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THE LAW OF
KARMA
- Sant Kirpal Singh Ji
This talk was given on
Oct. 29, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois
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DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS: We
are greatly fortunate that we have got the man-body.
Man-body is the highest in all creation, next to God. Even
the angels bowed down to the man-body when it was made. All
scriptures tell us that due to the reactions of very good
actions of the past, we get the man-body. So really we are
very fortunate. Our good actions have fructified, and we
have got the man-body as a result thereof. It is a golden
opportunity in which we can pay off all reactions of the
past.
And also we are free, within certain limits. All bodies
other than the man-body are bound; they have got no free
action there. In the human body we are bound to a certain
extent, as a reaction of the past, and we are free also
within certain limits. So if we are wise, we will pay off
the old reactions, the old karmas, and go back home. So it
is a time in which we can either go home or go back again in
the wheel of life and death.
Be very cautious. This is a golden opportunity we have got.
Try to understand how to pay off the debts which we have.
You will find we are to be very cautious. Each thought that
strikes us causes a reaction. Each thought, each word and
each deed has to be accounted and compensated for in nature.
Nature spares no man. "As you sow so shall you reap." No
exception to the rule. Never think idly of anything. If you
think idly of anything, even that has a reaction. The fifth
Guru of the Sikhs says, "Be afraid of the sins we have done
unknowingly." They will also have a reaction.
So every cause has an effect. We are to understand this
principle, this law. If we understand this principle or law
of karma, then we can come out of it and go back home.
Otherwise we'll keep on coming and going and coming and
going. So each cause has an effect. Every action brings
about a reaction. Uproot the cause and the effect
disappears. This has been done by the Masters who have
transcended these laws. But all others are bound by the
bonds of karma, which is the root cause of physical
existence. Of course, these are very good actions, the
reactions of which have given you the man-body. But still we
have to be very careful what we do: either we are trying to
go back down or back home.
So there are three kinds of karma. One kind is called
sanchit. "Sanchit" means "which are stored as yet," not
fructified. So suchlike karmas, you see, from hundreds of
births back, are just in store, not yet touched for
reaction.
In India at the time of the Pandavas there was one
Dhritarashtra. He was a great yogi but blind from birth.
Lord Krishna asked him, "You are blind from your very birth.
What caused it? What karma have you incurred, the result of
which you are blind from birth?"
And he told him, "By yogic power I know up to one hundred
births back; and I have found no action the result of which
I would be blind."
So Lord Krishna, who was a yogishwar, just gave him help to
go back still further. And he found that in his 106th birth
back he had done the action which resulted in his present
blindness.
So mind that there are akashic records, you see. Whatever we
speak, whatever we think, that is recorded in the akash.
Those who can read those records, they can give you
statements made hundreds of births back. Ever since we have
left the house of our Father, ever since we have been sent
to the earth, we have been coming and going. Action and
reaction has been going on. Some has been paid off by
pralabdha karma. Pralabdha karmas are the karmas which are
in fruit, which are fructified, and on which our present
existence is based. First, we have got the man-body. That is
the result of very high karma, good karma. Now also we are
bound within certain limits unless those reactions are paid
off, and the seeds of no further actions are sown. So
pralabdha is the karma on which our present life is based.
It is what is called "fate" or "destiny." Fate or destiny is
a reaction of our past karma which is now in fruit.
The third class is kriyaman, the actions that we do daily.
So as I submitted, man is free within certain limits and
bound within certain limits. Just take the example of a boy
who is flying the kite in the air. He may have, for
instance, two or three hundred yards of thread with which he
is flying the kite. But his father is at the back, keeping
two hundred yards of thread in his control. He has allowed
only a hundred yards of thread to his son; enough to enable
him to fly the kite. So he can fly the kite only up to a
hundred yards, not more.
So these karmas are of different natures. Some karma bears
fruit very quickly; others a little later; others, very
long. Take the example of the courts. There are small cause
courts, there are high courts, and there are privy council
courts. Is it not so? Ordinary cases are settled in weeks or
a month or so. Cases intricate take months to decide in high
courts. And there are other cases of a very intricate
nature; they take years to decide in privy council. You
follow my point? So we incur action/reaction daily. They are
bearing forth fruit: some quickly, some later some still
later. As in the case of Dhritarashtra I quoted you: he was
reaping the fruit of karma incurred 106 births back.
