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In recognition of the
rigid mandate of the law of karma, it is sometimes postulated that human
destiny is implacably confined and restricted by karmic circumscription; and
that an irrevocable and unalterable capitulation to its dictates in situ, is
the only option that be, as regards one’s fate. Thus, fervent proponents of
that conception equate karma to fatalism; some form of a mechanistic, preordained
and deterministic arrangement, whereby the individual simply poses as a
bystander or a helpless spectator, destined to passively submit to the currents
of the karmic storm.
While the fundamental tenet of that advocacy cannot be
fulminated and entirely discounted on grounds that fate karma, at least
patterns the overall course of the contemporary instalment of one’s life, it
can also legitimately and comfortably be emplaced that karma by no means
amounts to fatalism or rigid determinism. Unlike a machine whose exertions and
functions unfold in a rigidly predetermined manner as conditioned by its
intrinsic mechanisms, a human specimen is endowed with inventiveness,
imagination, freewill, reason and conscience; and a sagacious amalgamation of
these capabilities can enable judicious management and modification of one’s
fate karma to a reasonable degree. Therefore it is stated:
Many people think there's nothing they can do to change their
karma--it's preordained so why bother trying to change their situation? This is
what scares people. These folks think that to accept the reality of karma one
must be passive. It simply isn't true. Karma is active. We can--in the blink of
an eye--make decisions that will shape our futures and transform the parts of
our lives that are causing us unhappiness.
(MARY
T. BROWNE, The Power of Karma)
Karma differs from fate or destiny because it encourages us
to take an active role in life. The Law of Karma requires the spiritual seeker
to follow the highest code of ethics.
(TODD
CRAMER, Eckankar: Ancient Wisdom for Today)
Karmic modification
implies that while the fundamental pattern of karma remains unalterable, the
severity of one’s karma can be modulated and diluted through the sagacious
exercise of freewill, wisdom and effort. Freewill implies that humans can
exercise a considerable deal of discretion in their choices, preferences and
aspirations. These novel choices would then generate their associated
consequences, which then coalesce with one’s contemporary scheduled karma to generate
a slightly different karmic admixture. If fresh choices are exercised with due
prudence, this then has the tendency for lubricating one’s karmic burden. The remodelling
of one’s karma can be met with enhanced grasping, against the backdrop of the
following analogy:
Suppose a farmer
cultivated lettuce on his agricultural terrain in the preceding season, and
that for the contemporary season, the farmer craves to grow spinach. Having
carried out a thorough preparation of the land, it once more becomes transformed
into conducive conditions for cultivation. So, the farmer is now geared towards
the exercise of freewill by switching from the culture of lettuce to the
culture of spinach. Nonetheless, enshrined in the subterranean stratum of the
land are lettuce seeds, whose presence there is perfectly justified,
considering that the farmer cultivated lettuce in the preceding season. So, as
soon as the farmer starts sowing spinach seeds, the lettuce seeds embedded in
the subsoil profusely sprout onto the topsoil. A ferocious battle now emerges
between the farmer’s freewill to cultivate spinach, and the pending
consequences of his historically exercised freewill, which translated into the
cultivation of lettuce; the consequences of which are in persistent interception
of his current instalment
of freewill.
It fully comes to the
farmer’s realisation
that he cannot entirely secure escapism from the ramifications of his previous
farming activities. The farmer then opts to shoulder the responsibility of
deracinating the interjecting lettuce seedlings that are now colonising
his spinach seedlings. He embraces this responsibility with consistency and
endurance. Doubtless, the
endeavour to deracinate all lettuce seedlings is an exceedingly
painstaking venture; and yet, the farmer might not quite emerge victorious in
deracinating all the intercepting lettuce seedlings; and some might even
eventually maturate. Even though the farmer has not emerged victorious in
annihilating all these undesired lettuce seedlings, nevertheless, he has
managed to diminish their
germinative effervescence; and hence, has successful diluted the
ferocity of their invasion.
Just like the farmer, a
pragmatic and efficacious strategy for modifying one’s karma is the total
desertion of unwholesome deeds and the unreserved embracement of wholesome
endeavours, such as the acquisition of positive knowledge, a passion for
wisdom, selfless love, compassion, meditation, devotion, unconditional service
etc. The veracity is that, this package of nobility will then produce fresh
fruits; and the aggregate of those delicious fruits can then mitigate the
intensity and magnitude of the visible effects of one’s historically sowed
unwholesome deeds. Also, the adoption of this package of nobility can also
accord one insight as to the exact nature of karmic unfoldment, and an
understanding thereof can enhance one’s ability to manage one’s karma more
endurably and effectively; while also offering one the tools necessary for
disabling the feasibility of one’s currently maturated unwholesome karma, in
reproducing even more karma.
Therefore, the sagacious exercise of freedom of choice,
rooted in positive knowledge, wisdom and love, constitutes the divine agency
for modifying one’s contemporary karma. Thus, in the biblical scriptures, it is
stated:
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness,
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive…
(2
Peter 1:5-8)
Herein lies the secrets of salvation because amidst this
domineering karmic entanglement, mortals can still be granted deliverance from
the trammels of mundane illusion via divine grace. Grace is that unmerited
favour granted humans by the supreme Lord, so that they may be redeemed from
the penance of mundane illusion. Nonetheless, for the bestowal of grace and the
consequent deliverance of one from the vortex of turmoil, one must render
oneself receptive to that grace; and such receptivity entails permanent and
irreversible dissociation from unwholesomeness. But the grace of God manifests amongst
mortals via an objective, visible and recognisable channel. These God-nominated
channels of divine grace are the high order living spiritual Masters such as
Supreme Master Ching Hai, who are the specially dispatched errands of mercy by
the Supreme one, to come and assist many a hurricane-battered soul, unfasten
themselves from the captivity of self-manufactured penance. No mortal per se,
can expect to resolve his or her colossal karmic account to completion and gain
liberation of the soul without a living Master: Therefore, Jesus stated:
…But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice…
(Mathew
9:13)
Therefore, even the
loftiest degree of sacrifice cannot extinguish one’s colossal depository of
karma; especially unwholesome karma amassed over millions upon millions of
previous lives. Thus, to be in receipt of redemption, one must alienate
unwholesome deeds, embrace wholesome deeds and render oneself receptive to
divine grace by obtaining initiation from a high calibre Master such as Supreme
Master Ching Hai.
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