THE BUILDER, BUT YOU HAVE NOW IMPRISONED YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN HOME. YOUR CREATION THAT WAS A SOURCE OF SANCTUARY AND IDENTITY HAS NOW TURNED INTO A CARAPACE.  YOU HAVE SPUN A COCOON OF CONFINEMENT AROUND YOURSELF THAT NOW YOU CANNOT FLY FREE. YOU HAVE BECOME YOUR OWN JAILER.

                     PART TWO OF THIS CHAPTER EXPLORES THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN WORK WITH, AND THROUGH, YOUR KARMA TO ADDRESS THIS UNQUENCHABLE HUMAN LONGING TO BE FREE. IT OFFERS YOU WAYS TO ENJOY MEMORY WITHOUT BEING OPPRESSED BY IT. IT OFFERS YOU WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN LIVE IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT ADDING TO YOUR ALREADY BURDENSOME FREIGHT OF KARMA. IT OFFERS YOU A CHANCE TO NAVIGATE YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH THIS WORLD WITHOUT BEING WORN AND ABRADED BY THE RIDE.

                  YOU CAN  FEEL THE BREEZE ON YOUR FACE AND THE SUN ON YOUR SKIN, BUT YOUR DON'T GATHER NEEDLESS GRIME AND AREN'T AT THE MERCY OF CHANGING WETHER. THE NEXT SECTION EMPOWERS YOU TO MAKE THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD BY SHOWING YOU A PATH THAT THE GREATEST SAGES HAVE KNOWN SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, HOW YOU CAN BE IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT.

                     THIS PATH REMINDS YOU THAT WHILE KARMA IS YOUR BONDAGE, IF YOU HANDLE IT RIGHT, KARMA CAN ALSO BE A STEPPING-STONE TO YOUR LIBERATION.

WHAT IS SACRIFICE

                                 

                        THE MEANING OF SACRIFICE 

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                                                    *SUTRA*

                          IF YOU TAKE MORE KARMIC LOAD NOW, WHEN 

         YOU ARE WELL AND CAPABLE, LATER YOU WILL "HANDS-FREE"!

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                                 THE TERM KARMA YOGA IS OFTEN SEEN AS CLOSELY LINKED WITH SACRIFICE. IN EVERY SPIRITUAL TRADITION IN THE WORLD, THE NOTION OF SACRIFICE HAS BEEN AS SIGNIFICANT.

                      IN SANSKRIT THE WORD YAGNA IS OFTEN TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH AS "SACRIFICE". BUT YAGNA USUALLY REFERS, IN PRACTICE, TO CERTAIN OBLATIONS AND RITUALS THAT WERE PRACTICED IN ANCIENT INDIA TO APPEASE A DEITY TO PLACATE SOME FORCES TO NATURE. HOWEVER, THESE RITUALS WERE NOT A SACRIFICE IN THE TRUE SENSE OF THE WORD. GIVING UP SOMETHING FOR SOMETHING ELSE IS COMMERSE, GIVING UP SOMETHING FOR NOTHING IS SACRIFICE.

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                     THE TRADITIONAL YAGNA ITS OWN TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNAL LOGIC. IT WAS PROCESS THROUGH WHICH YOU FOUND ACCESS TO CERTAIN FORCES OR DEITIES AND SOUGHT TO ENHANCE YOUR CAPABILITIES. THESE PROCESSESS ARE STILL PRACTICED TODAY IN MANY PART OF INDIA. THEY CAN HELP CREATE SEVERAL HEALTH AND MATERIAL BENEFITS.

                       HOWEVER, ONCE YOU ARE ON A SPIRITUAL PATH, YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SMALL PROCESSESS, MINOR TECHNOLOGIES, PETTY RITUALS.  THE VERY WAY YOU LIVE BECOMES A YAGNA. THIS IS THE DEEPEST MEANING OF SACRIFICE. YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN INVITING AN EXPERT TO PERFORM RITUALS TO ENABLE YOU TO MANIPULATE CERTAIN FORCES. YOUR VERY LIFE PROCESS IS AN OFFERING.