Some of the kriyaman karma we reap in this life; the
remaining is transferred to the sanchit karma. Karma is the
cause of rebirth; and each birth is, in turn, followed by
death. There the cycle of enjoyment and suffering results.
Some are happy; some are not happy, So, "As you think, so
you become." Ignorance of the law is no excuse, mind that.
We say we don't know, but what we have sown, we must reap.
Whether we sow good actions or bad actions; both are
binding. Handcuffs or chains may be made of iron or gold;
but they are equally binding. These karmic laws are
difficult to understand; but if we follow what I am telling
you, we can save our life, our coming down to the earth.
So fortunately we can learn how to pay off debts and come
off this wheel of life. We daily sow seeds. They will bear
forth fruit. Some are being fructified. Some are being laid
in the sanchit karma, in store. The store of our karma is
great. So in this plight if we meet some Master who knows
this law of nature, how to wind it up and liberate us from
that law - he takes on the process of winding up all the
karmas of the initiate. He takes over. It is a very
difficult, very hard job, being a Master.
First of all, what does he do? He gives you a contact with
the Sound Current within, by practicing which the sanchit or
storehouse karmas are burned away. It is a great blessing:
all sanchit karmas are burned off. They will not fructify in
future lives. Then for kriyaman karma, the karma that we do
daily, he prescribes the maintenance of the diary. You see?
Now mark the purpose for which the diary is meant. It has a
very important work to do. He is enjoined to lead a clean
life and weed out all imperfections in him by self-
introspection from day to day. This he is instructed to do.
The pralabdha karma is not touched. It is as a result of
that karma that we have got the present life. If Saints
touch this, then the life will end; the very moment a Saint
, touches the pralabdha karma, the life will end! So he does
not touch it because it is the cause of the physical body,
which would vanish due to interference in nature's law. So a
very small amount of karma remains to be tolerated by the
initiate during the present life.
Now sanchit karmas in store are burned away by coming in
contact with the Sound. The more you come in contact with
the Sound Principle within you, the Naam or Word, the two
aspects of which are Light and Sound, your sanchit karma
will be burned away. Pralabdha karma is not touched.
Kriyaman karma is just as I told you: for that he makes you
to be very strict. Don't spare yourself. You should
criticize yourself as you like to criticize others. And weed
out day to day. Some of the remaining karmas are kriyaman,
you see; they are also polished down, softened down, by the
Master, by the disciple's devotion.
Now, you see, when you sit by a Master the mind keeps silent
for a few minutes. Mind does not make any trouble. You have
no thoughts, as a result of the radiation of the Master. And
the qualification of a Master is given as, sitting in whose
presence your mind does not rake up any trouble for a while.
As I told you yesterday, if you go to a man who sells scents
he may not give you anything, but by radiation you get
perfume. Similarly, in his presence if you sit fully
receptive for a time, your mind won't make all kinds of
trouble. That's by radiation. And if you have a contact
within? You see? Then the phial of perfume is given to you.
So pralabdha karmas, you see, are not touched, because over
them we have no control. They have to react. What has to
come to pass must come to pass. No exception to the rule.
There is, however, one possible way out: one may so mold and
develop his inner self through the guidance of the
Master-soul that he or she may not feel the bitter sting of
the karma.
Just take the example of an almond or walnut when it is not
ripe. You can put a needle through it. But when it is ripe
the shell is separated from the kernel, and if you put in a
needle, it won't pass through the shell. Is it not so?
When you sit by the Master, he wants to give you a way up,
to rise above body consciousness; then even if all outer
things do come up as a result of the pralabdha karma, they
don't have the pinching effect. That's the blessing of the
Master. A child is to be operated on; the mother takes the
child in her lap while the operation is being done. And the
child is satisfied: he sits in the lap of the mother, you
see.
Those initiated, those who are devoted to the Master within,
they do get bitter results of reactions of the past, but
they are not felt. If we rise above body consciousness
daily, they will not be felt. There is a case of one
Abdullah, who was a devotee of Mian Mir in India. As a
result of the pralabdha karma, he was suffering very much
but he rose above, back of the eyes. And the Master came:
"Oh, what are you doing? You have sown the seeds. You must
bear the result of that. Why are you sitting up there? Come
down!"
