Don’t allow yourself to think you are forever bound by karma. Deny it. Whether your karma is good or bad, don’t accept any karmic limitation. You have to have good karma to destroy bad karma. Then rise above them both.
Give your karma to God. He will help you if you ask Him to. It isn’t that we should seek special privileges, but if we have faith in God, all things are possible. It is His grace that counts, and that grace comes when we do our part to behave like children of God. Whenever you see you are not able to control your pains and troubles, keep trying. If you don’t try, you will never get anywhere. Never yield to pain and trouble. Every time something gets you down, get up again and say, “I am all right now.” The minute you admit you can’t do it, it is over. You have given the verdict that you are bound by karma. You are the judge. It doesn’t matter what your troubles are. If you say, “I am all right,” you can overcome. But if you say, “I can’t do it,” you remain jailed behind the prison bars of your karma. If you recognize a mistake and resolutely determine not to make it again, then even if you fall, that fall will be very much less than if you had never tried. You will see in time that you are a master of yourself, and free from karma, even as God is.
Why be forced to change by repeated deaths and rebirth? Why not change now? Why not give up moods when you know they are wrong? Why not rid yourself of anger? When you get mad, it is because somebody has put salt on your wounded ego. You will be a much better and happier person if you remain calm. Let others slap you or hate you, but never show anger in return. You will see that nobody can touch you inwardly. Whenever anyone points out your mistakes quietly correct yourself. That is the way to self-mastery. That is how my guru Sri Yukteswar was, like a little child. Hate no one. Have no likes or dislikes. Have no attachments; a child plays with a toy, but if he breaks it, he soon forgets it. If you have a possessive love for anything, you will suffer.
The impulses of evil come not only through your own inclinations but are sometimes tests of God. Pray to Him: “Lord, I know what Virtue is, but I don’t seem to practise it. I know what vice is, but I can’t stay away from it. O Creator of all my senses, do Thou guide me! Thou hast created both good and evil, and yet Thou art free. I am made in Thine image. I am surrounded by good and evil, but being Thy child, I am free! “
The justice of God is that He has given us the sword of reason, which we can use to free ourselves from this world of delusion. But you have to apply that God-given power of discrimination to choose right action in preference to wrong action, and to be mentally above your troubles. Let nobody tell you your suffering or problems are your karma. You have no karma. Shankara (Adi Shankar Acharya) said: “I am one with Spirit; I am He.” If you realise this truth, you are a god. But if you keep mentally affirming, “I am a god,” and in the background of your mind you are thinking, “But it seems I am a mortal being,” you are a mortal being. If you know you are a god, you are free.
Extract from the book “The Divine Romance” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
