Western idea of determinism and Hinduism’s concept of Karma have several similarities. While determinism as a philosophical idea does not involve God, the concept of Karma in Hinduism is intrinsically interwoven with God’s will as a strong mediating force.
According to Wikipedia, “Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition and behavior, decision and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences.”
Hinduism’s Karma principle concurs with the above definition to a large extent, except perhaps, with the phrase “an broken chain”. Whether the chain of prior occurrences can be broken or not remains at the will of God, according to great Hindu Masters.
Does Hinduism totally negate existence of free will? Not really.
In Hinduism, everything in the relative plane involving name and form the entire cosmos, this world, all the sentient and non-sentient creations including human beings – is Maya, God’s divine play. Man is deluded by Maya and this maya makes him identify himself with his body, mind and ego. This maya makes him think that he has the free will. Free will is strongly associated with ego.
Free Will and Ego
In proportion to a man’s dependence on his ego, he believes he has the free will to function as he wishes. On the other hand, a saintly person, who is more and more aware of the supreme divinity controlling all, who is able to decipher the wily play of egotism inside human minds, understands quite lucidly on the strength of his experiences and convictions, that it is God’s will that is always done.
An egotistic person has the strong faith that he is the doer. On the other end, a saint who has surrendered his ego at the holy feet of God has the strong conviction that he is NOT the doer but it is God’s will that acts through him. Hinduism links this sense of doer-ship to the inescapable necessity of enjoying or suffering the consequences of the actions by the doer.
Relationship Between Actions and Results
Thus, if you engage in actions based on the whims of your free will, you have to own up the consequences or results or fruits of your actions. As a doer with ego, you have the freedom to act as per your free will. The actions you undertake in this way are known as “Agamya Karma” — actions that are bound to bring their fruits in (unknown) future. But the enjoyment or suffering you undergo presently based on your past acts across several births, done out of free will, is known as “Prarabhda Karma”.
One of the strongest messages given by Hindu Masters is that as long as one has the sense of doer-ship, a man has the freedom of choice in action (free will). But as an enjoyer of the consequences of past actions, he has NO freedom of choice! The extent of enjoyment or punishment and the time and sequence at which the fruits of actions are delivered unto to him, happen purely at the will of God, according to Hindu Masters.
Freedom of Action and “Vasana”
Every person in this world possesses certain inherent tendencies, based on his intensity of desire, his cultural background, his education, the extent of his faith in God etc. These indwelling impressions and tendencies, which Hinduism calls as “vasana”, meaning, very appropriately, smell, play a very strong role in the working of free will of people. Thus, under identical situations, a decision taken out of free will by one person will definitely differ from that of another person, based on their respective vasanas. Thus the concept of vasana of Hinduism agrees fairly well with determinism.
In Hinduism, the ultimate goal of human birth is stated to be God realization or salvation. To attain this goal, a total surrender of ego to the divine will (known as “saranagathi”), the total elimination of desires (which cause one to engage in action based on free will) by practicing discrimination and a total elimination of vasanas (which remain accumulated deep inside the heart across several births) through spiritual disciplines like meditation, form the essentials of religious practice for an earnest seeker.
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The holy book The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, was originally Written in Bengali by “Ma-” (Mahendranath Gupta) and translated to English by Swami Nikhilananda. The Gospel is a virtual source book for all facets of Hinduism, a treasure trove of spiritual knowledge, accessible to all, expounded in the most simple language comprehensible to one and all. It is no wonder this voluminous collection of extensive teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, recorded more than a century and a quarter ago, is still being read spellbound by earnest spiritual speakers across the globe, cutting across all religious barriers.
Who is Sri Ramakrishna?
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) was one of the greatest spiritual masters of Hinduism, who lived at Dakshineswar (near Kolkotta, India). Considered to be Divine Avatar (God’s incarnation in human form), Sri Ramakrishna, who hardly had a rudimentary primary education turned out to be a spiritual volcano, who through his all consuming devotion on divine mother Kali, had a vision of her. He spent 12 years in intense spiritual practices in various paths of Hinduism and attained God realization/ self realization/ Nirvikalpa Samadhi/ Atma sakshatkar.
He is a rare spiritual personality, who personally engaged himself in practicing the various paths of attainment of the Supreme divine bliss that Hinduism presents as suited to people of different tastes, capacities of intake and mindset. He practiced the path of Bhakthi (devotion), Gnyana (the path of Self Inquiry) and Tantra(Kundalini Yoga) at varying times by undergoing intense practice and attained the ultimate divine experience in each path. Despite being a realized person himself, he opted to be under the guidance of specific Gurus who were masters in their specific paths to guide him procedurally in those paths.
He also practiced the disciplines of Islam and Christianity for a while and attained divine experience through these religions too. By the strength of his experience, he confirmed that the ultimate truth and experience of God attained by following various paths is one and the same. This virtually unlettered person turned out to be a great exponent in explaining the intricacies of Hinduism in all its facets and tenets, which even learned pundits cannot fathom.
He declared that every Religion, every sub-sect and every method of practice is ultimately intended to take man to this highest goal in life. And he declared “As many faiths, so many paths” purely by the strength of his own experiences.
His prime disciple, Swami Vivekananda later founded Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission and spread spirituality and selfless service, with the able assistance from his master’s other Sanyasi (relinquished) disciples.
Who is Ma- , Mahendranath Gupta?
Sri Ma- Mahendranath Gupta fondly called Master Mahasaya. He is an apostle and evangelist of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
A school teacher by profession, Mahendra Nath Gupta was a house-holder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who was destined to end up at the Feet of his Master in a time of utter mental turmoil. He was associated with Sri Ramakrishna for a period of about 5 years till his master’s death, and he was divine-commissioned to be the authentic recorder of Sri Ramakrishna’s profound teachings.
Ma-, after every meeting with his Master, recorded his conversations in his diary with details of date, people present, topics and summary of the discussions that took place and a brief descriptions of the place and scenario. After his masters passing away, Ma- wrote those diary notes into elaborate publications, spanning over 5 volumes in his mother tongue Bengali. The Bengali gospel was titled “Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrut” At first it was published in 1897 as a small booklet. It received lots of attention and appreciation from the Master’s devotees. Later, it became his life mission. He was engaged in this massive task till the end of his life. “Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrith” was published by him in 5 volumes one after the other in 1902,1904, 1098,1910 and 1932. The last volume got published only shortly after Ma’s death in 1932, but before that Ma- had finished complete proof reading of the book and he was ready to depart, having fulfilled his life’s mission.
Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrit 5 parts.
The greatness of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Perhaps in the history of religious teachers, it is the first time that the spiritual teachings of a great master have been recorded with such a precision and truthfulness. The conversations will bring before the reader’s mind an intimate picture of the Master’s eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886. With vivid description of the scenario, the moods and the nature of the people present, the song and the dance made, the utterances of the master in his native simplicity and rustic beauty have been brought out by Ma- in a wonderful way in the book. Sri Ramakrishna could expound the deep religious truths of Hinduism that eluded comprehension to the greatest scholars in the simplistic way, with down to earth examples. As one reads the Gospel, one could see that Dvaita (Duality), advaita (Non-duality), Visishtadvaita (Qualified non-duality), Bhakti Yoga (Path of devotion), Karma Yoga (path of selfless work), Gnyana yoga (path of self-inquiry), Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Tantric practice, the concept of Avatar, God with Form, God without form, Kundalini yoga, the various Samadhis all the facets of Hinduism have been wonderfully explained by Sri Ramakrishna. It could be treated as one source book of Hinduism which can be read and understood by any earnest follower of Hinduism with out need for an any intellectual interpretation.