But this is the grace of the Master if we follow him. For
the kriyaman karma we are to weed out all imperfections
through the diary. Those karmas which are in store, those
are burnt away the more you come in contact with the Light
and Sound Principle. So recent karmas which you do daily,
they are weeded out by self-introspection. Whatever remains
that also is smoothed down by the love of the Master; the
pinching effect does not remain the same.
So as I told you, it is like a walnut or almond: when it is
not ripe, you can put a needle through; but when it is ripe,
the shell is separated - you may try to put in a needle, but
it won't pass. Similarly, it happens something like that
when you are concentrated at the back of the eyes. You find
you can stay there - or you, at will, work at the level of
the outgoing faculties. Then let all these things come! Man
will die; man will suffer; we may be operated on; this and
that. But how great a blessing you have got with you!
So for that reason, you see, what is required now? Is there
another kind of karma? One is kriyaman, another is pralabdha,
the third is what is in store - sanchit. But there is
another form of karma. This is called neh-karma, karma
performed without any attachment or desire for the fruit
thereof. You see? This is superior to the other forms of
karma, which are more or less a source of bondage. This type
helps a little to liberate one from karmic reactions, from
bondage. If you do some job without desiring any fruit, that
won't bind you. This is one thing. But so long as the ego is
there, how can you not? You won't feel that you are not the
doer. You follow my point? So long as you are the doer,
whether you are doing good actions or bad, even at your
heart of hearts, you know, "I have done good actions," you
see. That will bear forth fruit.
So neh-karma or selfless karma comes up only when you become
a conscious co-worker. You find also that in the yoga
systems such as Karma Yoga it is taught that you can become
neh-karma - not to want any fruit. But how can you become
neh-karma unless you become the conscious co-worker of the
divine plan? Unless you know that "He is the doer; I am not
the doer?" So long as you are the doer, you'll bear the good
fruits also - heaven, and other things in this life, too. So
you will find it is only karma born of desire or kam that
leads to bondage. This is why, you see, that Moses taught,
"Desire not"; that Buddha taught, "Be desireless"; that the
tenth Guru of the Sikhs taught, "Don't have any desire for
the result." The highest of all is to be neh-karma. That is
doing karma in accordance with the divine plan, as a
conscious co-worker of the Power of God.
Now you find four kinds of karma. Present karma is taken
care of by the diary. And whatever is left, if you are
devoted to the Master, that is also smoothed down. Pralabdha
karma is not touched; you have to bear the bitter fruits of
that. But while sitting at the feet of the Master, if you
are following his instructions and rising above body
consciousness daily - dying daily - then outer pinching
effects, bitter effects of the reactions of the past won't
affect you, as in the example that I gave. Now you'll find
how important it is to do your practices daily.
In brief, the Law of Karma is nature's stubborn and
inexorable law from which there is no exception. Even the
avatars bear the fruit of it - what to speak of men. It is
said of Lord Rama that he killed the brother of the King of
Ceylon by standing behind a tree; in our scriptures it is
given. When the man died, he said, "Well, Rama, I did not
have anything against you; why are you killing me? You will
have to suffer."
So it happened that Rama in his next incarnation came as
Lord Krishna, and that man whom he had killed took the form
of a bhil (very low caste, almost a savage) in the jungle,
you see. And Lord Krishna was lying in the jungle with his
left foot over his right knee. And there was a star on his
foot, you see, which is always on the feet of avatars or
incarnations. The bhil hunter saw it and thought perhaps it
was the eye of a deer; so he shot the arrow and it hit the
foot of Lord Krishna, and he died of that. Even avatars are
not exceptions to the rule; what to speak of ordinary men.
IBe careful! Every thought that crosses you, that reacts.
"As you sow, so shall you reap." That is the general rule
for those who are on earth. You see? "As you think, so you
become." It is from the abundance of the mind that the
tongue speaks. Every action has a reaction, for that is
nature's Law of Cause and Effect. One has therefore to bear
the fruit of his actions; no exception.
Is there any remedy for this? Masters have got a remedy, as
I just submitted to you. I quoted the case of Abdullah, the
devotee of Mian Mir. In daily life, if you have to have an
injection, you can withdraw your attention here (in back of
the eyes). "All right - now inject!" You feel much less
pain. If you can withdraw your attention fully, that may be
cut off.
So this is a very regular way which Master puts us on. It is
only when one transcends the body consciousness and becomes
neh-karma or actionless in action, like the still point at
the center of the ever- revolving wheel of life, that the
stop is put to the motion of the great wheel of karma. If a
machine is running, and they want to stop the wheel, they
will insert something into it and the machine does not work.
