It is generally believed in India that when a person sets out on the way of liberation, his first problem is to become free from his past karma. The word karma literally means action or doing in Sanskrit, so that when we say something that happens to you is your karma, it is like saying in English, it is your own doing. In popular Indian belief, karma is a sort of built-in moral law or a law of retribution, such that all the bad things and all the good things you do have consequences that you have to inherit. So long as karmic energy remains stored up, you have to work it out, and what the sage endeavors to do is a kind of action, which in Sanskrit is called nishkama karma. Nishkama means without passion or without attachment, and karma means action. So, whatever action he does, he renounces the fruits of the action, so that he acts in a way that does not generate future karma. Future karma continues you in the wheel of becoming, samsara, the round, and keeps you being reincarnated. Now, when you start to get out of the chain of karma, all the creditors that you have start presenting themselves for payment. In other words, a person who begins to study yoga may feel that he will suddenly get sick or that his children will die, or that he will lose his money, or that all sorts of catastrophes will occur because the karmic debt is being cleared up. There is no hurry to be cleared up if youre just living along like anybody, but if you embark on the spiritual life, a certain hurry occurs. Therefore, since this is known, it is rather discouraging to start these things. The Christian way of saying the same thing is that if you plan to change your life (shall we say to turn over a new leaf?) you mustnt let the devil know, because he will oppose you with all his might if he suddenly discovers that youre going to escape from his power. So, for example, if you have a bad habit, such as drinking too much, and you make a New Years resolution that during this coming year you will stop drinking, that is a very dangerous thing to do. The devil will immediately know about it, and he will confront you with the prospect of 365 drink-less days. That will be awful, just overwhelming, and you wont be able to make much more than three days on the wagon. So, in that case, you compromise with the devil and say, Just today Im not going to drink, you see, but tomorrow maybe well go back. Then, when tomorrow comes, you say, Oh, just another day, lets try, thats all. And the next day, you say, Oh, one more day wont make much difference. So, you only do it for the moment, and you dont let the devil know that you have a secret intention of going on day after day after day after day. Of course, theres something still better than that, and that is not to let the devil know anything. That means, of course, not to let yourself know. One of the many meanings of that saying Let not your left hand know what your right hand doeth is just this.- Alan Watts.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:27:43 +0000
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