The book starts with Ma-‘s first visit to Dakshineshwar to meet the master. He gets captivated by Sri Ramakrishna’s simplicity, loving words and the divinity that he radiates. He soon makes a second visit; the master starts asking more personal details about Ma-. He finds Ma- to be possessing physical features indicative of spiritual substance in him. Ma- starts asking questions and he gets answers that hit him point blank with utter straightforwardness and simplicity that could shatter his ego. He becomes like a ‘peacock fed with a little opium’. Lured by the addictive power of the opium, the peacock starts coming again and again to Sri Ramakrishna to partake the feed!
The greatness of the Gospel not only lies in the substance of the master’s profound teachings but also on the wonderful narrative skills of Ma-. When you read the Gospel, you would feel like getting transported back to those times, to be at the places where Sri Ramakrishna lived, sang, danced, froze in Samadhi, traveled, visited, ate and jovially chitchatted with his devotees unleashing his childlike guilelessness and spontaneous humor. You would meet his closest devotees who became great spiritual monks and other prominent devotees of Ramakrishna in future. You would feel like being present along with them, sitting in front of the master, partaking his prasad, singing with him, laughing with him and dancing with him in divine ecstasy.
When you read and re-read the Gospel, you will understand Bhagavad Gita better. Your doubts in Upanishad statements will get cleared. What you had judged as foolish idiosyncrasies of Hinduism earlier would become quite meaningful. The book has the potential to transform a common religious person to a spiritual aspirant. If you are a non-Hindu, you would get wonder-struck at the greatness of Sanatana Dharma. If you are a Christian, you will start understanding the Bible better; your reverence on Jesus Christ will increase. If you are a Muslim and studied the Gospel in all earnestness, you will finally understand why it is so important to segregate ‘the sugar from the sand’ in religious scriptures.
Swami Nikhilananda
The English Version
Swami Nikhilananda, a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, for the benefit of English speaking readers took up the monumental work of translation of the Gospel into English and completed it in the year 1942 and was first published by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Centre, New York.
About his effort, Swami Nikhilananda says: “I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for the sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception.”
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – First edition Year: 1942
He wants the readers of the Gospel (particularly from West, who are not too familiar with Hinduism) to keep in mind the following: “But these words were not the product of intellectual cogitation; they were rooted in direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology, and physical science, these experiences of the Master are of immense value for the understanding of religious phenomena in general. No doubt Sri Ramakrishna was a Hindu of the Hindus; yet his experiences transcended the limits of the dogmas and creeds of Hinduism. Mystics of religions other than Hinduism will find in Sri Ramakrishna’s experiences a corroboration of the experiences of their own prophets and seers. And this is very important today for the resuscitation of religious values. The skeptical reader may pass by the supernatural experiences; he will yet find in the book enough material to provoke his serious thought and solve many of his spiritual problems.”
The Gospel is also available (translated from original Bengali version) in all major languages of India. One of the earliest translation of the book was done in Tamil and the book is titled “Sri Ramakrishnarin Amutha mozhigaL” (ஸ்ரீ ராமகிருஷ்ணரின் அமுதமொழிகள்) in 3 volumes, available from Sri Ramakrishna Math,Chennai.
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Many people who undertake meditation with lots of initial enthusiasm discontinue it after a while. There are many obvious reasons for it. Hindu saints, who devised meditation as a means of attaining self-realization or Samadhi (or Nirvana in Buddhism) were quite aware of this stark reality. The goal of meditation being the highest, the task of succeeding in it is also the toughest.
To attain success in meditation, there are, in reality, several preparatory disciplines needed. A sportsman participating in 100-meter-dash is expected to run just for about 10 seconds only in the actual competition, but think of the extreme physical rigors he has to undergo just to tune up his body for the purpose.
In the same way, in Ashtanga Yoga or Raja Yoga ( by Saint Patanjali), meditation comes only as the seventh and penultimate step in attaining Samadhi.
Swami Shivananda (1887-1963) the founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, used to retort to his disciples who complained about lack of success in meditation this way: “Meditation is only the seventh step. Have you succeeded in all the previous six steps?”
Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi) absorbed in meditation)
The Preparatory Disciplines for Spiritual Meditation
Of the six steps preceding meditation, the first two are really concerned with attaining the physical and mental purity so basically essential for any spiritual aspirant to aim for a divine pursuit in life. They are yama (self-restraint) and Niyama(observances).
Then comes the right sitting posture (asana) and then the right breathing practice (pranayama). Pratyaharaand Dharana are the 5th and 6th steps that are at times considered as part and parcel of meditation itself. Unlike the first two, these four disciplines are closely associated with the actual practice of meditation. We can study them more deeply in separate articles.
Here, let us see in detail what the first two basics stand for:
Practice Yama (self restraint):
Yama includes the following qualities:
Ahimsa: non-violence, non-killing, non-injury, remaining harmless. A body and mind inclined towards violence causing injury (both physical and mental) to others will be in an agitated state. Naturally calming it down through meditation is difficult.
Satyam: truthfulness, honesty.
Astheyam: non-stealing.
Brahmacharya: continence, being free from sensual cravings. Attraction towards sex is a taboo for any spiritual aspirant. Body and mind craving for sex can never be easily tamed by meditation. Any craving for other sensual pleasures is also highly detrimental in attaining concentration at meditation.
Aparigraha: non-covetousness, not yearning for gifts. In other words, non-attachment to materialism. To love things coming free is a human tendency that, when nurtured, increases one yearnings. A mind always craving for materialistic possessions becomes unfit to meditate. Further, getting a gift from a person makes one obligated to that person which can become a bothersome bondage.
Practice Niyamama (observances or disciplined habits).
Niyama includes the following:
Soucha: purity, cleanliness. This includes both external as well as internal. External purity is obtained by bathing, wearing clean clothes, etc. and internal purity comes by regular practice of yama.
Santosha: happiness, contentedness. Being happy with what you are and what you have, remaining contented without unnecessary cravings – this quality makes one fit for undertaking meditation. A person who gets upset for trivia, one who is mostly unhappy and dissatisfied with himself or with others around him will find meditation too difficult.
Tapas: practicing austerities, spiritual disciplines. Willingness to give up physical comforts, readiness to sacrifice, observing fast, tolerating physical suffering, engaging in regular spiritual practices, readiness to help others at the cost of one’s own personal comfort – these qualities elevate one’s mind to a higher level.
Swadhyaya: self study, spiritual study. Reading spiritual books, scriptures, life history and teachings of great spiritual masters will help one to constantly think of what is truly essential in spiritual life. This practice also negates reading novels, watching television and movies, reading newspapers, etc. which have the tendency to dissipate the mind on sensual and worldly matters.