So the Law of Karma does not work in the cases of those who
rise above body consciousness accurately.
That is why Buddha said, "Be desireless." For desire is the
root cause of human suffering-all suffering. Some die; some
are born; some are sick; some are poor. Length of life,
whether we are high or low, poor or rich, - all this is
based on the reactions of the past.
So what happens? The spirit sitting in the chariot of the
body is steered blindly and headlong into the field of
sensual pleasures by the five powerful steeds of the
outgoing faculties, which are driven by the intoxicated
mind.
You see? So mind also has to be controlled. If something is
given to the mind that is more blissful, more peaceful, than
it is accustomed to through the senses, only then it can be
controlled; not otherwise. It is because the reins of the
intellect are dangling loose and the steeds are running
fast, headlong, that we incur actions that result in
reactions. We go on like anything ever since we have come
down to earth from the Father. We have been on earth, we
have been coming and going, coming and going, coming and
going. The human body we have been having as a very great
fortune. But we did not use to like the human body, because
we did not understand the Law of Karma.
There are two karmic laws: one is the Law of Karma; the
other is the Law of Grace. If you come to the feet of the
Masters, there the Law of Grace works, I tell you: Your
present karma is also softened down - and they give a diary
for that. The sanchit karmas are burnt away by giving a
contact with the Sound and Light Principle within you. And,
while no power can withstand the pralabdha karma, what the
Master gives you is to rise above body consciousness daily,
so that the pinching effect is lessened. How fortunate we
are! That is why it is said it is a great blessing to have a
living Master. Don't you realize that? Even the incarnations
undergo the law; they are not exempt from the law of cause
and effect - what to speak of the average man.
These are things that are prescribed by the Master. Ever
since they have been coming they have been telling us what
to do. "Be born anew." You follow what is the basic teaching
behind it? "Be reborn." I have been explaining to you in my
talks what is meant by being reborn. One birth is into this
human body, another is into the Beyond. If you are reborn
daily - die daily - take cross daily - then? All these
should naturally follow. Then you escape the effect of the
wheel of life, of karma. Now do you see how important it is
to do the practices as prescribed by the Masters? Masters
don't spare anybody.
Guru Nanak says, "Look here, O Master, what is the use of
coming to your feet if the Law of Karma is not satisfied?"
He gives an example: "What is the use of going to the feet
of a lion if the jackals are still howling at you?" It is a
great privilege to sit at the feet of a Master, I would say.
So what is meant by being "born anew" is rising above body
consciousness-and that is also what is meant by being "twice
born." And in ancient India these things were given to
children of five, seven, or nine years, when they were
initiated. What is learned in childhood, I would say what is
learned in the womb of the mother, that will last forever.
We should be very careful how we bring up children, mind
that - whether they are in the womb or outside.
So this is what is said: to be born anew, to die daily.
"Learn to die so that you may begin to live." Then you will
have everlasting life; you will escape - evade - the cycle
of births and deaths. You follow me? Very delicate point it
is; but we must understand it and live by it. How is that
done? - by the grace of the Master. If by the grace of the
Master we learn to die while alive, then you know the other
law (the Law of Grace) is working, you see. When grain is
poured into a grinding machine, those grains which are put
in between the blades will be ground; but if some grains
stick to the handle of the machine, they will be saved.
So it is said that it is a great blessing to have a living
Master and to keep his commandments. That's the main thing.
So "one has therefore to forsake the flesh for the spirit"
if one is anxious to escape from the perpetual wheel of life
on earth. I'm quoting from the Bible; there are similar
quotes in other scriptures like that. But if one, under the
guidance of a Master, learns the practical process of self-
analysis at will and rises into the Beyond - death in life -
the whole angle of vision is changed.
The result is that after that one continues to live on earth
without attachment. When you rise above body consciousness
daily all your attachments are gone. You may have hundreds
of thousands of dollars with you, or no money at all; you
don't care. You won't try to usurp the rights of others; you
won't try to squeeze the blood of others - because you will
know that you will incur karma, and you won't want those
actions to go along with you. So when you rise above body
consciousness daily, the whole angle of vision is changed.
You won't do anything unbecoming because you won't want to
carry it with you - "ill gotten, ill spent." Christ said,
"He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not
worthy of me." You follow my point? "He that findeth his
life shall lose it ..."
