Karma

I

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 Dhritrashtra. 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 pralabdh karma. 

Pralabdh 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 pralabdh 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 and reaction daily. They are bearing forth fruit: some quickly, some later, some still later. As in the case of Dhritrashtra 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.