Ishwara Pranidhana: worship of God, surrendering to God. Acceptance of God as the supreme power controlling everything in the creation is one of the best ways of subduing the ego. The more one surrenders and worships God, the more one is freed of the machinations of self-will and egotism. A mind thus unburdened finds it easier to do meditation.
How About Disciplines Needed For Non-Spiritual Meditation?
Meditation as promoted today through techniques like Transcendental Meditation is more for “commoners” who seek physical and mental well-being. For them too, some good measure of disciplines is essential if they want to pursue with meditation in the long run and reap the benefits aimed. Many drop out in the middle because they lack such disciplines in life. If one word is to be used for explaining what are the disciplines needed, it is “moderation”. They are given below:
Eat moderately, Eat “sattvik” (pure) food: Food is intrinsically connected with thoughts. Food, mild in taste and texture most preferably vegetarian, not too hot and spicy, not fried with excess fats and oils, has to be consumed in moderate quantities. Drinking alcoholic drinks must be either avoided altogether or curtailed heavily.
At least 2 to 3 hours should have passed after eating food when one sits for meditation.
Sleep Moderately: Both excess sleeping and inadequate sleeping are detrimental to doing meditation. A healthy person needs about 6 to 8 hours of sound sleep (which may vary with age and body nature) a day. Sleeping in the daytime can potentially affect doing meditation.
Enjoy sensual pleasures moderately: Whether engaging in sex, seeing movies, watching television, listening to music, speaking over the cell phone or whiling away time with friends – whatever be the activities, engage in them in moderation.
The more one progresses in maintaining the basic preparatory disciplines elaborated above, the more one will feel his/ her progress in meditation. A strong will, a sense of surrender to God and determination to succeed are needed for one to maintain these preparatory disciplines and reap success in meditation.
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Hinduism contains a very ancient and a remarkable analysis of human psyche and its constituents. This concept, known as Trigunas (three characteristics) is part ofSamkhya Philosophy which is a part of six orthodox systems (astika) of Hinduism, having allegiance to Vedic knowledge.
Samkhya school is considered one of the oldest Hindu systems of philosophy and its origin is attributed to Saint Kapila.
According to this school philosophy, from the causeless, infinite, unfathomable and intransient “Purusha”, everything that is manifest in creation – the worlds, the life forms, the matter and energy behind them all came on account of “Prakriti”; every being under prakriti is made up of the trigunas – known as Sattwa, Rajas andTamas in its core psyche.
Trigunas: Sattwa-Rajas-Tamas
Sattwa is purity and holiness; Rajas is to do with action and drive and Tamas is laziness and inertia. In other words, every human being’s mind-stuff is made of a mixture of these three basic qualities in different proportions. All words, actions, temperaments, aspirations, conduct and character of every individual person are reflected by the proportion in which these three qualities exist in the mind.
No individual’s conduct, character, aspirations, values and drives are same as another person’s. Why is it so? It is purely because the ratio in which these three qualities are built in the psyche of each person is different.
To understand these qualities better, let us see what each of these qualities represents more elaborately.
Sattwa: Purity, holiness, devotion, serenity (Sage Sri ‘Kanchi PeriavaL’))
Sattwa (Purity and holiness):
Sattwa
Love, compassion, devotion to God (Bhakti), ahimsa (non-injury), truthfulness, non-stealing, discrimination (viveka), dispassion (vairagya), daya (compassion), thyag (sacrifice), kindness, soft-speak, control over senses, non-jealousy, honesty, non-covetousness, patience, forbearance, mercy, humility, guilelessness
Rajas (Action and Drive):
Rajas
Activeness, boisterousness, hurry, action, impatience, passion, drive, ambition, motivation, power-mongering, manipulation, desire for leadership, domination, self-promotion, rule-breaking, pushy, love for coterie, love for subjugating others, love for grandeur, competitive instinct, workaholism, exhibitionism, strenuous effort, fighting spirit, strong belief in self-will, love for spending and extravaganza, materialism, loudmouth, assertiveness, avarice, authoritativeness, pride.
Tamas (Laziness and Inertia):
Tamas
Laziness, dullness, sloth, greed sans effort, lack of motivation, fatalism, negativism, excess sleep, jealousy, envy, miserliness, pessimism, perverted desires, hatred, lust, obsession, deceit, vengeance, day dreaming, bashfulness, covetousness, gluttony, stealth, treachery, possessiveness, aversion, rumor mongering, back biting, dishonesty, laxity.
The Human Mind is a Mixture of Trigunas
In any human being, though all these three qualities will be present in varying proportions, generally one of these qualities will be more predominant than the other two. For example, Saints and sages are predominantly sattwic. A politician or a sports star is predominantly rajasic. People who easily get hooked to drinking or drugs are predominantly tamasic.
How do these qualities fundamentally find their place in a human psyche?
One of the foundation stones of Hinduism is the concept of Karma and rebirth. Every human being takes birth in this world and engages in action – karma. Actions are driven by aspirations and desires; Aspirations and desires are propelled by vasanas, literally meaning smells, that you acquire based on the imprint of your past experiences (also known as samskaras).
Trigunas and Rebirth
Some of one’s desires may get satisfied through one’s actions in this birth whereas some may not; some actions create very strong samskaras inside one’s psyche and may even work like fuel added to fire to increase the cravings. But unfortunately, the human life span is limited. Hinduism says that when one dies, one’s unfulfilled desires, cravings, dreams, love, hatred, and spiritual aspirations are carried as vasanas along with the soul.
When the soul takes a rebirth, its psyche comes built essentially with the appropriate mix of Trigunas, based on the vasanas of its previous births.
Trigunas and the Process of Aging
In childhood, the trigunas remain buried deep inside and starts manifesting gradually as one ages.
Little children (up to the age of two to three) are not fettered by trigunas. They are not attached to Sattwa, Rajas or Tamas as grownups do. Great saints and divine souls too though essentially sattwic, live beyond the fetters of trigunas. That’s one of the reasons why little children are so divine, lovable and attractive.
As one grows into adulthood, one’s character evolves more clearly based on his inherent trigunas. It can be said that basic personality traits in a person remain more or less confined within certain boundaries, but they definitely evolve and get reshaped as one ages more and more.
Life is fickle. A person engaged in excessive action may one day long for a life of idleness and sloth; a person full of desires at heart but too lazy to act upon them may dream of an action-packed life; a person used to running madly for satiating selfish sensual pleasures may one day understand the futility and the pain behind such pursuits and he may want to rededicate his life to do selfless service to society. Aging and consequent physical limitations too influence one’s composition of trigunas.
Is it possible to make a self-assessment of the extent and proportion of sattwa, rajas and tamas inside us? Yes. By answering the quiz given in the following article, one can get a reasonably good picture on one’s constitution of Trigunas.
Bhagavad Gita, one of the greatest scriptures of Hinduism gives elaborate explanation on the role of Tigunas in human psyche. Click here to read on what Bhagavad Gita says on this subject.
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Sri Ramakrishna, a divine avatar in the 19th century, whose conversations on Hinduism have been extensively recorded in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, has spoken very widely about “trigunas.”
Triguna means thee qualities, comprising of satva (purity and holiness), rajas(action and drive) and tamas(laziness and inertia). (To understand more about Trigunas, please read: Trigunas – Sattwa, Tamas and Rajas – The ancient Hindu Psychology) first.