Just follow the meaning: very clear, very simple words. If
you rise above outer life then you'll have everlasting life.
"Learn to die so that you may begin to live." "He that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it." What life? The
one outside which we withdraw from. You see? It is not
dying, but withdrawing your attention from all outside and
rising above body consciousness. He said, if you do it "for
my sake, you will find it."
Then again you will find that in the Bible it is said, "If
any man will come after me" - hear, please, what he says -
"let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me." What is "taking up the cross daily"? The cross is the
symbol of the human body standing with outstretched arms; we
are to rise above it. Then we can follow him. Once we rise
above our whole angle of vision is changed, as I said
before: you won't torment anybody; you won't squeeze the
blood of anybody; your whole outer contact with the world
will be above - board, fair, honest.
How can we ever expect to be saved from the wheel of coming
and going if we don't keep the commandments of the Master?
Saying "we have got no time, we have this and that
obligation" won't do; after all, we are sowing seeds further
from day to day.
So, you see, "death in life" or "death in Christ" is
referred to in the East as fana fil sheikh or "death in the
Master." You see? "Learn to die so that you may begin to
live." Death in Christ means withdrawing from outside and
coming in contact with the Christ Power within you. In
Persian it is said as I told you: Fana fil sheikh. In the
Hindi way, the Sikh Masters say, Gur go tobee - "Be one in
the tomb of the Guru." As "I and my Father are one." The
initiate who becomes one with the Guru and the Guru-in-him,
he is experiencing death in Christ or death in the Guru.
This can save us from coming and going, you see. The longer
we go on sowing seeds, the more they will grow - they will
bear forth fruit. Be cautious not to grow any. What is that
by knowing which, nothing more is desired to be had? Coming
in contact with the God Power within you. And that is why
all scriptures speak very highly of the Masters, those who
are Word made flesh: because, as Maulana Rumi says, "If you
sit one hour with the Master" - if you are receptive; not
with your body sitting and you wandering outside - "that
will give you an effect which you cannot have by a hundred
years of penances."
If you sit by someone who sells scents, you will get perfume
by radiation - free. And if he gives you a phial of scent -
if he initiates you into the Beyond - then? From the day you
come to the feet of the Master and he initiates you, he
takes up the work of winding up all your actions - but only
if we obey the commandments of the Master one hundred per
cent.
So those Masters who are Word made flesh can immolate karma
by a look; all the initiate's sins, karmas, can pass by the
Master's look and word. Eyes are the windows of the soul. He
whose soul is drenched with God, who is that Power made
flesh, he is "the bread of life that has come down from
heaven." You see? "Whosoever partaketh of it shall have
everlasting life." And further - how can we eat this bread?
Eyes are the windows of the soul: through the eyes.
By sitting in a receptive mood, forgetting all others, you
feel peace, your mind won't rake up any trouble, all is
quiet. If you go deep down in the depths of the silence,
you'll find the very silence becomes vocal. These are hard
facts I am putting before you. So in the presence of the
Master, the karmas fly like autumn leaves before a wind, you
see. For a time, no thought occurs in your mind: it's just
subdued. And such actions react, mind that (in their own
way): the moments you have got with the Master, say five or
ten minutes, or a year, that will have reaction or not? That
is also an action; but it won't react in the same way. No.
The result of that time spent in that way is that you won't
have mental troubles as long as you are doing it - and this
is true whenever you are receptive, whether you are
physically near the Master or away from him. The physical
presence, of course, cannot be underrated: you see for
yourself. But those who are even living far away on the
other side of the ocean while the Master is living on this
side, can direct their attention in that way - just as you
can hear someone's voice or see who is speaking from
thousands of miles away, through radio and television. This
is a law of nature; science is finding out laws of nature
which are hidden. They are not finding them all, but they
are trying.
So great is the power of retribution; and none can escape
its fury - but it does fly in fear of death before the
winding blast of the Word. Master uses the Word for this
purpose by giving you a contact with It. There are two ways
to finish up the vast and limitless storehouse of karmas
(and we have many still in store). There are two ways, and
the first one is to allow them to exhaust themselves. But I
have quoted you one instance, and there are others too, in
which actions done more than a hundred births back reacted
in being born blind in this life-time. How long will it
take? Millions of years it would take, and it would be quite
uncertain then. The mind again goes on sowing seeds; there
is no end to it. So one way is to exhaust the storehouse in
due course of time, which is almost not possible.