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                   IF EVEN A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION BECOMES MEDITATIVE, MANY REAP THE BENEFITS. A SINGLE MANGO TREE CAN OFFER FRUIT TO A HUNDRED PEOPLE. SIMILARLY, WHEN YOUR LIFE BECOMES A YAGNA, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE CAN REAP ITS BENEFITS. MANY INDIVIDUALS HAVE DONE THIS DOWN THE ANGES.

                   AT ISHA, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF VOLUNTEERS AND PRACTITIONERS WHO HAVE OFFERED THEIR ENTIRE LIVES TO A SPIRITUAL PATH WITH COMITMENT AND UNWAVERING FOCUS. WHEREVER THEY GO, THEY TRASFORM THE PLACE, IN THEIR OWN SMALL WAY, INTO A YAGNA BHOOMI - ALAND OF SACRIFICE.

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                      DO NOT THINK OF SACRIFICE AS CHEERLESS SELF-DENIAL. WHEN ONE'S ENTIRE LIFE BECOMES AN OFFERING, IT BRINGS ITS OWN UNIQUE JOY. THERE IS A STORY ABOUT AN INDIAN ASCETIC WHO WENT TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE LAST CENTURY. SOMEONE HE MET THERE DISMISSIVELY COMMENTED, "AS AN ASCENTIC, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LIFE, YOU HAVE NOT TASTED WINE OR SLEPT WITH A WOMAN. WHAT CAN YOU KNOW OF LIFE'S EXPERIENCES?

                     THE ASCENTIC CALMLY REPLIED, " I COME FROM A LAND OF SACRIFICE. AND I KNOW THE BLISS OF SACRIFICE FAR EXCEEDS THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD. I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOUR PLEASURES, AND I AM NOT DENYING OR DENOUNCING THEM. BUT ONCE YOU TASTE A DEEPER JOY, THESE BECOME CHILDISH TOYS, MERE SOPS, MINOR DISTRACTIONS".

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                    THIS APPROACH WAS AT ONE TIME DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THE INDIAN FAMILY. IT WAS NOT PERPETUATED AS A TEACHING, BUT AS AN EVERYDAY PRACTICE. IT WAS PART OF THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE. IN A HOST OF DIFFERENT WAYS, A CHILD GREW UP OBSERVING THAT THE MORE DEEPLY FULFILLING LIFE WAS ABOUT GIVING, NOT TAKING , ABOUT SERVING NOT RULING.

                     MY MOTHER, LIKE SO MANY OTHER MOTHERS, WAS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THIS. SHE NEVER HAD TO SAY TO US "I LOVE YOU", BECAUSE IT WAS SO APPARENT IN EVERYTHING SHE DID. EVERY MORNING, AFTER ENSURING THAT HER FAMILY HAD EATEN, SHE WOULD TAKE A PART OF HER BREAKFAST AND GO TO THE BACKYARD. HERE SHE WOULD FEED THE ANTS THAT LIVED THERE. SHE WOULD NEVER EAT WITHOUT FEEDING THEM. TODAY, MODERN FAMILIES WOULD BE SPRAYING THE BACKYARD WITH PESTICIDE! BUT WITHOUT ANY SELF-CONSCIOUS ECOLOGICAL MISSION, IT WAS CLEAR TO MY MOTHER THAT THE ANTS HAD AS MUCH RIGHT TO THIS PLANET AS SHE HAD. EVERY LITTLE ACTION IN HER LIFE HAD BECOME A YAGNA.

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                  FOR PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BECOME LIKE THIS, THERE IS NO NEED TO PERFORM ANY RITUAL. THEIR LIVES HAVE BECOME AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE - NOT LOVE AS "I LOVE YOU" AND "YOU LOVE ME", BUT AS A BASIC AMBIENCE OF THEIR INTERIORITY . NOW THEIR LIVES ARE ONE CEASELESS FLOW OF KARMA YOGA, AN ENDLESS OUTPOURING OF THEIR INNER JOY. NO MORE IS NEEDED.