Sri Ramakrishna says “God can be reached through satva guna. Rajas and Tamas separate us from God. Some compare sattwa to white color; rajas to red color and tamas to black,”
Sri Ramakrishna – He has elaborated a lot about Trigunas
Characteristics of People With Trigunas
Ramakrishna explains: “Pride, sleep and excessive eating are some of the identities of people of tamas. People with rajas engage themselves in many activities. Their dress will be pompous and shiny; their houses will display grandeur and be cleanly maintained; they will hang the portrait of the ‘queen’ (queen Victoria of British empire – it was the period when India was under British Rule)”
On the other hand, Ramakrishna says that, “People of sattwa guna will be soft and calm. They will earn just to have enough meals to live; they will not go out to sing praise on the rich to get money; their houses will not be properly maintained and may look unkempt. They will not bother about dressing impressively. They will not run around in hunt of name and fame.”
Play of Trigunas in Devotion to God
People’s gunas will be exposed in their attitude towards worship of God and in the practice of religious austerities too. Ramakrishna’s described his observation about devotees as follows:
Rajasic worship of God?
“The rajasic devotees would wear silk clothes at the time of worship. They will wear a rosary made of ‘rudraksha’ around the neck and the rosary will have golden beads interspersed between rudraksha seeds. If someone visits their Puja Room, they will proudly take the visitor to show them around. Come this side; here are more to see; the floor is made of white marble; the ‘mantap’ (wooden enclosure where the God’s image is placed) has excellent carvings,” they will explain. They will donate to charities in a way visible to all.
As regards people of Sattwa guna, their contemplation about God, their acts of charity and their meditation will all be done secretively without the knowledge of others. They will sit inside the mosquito net and meditate. Others may think, “this man must have had poor sleep last night; that’s why he is sleeping so late.”
Ramakrishna says, “Sattwa is the last step in the stairs. By the next step, one can reach the roof. Once sattwa is in full measure, there won’t be much of delay to getGod’s vision. A little more progress will make one attain God.”
Trigunas – The Three Thieves
“The trigunas keep man under their spell; If sattwa is present, it drags rajas with it; If rajas is present, it drags tamas with it; All the three gunas are like thieves.
“Tamas destroys; rajas binds and sattwa releases one from bondage; but still, sattwa by itself cannot take you to Godliness, it can only show the way to God,” says Ramakrishna
He explains this concept of trigunas through the following story:
Once a rich man was traveling though a forest. Midway, he was suddenly surrounded by three thieves and they relieved him of all his possessions. Then one of the thieves said, “What’s the point in leaving him as such? Let’s kill him;” so saying, he advanced towards the rich man with his weapon. At that moment, the second thief intervened and said, “No. There is no use killing him; let us bind him thoroughly so that he cannot go and complain to the police.” So saying, he bound the man with a rope and all the thieves left the place.
After a while, the third thief returned to the place alone. He came near the rich man and said, “I am really sorry about the shabby treatment we have done to you. I will release you right now.”
So saying, he unbound the rich man, took him along showing the way through the winding paths of the jungle; finally they reached the outskirts of the forest and the highway was now visible. The thief said to the rich man “See, this is the road you can take now to reach your home.”
The rich man was moved. He said, “I am so grateful to you; won’t you please accompany me to my house? Our family will be very much pleased.” The thief replied: “I can’t come there. I will get caught by the police.” Saying so, he bidgoodbye to the man.
Ramakrishna explains that in the above parable, the thief who wanted to kill the rich man represents tamo guna. Tamas destroys. The second thief is rajas. It binds. It binds people to activities and make them forget God. The third thief is sattwa. It shows the way to reach God. Qualities like devotion, compassion, charity etc come from Satta. The rich man’s “own house” is the “Parabrahman.” One cannot attain the knowledge of the Brahman without transcending the three gunas.”
Active Engagement in Charity Work – Rajas or Satva?
During his meeting with Easwara Chandra Vidyasagar ( a great and well renowned scholar and philanthropist who lived during Ramakrishna’s period), Ramakrishna explained it this way: “Sir, what you are doing are acts of Sattwic karma; your rajas has its origins in sattwa. Out of sattwa comes compassion; even if your activities are based on compassion, activity by its very nature is rajasic. So, I would say, your activities are “rajasic sattwa;” so, they are harmless.”
Triguna and little children
When one studies the life of Ramakrishna, it is possible to understand how he himself lead a life of divinity, by transcending the trigunas. Ramakrishna used to frequently state that little children are divine because they too are beyond the fetters of Triguna. Only when a child grows, the three qualities start establishing their dominance on the character permanently. Sri Ramakrishna had a very keen eye to observe the behavior of children and he used to give very vivid and practical explanation of children’s behavior and how they are not bound by Trigunas.
We shall study further what Sri Ramakrishna says about Triguna and the behavior of children in the subsequent article.
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Hindu philosophy gives lots of weightage to grasping what mind really is. At the pinnacle of its conclusion, the whole universe is nothing but a projection of mind. A man thinks he and the world around him exists because his mind makes him believe so. Where the mind ceases to exist, everything in the perceptible world ceases to exist. For ordinary mortals, the mind stops to function only during deep sleep state and at that state one forgets the existence of his body and the world around him.
In absolute reality, it is just the Atman that exists; Atman has two projections born out of maya in an individual soul: One is the mind and the other is prana, the life force (which is usually associated with breathing, whose existence is basic for the existence of the physical body ). Prana and mind are intricately interconnected.
It can be easily observed that when mind is agitated, breathing also becomes fast. When the mind is calm, breathing also slows down. When the mind stops, breathing also stops. Great yogis in deep Samadhi state totally calm their minds and during such periods their breathing also stops, though they continue to be alive.
The converse is also true. If one can control and slow down breathing, the thought flow in the mind also is controlled and the mind gets slowed down. This is the basis on which the practice of Pranayama was evolved by yogis as a means for practicing meditation.
What is mind? Mind is nothing but thought flow. Mind is like a river. A river exists only when there is a flow of water. Mind is frequently compared to a monkey. A monkey can hardly remain unperturbed even for a moment at one place. It keeps swinging and jumping from one branch of a tree to another. Likewise, the nature of mind is to keep swinging from one thought to another with seemingly no respite during waking state.
Here is an analysis of what sort of activities the human mind keeps engaging itself unceasingly and an attempt to put them into some typical categories, with examples, that most of the people can easily relate to.
Relishing and rewinding past sweet memories: Like the games you played with your street children / class mates and your winning a particular game in a spectacular way that made you a hero for an evening
Licking the pain by rewinding past bitter memories: Like your first girlfriend ditching you right royally and then flirting with your staunch enemy…
Regretting the past mistakes/ rewinding guilt : like the blatant lie you made knowingly about a friend of yours to his girlfriend that ended up in breaking their relationship and making your friend near mad afterwards.
Justifying your past mistakes and acts: You fumbled up in a decision making in your office and the repercussions were bad. You are asked to appear before the CEO for an explanation. You mind churns out excuses and justifications to justify your decision.
Rehearsing a talk: In the above case, you have formulated your justifications. Now you keep thinking on how you will word your explanations, how you will counter the accusations and how you will put the blame on others very smartly.