The other way is to obtain from a Master-soul a practical
knowledge and experience of the science of life, on the
earthly plane as well as on the spiritual planes too. And to
work right now for transcension from one to the other, while
there is still a chance and an opportunity of the human body
- because we can do it only in the human body and in no
other body. Two ways. The first course will take millions of
years to reach the goal and even then is quite uncertain
because the mind again will go on sowing seeds which will
bear more and more fruit. By adopting the second course, one
seeks a competent spiritual Master who can wind up the
karmic accounts of the bankrupt spirit. When such a Master
takes in his own hands the process of liquidation of the
endless procession of past karma, you see, we are very
fortunate.
As I just quoted to you, one Sikh Master says, "O Master,
what is the use of coming to your feet if our karmas are not
finished? What is the use of going to the feet of a lion if
the jackals still howl at us?" When you come to a Master,
what does he say? "All right - no more. Thus far and no
farther." He says, "From today onward, are you taking the
advice? Keep the diary; do no more. Criticize yourself as
you would like to criticize others - and weed out." Simply
saying, "I am a sinner, I am a sinner," that won't do. Be
very watchful on every thought that accosts you. And come in
contact with that Naam Power, a contact with which you have
been given. That will give you more bliss and mind will,
what you say, die.
When you get that nectar of life or water of life, and
experience the bliss of that, the mind will leave off all
outer enjoyments. Where there is no desire there is God, you
see. What is man? God plus desires. And what is God? Man
minus desires. And these desires are raked up by mind
through the outgoing faculties. Very simple way, I think.
You follow me?
So if we follow that, everything will come out all right.
And first he says, "Do no more" - and puts him on the high
road. You see, you've got high roads here where cars go
fast; you've also got the high roads within you of Light and
Sound. Go fast! There's no retardation on the way; you can
go quickly back to your home. He gives you the high road
Godward. He does not usually interfere with the pralabdha
karma, because in that case your life would end; but he
gives you a contact with the spirit within you, which is the
Light and Sound Principle; and that contact with the Holy
Word also reduces to ashes all sanchit karmas and
unfructified recent karmas and finishes them off.
In Jap Ji, after Guru Nanak has given his instruction on the
way of life, last of all he gives an example:
When the hands, feet and body are besmeared, they are washed
clean with water; When clothes get dirty and polluted, they
are cleansed by soap.
But then he says:
When one's mind gets defiled by sin, it can be purified only
by communion with the Word.
Which is given to you by the Master on the very first day.
He gives you two things: first, to rise above body
consciousness, to die daily; second, to come in contact with
the Word within you. He washes all sins of the past away.
Guru Nanak says:
Men do not become saints or sinners merely by words. But
they carry deeds with them wherever they go. As one sows, so
does one reap; O Nanak, men come and go by the wheel of
birth and death as ordained by His Will.
In the Finale of Jap Ji he gives:
Our actions, good and evil, will be brought before His
court, And by our own deeds shall we move higher or be cast
into the depths.
It is two ways before you: one is to go up to your Father's
home; the other is to go down. The human body is a junction,
I would say. You can have your way back to God; or you can
come back that's all. But we can choose to go up only by
understanding the Law of Cause and Effect and acting up to
our understanding. Then the Master looks to the winding up
of our actions. We come to him for that purpose, and his
ways are two. First, he admonishes, "Do no more." When our
Master was here, you see, sometimes out of hundreds of
people one person would stand up and say, "Sir, I have done
this sin." Our Master would ask, "Well, is there anybody who
can bear the brunt of that sin?" Who would dare? No. Then he
would say, "All right. Do no more. And do it."
On the very first day, you see, we are told, "Keep your
diaries." You are fortunate, I would say. In the old days
men used to sit by the Master for years. When they saw the
vessel was clean, only then they put something in it. Now
you get something on the very first day. Two things are
given: rising above body consciousness, and contact with the
Naam within you. If you rise daily the outer pinching effect
won't affect you, you'll become air conditioned. Pralabdha
karma also won't affect you so much as now; the angle of
vision will change by rising above body consciousness daily.
Is it not a blessing?
Guru Nanak concludes the Jap Ji by saying:
Those who have communed with the Word, their toils shall
end, And their faces shall flame with glory. Not only shall
they have salvation, O Nanak, but many more shall find
freedom with them.
Not just one. So that is what is wanted, you see, to save us
from the wheel of life and death. It is therefore of
paramount importance that we should seek a Master competent
enough to wind up the otherwise endless cycle of births,
seek refuge at his lotus feet, and free ourselves of the
bewitching influences of our actions, our deeds, which is
the Law of Karma.
You have been given, of the two ways, the one way which is
the only way back. That is, you've been given a contact with
Naam or Word within you and you have also been given how to
rise above body consciousness daily, to "take the cross
daily." "Those who do not take their cross daily, they are
not my disciples." That is what Christ and all other Masters
have said.
You should be very careful what you think. Sometimes in
frivolous ways we say so many things, and that carries an
effect. You have to be very self-disciplined: think twice
before you speak; when you speak, just think whether it will
do good or bad to others. If it is good, then give it out
for the benefit of others; if not, don't tell.
So this is the Law of Karma, you see. If we understand it
... We have been, fortunately I think, put on the way with
the grace of God and the grace of our Master. His grace is
working; with his grace you all are being blessed with these
things. Whenever Baba Jaimal Singh used to initiate anyone,
he would say, "Look here, I am now residing within you. Take
care for me! Don't think that I am not looking after you."
That is the Master Power within you. Don't deceive him! Even
if you deceive him, he won't be deceived, you see. Be true
to your own self, this is what I always say. If you are true
to your own self, God is within you, the Master Power is
within you ...
So this is the Law of Karma that is going on like anything,
from which there is no escape, I tell you, for ordinary men
or incarnations either - they also had to undergo it. It is
only through the favor or grace of the Master that we are
saved. You know, incarnations also respect the Masters;
Masters are their gurus. Lord Krishna had his guru, Ingris
Rishi, who gave out this very way; Lord Rama had his guru,
Vashisht. Well, to sit at the feet of a Master is a great
blessing, you see. He winds up all your actions of the past.
We have simply to keep his commandments; nothing more. He
does not want anything from you in return; he is pleased
when you are saved.
That is why our Master at the age of ninety was working for
the good of humanity. In the old days he would have had to
take rest; but now they don't rest, they go like anything -
the more he saves, the better. They work under the orders of
God, you see.
Now you see how blessed you are - how fortunate you are!
First you have got the human body; further, you have
something that will save you from coming and going. If you
are attached to the Master Power within you, where will you
go? Why do we come back to the earth again and again?
Because we are attached to the world. If we are really
attached to the Master Power within us, nobody will bring us
back; we'll go where He goes. In very simple ways the Law of
Karma works. You find now how blessed we are? We don't
realize the importance of the boon we have been given.
So please remain where you are. You are to keep up your
diaries strictly, and find time daily to die. You see? "Take
cross daily." Only sitting won't do - rise above body
consciousness daily, and come in contact with That. Not here
alone, you see, but in the spiritual planes above too. There
are so many planes - macrocosm is in the microcosm. Further
guidance is also required. The more you are devoted to the
commandments of the Master without and within, the sooner
you'll reach your home. That's the ultimate purpose of
having the human body; all scriptures say so. Even those
Rishis of old whose souls enjoyed bliss in the higher
planes, when they return to earth they select the human
body: because in that body only can you go back home.
We do pity others: why don't you take pity on your own self
to save you from the wheel of coming and going? Charity
begins at home, does it not? If we cannot have pity on our
own self and save ourselves from coming and going, what pity
can we have for others? So have pity on yourself, that's all
I can say.
You have got the golden opportunity of this human body. But
once it passes out of your hands? Kabir says, "Who knows
when you will get this human body again and be able to do
this work?" So this is for very calm consideration, you see.
If you follow exactly you are sure to go to God. You are not
to come back. When you are under the control of a Master
then no lord of judgment can sit over you; it is the Master
who takes all karmas in his hand to punish you or save you.
That power has been given by God to his hand - Christ also
owns it, and all other Masters say so. They are the God in
them, that's the only thing; they are Word made flesh.
I hope you have followed what I have said about this Law of
Karma. Try to.
This is why all the great men say, "Think twice before you
speak." Guru Arjan says, "Be careful of the sins you commit
unknowingly." By frivolous talk so many things come up, you
see - talk only when it is necessary. Quit talking in a
frivolous way. Also see if what you are saying is going to
do good to somebody or harm somebody. Then I think you will
be afraid of how many seeds you might sow.
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