Thoughts of hate: Your boss insulted you publicly in a meeting. You keep on thinking about his act and you anger and hatred against him keeps on rewinding in your mind.
Scheming vengeance: It is the continuation of and aggregation of hatred. You start scheming as to how to insult or offend your boss in the next opportune moment to teach him a lesson…
Thoughts of love: “Oh! The first meeting I had with my girlfriend… In the cool breeze at the sea shore, when she came with a bright smile that seemed to light up the whole beach…”
Grieving: “I just can’t bear the death of Johnny, my little younger brother…”
Arguing in absentia: You picked up an argument with your friend about something and he cornered you; you could not defend your viewpoint at that time. Now your mind works overtime to get you points over points to counter his argument !
Extrapolated imagination: Your boss scolded you this morning about a serious lapse of you on your job. Your ego refuses to believe that the mistake was yours, though deep within you, you know it. Now you find your colleague walking with your boss in the corridor and both of them are laughing together. “Ah! It is this fellow who must have informed the boss about my lapse; I know he was always conspiring to corner me in some issue or other. See! Both of them are laughing together about me, for sure. Rascal! I know this useless fellow wants to snatch my promotion …”
Worrying about body/ health: “My face looks ugly; my body stinks; this dress does not suit me. This cold is going to lead me to fever and I am afraid I may become bed ridden. This back pain is unbearable…”
Day dreaming: “If I were to be the President of USA, I will …..”
Planning, Problem solving: Your computer broke down this evening. Tomorrow you have to prepare a spreadsheet present it in a meeting. How to rectify the computer yourself, how to find alternative means of preparing the spreadsheet, how to postpone the meeting ….
Creative thinking: Remembering a past incident and then trying create a short story out of it that you can write later. Seeing a movie and then thinking “If I were the director of the movie, I could have ended the story this way…”
Imagining/ planning for future: “If the appointment order comes from the company that interviewed me last week, I am sure they will agree to double my current salary; I will dispose my old car first and buy a new one…..”
Worrying about the future: “What if I don’t do well in the examinations? What if I don’t get a job? …”
Harping on the current anxiety: Your dearest mother is hospitalized. You are sitting beside her and nursing her. Her pain, her suffering, the worry about the possibility of her dying keep on nagging your mind.
Praying: “Oh God! Please give peace and quick recovery to my mother. Don’t take her life away now…..”
Worrying about the world: “What will happen if another great earthquake triggers a huge tsunami across several continents?”
Frustrating/ negative thoughts, feeling helpless: “Oh! My country is going to dogs. There is so much corruption, inefficiency, useless politicians, overpopulation, traffic problems on the roads, accidents, pollution,…..” “Right from childhood, I was not lucky. I was not the favorite child of the parents…”
Analyzing / criticizing others: “ K. is very greedy; B. is very moody; F. is too talkative……”
Self analysis: “For the past three days, I am able to get up promptly at 5:00 AM. I should strengthen this habit further; I eat too much sweet. This is one bad quality that I should get rid of”. “I thought it was a harmless joke, but my father-in-law was very visibly offended by it. I think I should not have said it….”
Understanding and absorbing: “This specific piece of advice I read in that book today is very apt for me to follow. However the author said something differently in another chapter that ….”
Feeling proud/ pampering the ego: “Ah! I felt so happy when my boss said in front of the CEO that I am the most valuable person in his team….” “My writing must be really impressive. See many appreciative posts have come from readers for my blog….” “ I predicted one year back that this government will fall within one year and it just happened! I seem to have the right political acumen…”
The funny way of working of the mind is that it may not cling to any one stream of thought for long. If you are in a despondent mood, your mind may start with a current anxiety, then switch to a worry about future, then go back to thoughts of hate on somebody, and then start worrying about the world next. In moments of despondency, your mind will refuse to entertain any positive thoughts or joyful thoughts. Likewise, when your mind is particularly upbeat, it will refuse to entertain negative and depressing thoughts at that juncture.
If the mind is just allowed to go on and on with the thought flow day and night, one will end up a lunatic. That’s why nature has provided sleep to give a forced rest to the mind.
However, for a person to evolve spiritually, resting the mind only through the normal process of sleep is just not adequate. The mind has to be stilled when it is awake. Only in a stilled mind, the reflection of the Atman can be seen. Meditation is the way for it.
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/What-is-mind.jpg371514C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2018-02-05 13:20:552018-03-14 15:29:02What is mind?
If there is really any God and if it is really true that He is all merciful and compassionate as scriptures eulogize Him, then why on earth are there so many painful and incongruous things happening at all times — children and parents suffering from famine in some countries, little children getting raped, tortured and abused, animals suffering under cruelty of man, religions encouraging herd mentality in their followers, existence of glaring inconsistencies and inequalities in creation and so on?
This was the question raised in one of the Hubpages discussion forums, by a lady with a very soft heart who had been pained by many such realities of the world . She was wondering whether there is really any God; if one were to be there, would He ever allow all these glaringly painful goings-on?
There are a couple of different ways in which these anomalies and doubts can be analysed and answers found.
A) God-as-a-Loving-mother approach
When you are a very little girl, let’s assume you pinched your little younger brother out of contempt, out of sibling rivalry, not because of any omission or commission of his, but because you were angry that your mother loves him and cuddles him more than you.
When your mother comes to know of it, if she is a level headed woman, she will understand the reason, be patient with you and explain why you should not do such things. If you have a good heart that can understand, you will know immediately that what you did is wrong. Or your mother may warn you severely on your act and advice you not to behave like this in future.
If you happen to repeat such acts in the future knowingly or unknowingly, she may smack you at the back and warn you of more severe punishment if you don’t behave.
Now analyze the above in detail. There are three different ways you may react:
1) You may be endowed with a good heart that understands why what you did was wrong and you will not repeat it again.
or
2) You may understand what is wrong with you, know that it’s bad, but at some other occasion when your heart sinks to a lower level, out of an emotional an spurt, you may do the mischief again on your little brother.
or
3) You may not be willing to listen to any logic behind your act and your mother’s advice or warning and continue to repeat your vicious acts of vengeance in future, with increased degree of hatred. As your brother grows up, he too may start retaliating, thereby a sibling rivalry may grow to a lifelong contempt between a sister and a brother.
Now think of your mother. Whatever be your mode of negative behavior, is you mother going to dislike you and disown you? Will she not always try to reason with you, at times give punishment to you, at times act too magnanimous with you, at times get too angry with you –but will she not, as a mother, continue to love you and be concerned with your moral well being?
That’s the same thing with God. All of us are God’s children — be the doer of a heinous crime or the sufferer of the crime.
Just as a mother, God loves both the categories and his concern is only the right moral conduct and gradual evolution of all. He knows some of his children are good and some are bad. He knows that he cannot totally wash his hand off from his bad children.
We must also understand that the creation is too large, the canvas is too big, the children are too many, the acts of crimes are too varied, and the time period of God’s delivery of justice and consolation to the affected children or punishing the mischievous children is too wide for scrutiny by others who see “only a small duration of a very long movie.”
Hinduism states that this “long movie” is not confined to one birth. The “cause and effect” cycle goes on and on across several births. God’s way of consoling the affected and punishing the wicked has got its humanly incomprehensible time scale.
As an erring child, you may not be sure when your mother may behave soft with you or act tough with you. At times, you will expect your mother to beat you, but she may leave you with a warning. At times, for an insignificant mischief done by you, your mother may flare up and beat you disproportionately.
When such unpredictability exists with a human mother, why not it be so with the Universal Mother, the God? But, what looks to be unpredictable to you, may be very intentional in God’s scheme of things, because, he knows what’s best.
Hinduism calls all these unpredictability of creation as Maya. The act versus the fruits of act is dealt with in detail by Karma theory by Hinduism.
In a nutshell, an ordinary man cannot sit in judgment about God with his limited intellect. A finite scale cannot measure the infinite.
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Evil2.jpg253446C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2018-02-05 13:10:112018-04-07 15:06:06Why God permits evil in this world if he is truly all powerful?
If there is really any God and if it is really true that He is all merciful and compassionate as scriptures eulogize Him, then why on earth are there so many painful and incongruous things happening at all times — children and parents suffering from famine in some countries, little children getting raped, tortured and abused, animals suffering under cruelty of man, religions encouraging herd mentality in their followers, existence of glaring inconsistencies and inequalities in creation and so on?
This was the question raised in one of the Hubpages discussion forums, by a lady with a very soft heart who had been pained by many such realities of the world . She was wondering whether there is really any God; if one were to be there, would He ever allow all these glaringly painful goings-on?
There are a couple of different ways in which these anomalies and doubts can be analysed and answers found.
Is God all merciful?
A) God-as-a-Loving-mother approach
When you are a very little girl, let’s assume you pinched your little younger brother out of contempt, out of sibling rivalry, not because of any omission or commission of his, but because you were angry that your mother loves him and cuddles him more than you.
When your mother comes to know of it, if she is a level headed woman, she will understand the reason, be patient with you and explain why you should not do such things. If you have a good heart that can understand, you will know immediately that what you did is wrong. Or your mother may warn you severely on your act and advice you not to behave like this in future.
If you happen to repeat such acts in the future knowingly or unknowingly, she may smack you at the back and warn you of more severe punishment if you don’t behave.
Now analyze the above in detail. There are three different ways you may react:
1) You may be endowed with a good heart that understands why what you did was wrong and you will not repeat it again.
or
2) You may understand what is wrong with you, know that it’s bad, but at some other occasion when your heart sinks to a lower level, out of an emotional an spurt, you may do the mischief again on your little brother.
or
3) You may not be willing to listen to any logic behind your act and your mother’s advice or warning and continue to repeat your vicious acts of vengeance in future, with increased degree of hatred. As your brother grows up, he too may start retaliating, thereby a sibling rivalry may grow to a lifelong contempt between a sister and a brother.
Now think of your mother. Whatever be your mode of negative behavior, is you mother going to dislike you and disown you? Will she not always try to reason with you, at times give punishment to you, at times act too magnanimous with you, at times get too angry with you –but will she not, as a mother, continue to love you and be concerned with your moral well being?
That’s the same thing with God. All of us are God’s children — be the doer of a heinous crime or the sufferer of the crime.
Just as a mother, God loves both the categories and his concern is only the right moral conduct and gradual evolution of all. He knows some of his children are good and some are bad. He knows that he cannot totally wash his hand off from his bad children.
We must also understand that the creation is too large, the canvas is too big, the children are too many, the acts of crimes are too varied, and the time period of God’s delivery of justice and consolation to the affected children or punishing the mischievous children is too wide for scrutiny by others who see “only a small duration of a very long movie.”
Hinduism states that this “long movie” is not confined to one birth. The “cause and effect” cycle goes on and on across several births. God’s way of consoling the affected and punishing the wicked has got its humanly incomprehensible time scale.
As an erring child, you may not be sure when your mother may behave soft with you or act tough with you. At times, you will expect your mother to beat you, but she may leave you with a warning. At times, for an insignificant mischief done by you, your mother may flare up and beat you disproportionately.
When such unpredictability exists with a human mother, why not it be so with the Universal Mother, the God? But, what looks to be unpredictable to you, may be very intentional in God’s scheme of things, because, he knows what’s best.
Hinduism calls all these unpredictability of creation as Maya. The act versus the fruits of act is dealt with in detail by Karma theory by Hinduism.
In a nutshell, an ordinary man cannot sit in judgment about God with his limited intellect. A finite scale cannot measure the infinite.
Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi) – loving and serving one and all with no discrimination – be a saint or a sinner.
B) God as the Divine Player with Dualities
According to Hinduism, the whole creation and all that’s going on in it is a sort of divine play (lila) of God. Going still deeper, how did creation come into being? you need a raw material to create anything and that raw material too must have been created earlier out of something by somebody! Since all that can be created could come only from God, it leads to the fact that it is God who became the creation. “The created (Shritshi) as the creator (Shirshta) are not two different entities” says Mata Amritanandamayi, explaining the core Advaita (non-duality) philosophy of Hinduism.
Good Vs Evil – Lord Rama watching Sugriva- Vali fight – Ramayanam
The unique aspect of creation, which is part and parcel of God’s maya, is the existence of mutually conflicting dualities — Day and night, light and darkness, good and evil, health and sickness, laugh and cry, sweet and bitterness, pleasure and pain, selfishness and sacrifice, violence and forbearance, truth and falsehood and so on. In God’s divine play, all these will always be there, but he transcends both. He is not affected by any of their conflicts. “”Atmospheric air carries good smell and bad smell, but is not affected by both” – says Sri Ramakrishna to explain this.
Why should it be so? Why should God be playing jugglery with all these conflicts? Hinduism says that there is no answer to it. It cannot be comprehended from human point of view. If you have to comprehend it you should look it from the point of view of God and in order to get that view, you should become God!
But one thing is clear; knowingly or unknowingly, we all want good rather than bad; we want joy and not woe. We want to enjoy rather than suffer. Misguided and morally degraded people may choose evil to goodness, violence to forbearance and opt to give pain to others than pleasure — because they seem to derive some joy out of their lopsided behavior — till they end up facing the consequent punishments for their evil ways. We can safely say that such people are in the minority.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa — “Evil is also needed to know the glory of Good”
Sri Ramakrishna explains that the negative-halves in all these dualities are indeed needed to understand and choose the “better half” for good. Without darkness, how can you understand the glory of light? Without pain, how can you know the benefit of pleasure? Without knowing how bitterness tastes, how can you grasp the joy of tasting sweet? Without grasping what is adharma(unrighteousness), how will you know the benefit of dharma? Without undergoing hunger, how can you feel the satisfaction of a filled stomach?
So the evils exist only to glorify the good. Reject the evil and follow the good for the sake of your well being. That’s why the conflicting dualities exist in God’s creation, according to Hinduism.
Related reading: Understanding the concept of Karma in Hinduism
Understanding relationship between health and religion
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/God-evil.jpg395569C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2018-01-26 06:10:112018-03-18 14:50:34Why God permits evil in this world if he is truly all powerful?
The concepts of Karma and rebirth are two major pillars of Hindu philosophy. Buddhism and Jainism, the two other religions which have their origins in Hinduism too accept the concepts of Karma and rebirth.
What is Karma?
Karma means work or action. When you perform a work or action, it is bound to produce an effect, a reaction or a result. If you are the doer of karma with a desire, you are to own up the result or the fruit it produces. Whatever actions we did in our previous births, earlier in the present birth, are currently doing, are going to do later in this birth and also in future births are all Karmas. Karmas can be good, neutral or bad. Good karma will get you good effects and bad karma will get you bad consequences. This is the simplistic explanation of the law of Karma, but it is not really as simple as that!
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” — says the science. “Thou shall reap what thy sow” says the English proverb. These two statements are at the best only incomplete approximations to the law of Karma. Nevertheless, action and reaction constitute the first dimension of Karma.
Karma — inter-woven with time and God’s will
Karma and fruits of Karma are interwoven with a second dimension — Time and a third dimension — Divine will. This is the crux of the law of Karma of Hinduism. This fact is not well grasped by many.
What baffles and troubles many people in life is a commonly perceived reality that nice and honest people of good conduct and character seem to suffer more in life,whereas those not endowed with such qualities mostly seem to lead a happy-go-lucky life!
One can also observe in life that when you have really done a good job and expect a positive outcome, you may get something contrary to it. Also, when you have done some blasphemy and you expect a terrific consequence on account of it, you may perhaps go scot-free. Why is that so?
Karma is unpredictable
People who tend to analyze such occurrences many a time feel extremely bad about the divine law of justice, which seems to be distorted. They tend to feel, considering the happenings in this birth alone, that the proverb “thou shall reap what thy sow” does not seem to work justly.
Perhaps such a stark contradiction is one reason that made saints to analyze Karma and come out with the finding of its continuing effect birth after birth. That is how the second dimension of ‘Time’ comes in to recognition. Any out-of-the-way suffering or enjoyment that you get in this birth, which does not seem to have any seed sown in this birth, must have its origin in some previous births. This is the “Time” dimension of Karma.
At a macroscopic perspective, the entire creation, the living beings, their birth, sustenance and decay are within the overall divine play called Maya. As a divine play, it has all the elements of fun, suspense, unexpected twists and turns of a game, some basic rules and also some breaking and bending of the rules by the Umpire — the God himself!
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) says “One can not know the truth about God through science. Science gives us information only about the things perceived through senses, as for instance, this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result, that material mixed with this material gives such and such result. A man cannot comprehend spiritual things with (this sort of) his ordinary intelligence”.
Avatara Purushas (God descended in human form) and mahatmas (great souls), who transcend all dualities of creation and establish themselves in Brahman (the all pervading God), are the ones who understand the play of Maya; they explain to us about the utter difficulty in bringing the ways of working of Karma to any predictable and comprehensible level.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa declares “To tell you the truth, this world is God’s Maya. And there are many confusing things in the realm of Maya. One can not comprehend them”. He further says, “One can by no means say that “this” will come after “that” or “this” will produce “that” “.
Thus any presumption that the law of Karma is infallible and rigid is not true. Any rigid suggestion that there shall be a good reward for the good Karma and a bad reward for the bad Karma and that the intensity of reward or punishment shall be directly proportional to the intensity of the Karma, is not entirely true. In other words, Karma is NOT self-propelling — this is what great Hindu saints declare.
Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), a Jnyani par excellence, in his Upadesa Undhiyar, says “Karma is just jata — non-sentient. The fruits of Karma are decided only by the will of the Creator (God). Can you ever think Karma as God? (You can’t)” This indeed the crucial the third dimension of Karma, namely, “God’s will”.
With all these three dimensions in place, we can comprehend that
For every Karma done, there will be a result/ a fruit/ an effect (Karma phala) which can not be wished away by doer. (When we say “I am suffering from my Karma”, we refer to Karma phala only).
The time at which the result/ the fruit/ the effect will manifest need not be immediate. It has its own humanly incomprehensible time frame cutting across several births.
When the effect will manifest and to what degree or intensity, to what extent of benefit or damage — it lies purely at the will of God.
With this basic understanding, we shall now proceed to understand the classifications of Karma.
Three Types Of Karma
From a theoretical and to a large extent practical and comprehensible standpoint, Hindu scriptures classify Karma in to 3 catagories.
(1) Sanchita Karma (2) Prarabhdha Karma and (3) Agamya Karma.
Sanchita Karma & Prarabhdha Karma
Assuming that we have taken so many births in the past, we should have accumulated quite a huge baggage of Karmas . That huge baggage of karma (i.e. fruits of Karmas) is called the Sanchita Karma. Even in this current birth, whatever effects of karmas you have done since birth till now is also part of your Sanchita Karma.
Out of this huge baggage, by God’s will, some amounts of Karmas are taken out and given to you for enjoyment or suffering in this birth. That portion is called the Prarabhdha. Prarabhdha is indeed the cause of this birth. In a way, we can also say that Karmas remaining in the baggage after taking the Prarabhdha are sanchita Karmas.
In other words, Sanchita Karmas are the potential Prarabhdhas for the future (in this and also future births). They are the prarabhdhas in the waiting list! Sanchita Karmas are like the arrows remaining in the arsenal of the hunter. He may use them at any appropriate time in the future.
Whatever suffering or enjoyment you are experiencing in this birth are due to your Prarabhdha. It is like the arrows that an archer has already shot from his bow; they will have to hit the targets and they can not be withdrawn. Prarabhdhas have nothing to do with whatever Karmas you are currently doing. Prarabhdhas are effects, while your current activities are your current Karmas, not linked to the current enjoyment or suffering you undergo.
This is precisely where people get confused! This is where the questions like “Why is he suffering while he is doing good things only?” are raised.
As already said, for which Karma done on which birth has the Prarabhdha now started taking effect, no one would know, except God. Some saints say that Karma done earlier in this present birth too can become Prarabhdha later in this very birth, since every thing is subject to God’s will. Sri Ramakrishna says that any undisciplined activities done in the youth may start producing their ill effects at older age in the same birth.
Agamya Karma
Doing of Karma based on our wishes, needs, desires and in-born tendencies (called vasanas) is a continuous process. Karmas that you are doing right now and Karmas you are going to do in the future are Agamya Karmas; (Once those Karmas are done, they get added to the bundle of Sanchita Karmas. Agamya Karmas are like the new arrows that the hunter makes which he transfers to his arsenal once the weapons are made.
Thus Hinduism beautifully and almost scientifically classifies the Karmas without ambiguity.
Prarabhdha Karma And God’s Intervention
The general rule is that once the prarabhdha karma starts working, you can not escape from it totally; the recommended way to tackle it is to accept and bear it. Hinduism lays great emphasis on “Saranagathi” — total surrender to God as the best way to tackle the evil effects of prarabhdha. By developing firm faith that it is God who is the dispenser of the effects of Karma, accept everything as His will. If the suffering becomes intolerable, pray to him for succor. Saints declare that the more you try to fight out the evil effects of prarabhdha using your egotism, the more you get deeply entangle into it.
Holy Mother Sarada Devi (1853-1920) declares that God is all merciful and he would not bear a true devotee suffering excessively. If your prarabhdha is such that you have to suffer from a snake bite, she says that by God’s will it may just turn out to be a prick of a nail.
What if the prarabhdha is to cause you an unexpected windfall of enjoyment in life? In reality, it may have more potent traps for you to accumulate new Agamya karmas. Any unusual windfall of luck and gratification has every chance to boost your ego and make you forget God; instead of grasping that what you are enjoying right now may not have anything to do with your present actions or merits, you may be tempted to loosen up your morals and go in for more indulgence. That may sooner or later trigger the arrival of bad prarabhdhas.
Mata Amritanandamayi says that a person starts getting trouble in life particularly in a period when his egotism peaks.
One who remains surrendered to God understands that any out-of-the-way windfall of merry or prosperity was endowed to him by the will of God and he would be ever watchful so as not to get carried away by the lure of transitory pleasures.
Does Repentance Help?
Another question normally comes up in mind is whether honest repentance about an evil act done in the past decreases the bad consequence of the Karma? Can a good act of charity cancel out the evil effect of some other bad karma?
It is generally perceived that that good karmas and bad karmas have their own independent line of existence; It might be like the “credit” and “debit” having their independent entries in a double-entry book keeping system!
However, an honest repentance does seem to have a sobering effect on its specific consequence of punishment for the evil act. But, “canceling out” of a bad karma by an independent good karma doesn’t seem to be a practical proposition, though it may have a definite bearing in “lessening” the burden of the bad karmas. Doing “prayaschitta” (making some amends by doing good act) is generally recommended by saints to lessen the bad impact of prarabhdha.
Can Karma lead to lower births (like animals)?
Hindu scriptures say that human birth is rare to get and it should be rightly utilized to elevate oneself to become a better human being and evolve spiritually. We all have freedom of choice in doing Karmas and the actions we chose should never be leading to our mental and spiritual deterioration.
By indulging in evil activities in this birth, we may accumulate negative karmas that have the potential to lead us to a lower birth like an animal. Definitely it delays and affects our spiritual progress. Mata Amritanandamayi says that excessive attachment to our wealth, children etc may also add to bad karmas leading to our birth as a dog in order to fullfil our desire to be with our kith and kin and safeguard our possessions, by living with our family members of the previous birth.
Karma And Duty
One thing to be clearly understood in karma is that you are bound by the effects of karma only if you have attachment / personal motive / desire behind doing karma. For example, a policeman shooting at rioters on the orders of his officer carries it out as his duty and hence he shall not acquire the karma of killing or wounding some of the rioters.
You Can’t Claim To Be The Executor Of Karma
Suppose you kill a person who has done a grave harm to you in the past; You can not claim “It is his prarabhdha karma that he had to be killed by me; I won’t accrue any sin because I acted as God’s instrument in executing it. Killing him is also my prarabhdha; I can’t help it”. It could be true that getting killed is his parabhdha, but your killing him is clearly an act of your Agamya Karma; you have had a motive, a vengeance in killing him and you have to face the consequences of it. Ordinary mortals can not usurp the role of God and claim justification by lopsidedly interpreting the law of Karma.
Know The Difference Between Kartha And Bhogtha
When you enjoy or suffer as a consequence of your past karmas, you are a “bhogtha” — the experiencer. When you do a karma, you are a “kartha” — the doer. You do not have the freedom of choice as Bhogtha — you have got to experience your effects of karmas of the past (to what ever degree God proffers to you). But you do, to a fair degree, have the freedom of choice as Kartha — doer. If you have a wick lamp, you can use its light to read Bhagavad Gita and get enlightened or you can use it to burn the Gita. This is the freedom of action available to you.
Regarding free will, Sri Ramakrishna says that as long as one has the idea of good and bad, the acting of free will (to choose between the two) too will be there; for one who has surrendered himself fully to God, there is no question of existence of free will; for him, everything is God’s will.
Swarga (Heaven), Naraga (Hell) and Earth – How do they fit in in Karma?
According to puranas, a jiva, when he does extraordinary good deeds on earth and acquire punya during his life time, enjoys life in heaven till he exhausts the punya. Heaven is the place where everything is joyful, no trace of any pain or unpleasantness. The jiva has no physical body; he has only a sukshma (subtle) body and all the enjoyments are only sensual enjoyments, enjoyed at mental body. Once punyas are exhausted, the jiva has to necessarily come to birth to take up a human life to clear all the other karmas.
In the same way, the jiva has to undergo extreme suffering in hell for all the atrocious crimes and evils that he commits in human birth. The Garuda Purana elaborates the various punishments that awaits the jivan for different heinous crimes he commits in earth. Here again, all the sufferings are at the sukshma body, experienced at mind. Here again, once the evil karmas are exhausted through punishment in hell, the jivan has to return to earth to taka a new body.
Ultimately, the earth is the only “Karma bhoomi” where the jivan has scope for totally playing out his good and bad and evolve spiritually by being a kartha as well as bhogta. In heaven or hell, he is just a bhogta. He is not a kartha.
There are also view points saying that the very earth itself is both Swarga and Naraga because all sorts of enjoyments and sufferings exist here itself.
Karma Yoga – The way to escape the Karma cycle
As long as one has desires, ambitions and motives and engages in action to satiate them, the cycle of karma will never get severed. Man will have to keep taking births over births to enjoy the good effects of good karma and evil effects of bad karma. Hinduism says that human birth is not meant to be wasted for ever in this seemingly never ending cycle. It is simply the divine play of Maya that keeps deluding men into sensual, intellectual and egoistic pleasure-seeking, thereby subjecting them into countless cycles of birth and death. Getting caught in this never ending cycle of birth and death is known as Samsara.
But at some point of time, those who wake up to the hopelessness of this mad running around turn to true spirituality to seek a solution. Hinduism says that it is your attachment to fruits of actions that binds you to karma. If you can perform work with detachment towards the fruits, if you surrender all the fruits of actions to God, then you are not bound by the consequences of the Karma. This is the secret of attaining liberation and this is known as Karma Yoga — a great doctrine elaborated by Sri Krishna in the Holy Scripture Bhagavat Gita.
https://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/REBIRTH-CYCLE.jpg343609C.V.Rajanhttps://hinduismwayoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Logo6-Hinduism-Sanatana-dharma-Way-of-life-340-×-140-px-300x124.pngC.V.Rajan2018-01-26 06:00:312018-12-20 15:56:25Understanding the Concept of Karma and Rebirth in Hinduism
This website has been conceived and being developed by C.V.Rajan. He is a retired Engineer and an ex-design consultant, now living with his wife in Ashram at Amritapuri, Kerala, spending his retired life in quest of spirituality under the holy feet of Amma, Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi.
He is an avid reader and a writer. Writing as a hobby started in him at the age of 20. As his interest turned to spirituality in his late thirties, he became an avid reader on the lives and teachings of great Mahatmas like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi and his satguru Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma).
In his early fifties, he wrote at various blog sites on variety of subjects like Hinduism, spirituality, life & living, healthy living, Indian culture and so on. Now through this website (Hinduism Way Of Life), C.V.Rajan is consolidating and sharing all his writings on Hinduism under a single umbrella.
This website has been conceived and being developed by C.V.Rajan. He is a retired Engineer and an ex-design consultant, now living with his wife in Ashram at Amritapuri, Kerala, spending his retired life in quest of spirituality under the holy feet of Amma, Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi.