Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
We shall continue with our wonderful study from the Secrets of Karma. We were talking about “responsibility” as part of the ART of Living. We shall continue from where we left.
Some lessons have to be learnt, and no one can change it. Therefore, there are times when you will not be able to help others beyond a certain level and need to let the person to live and learn according to the choices he or she has made.
So, sometimes no matter how much you try to bring reason into the lives of people, no matter how much you try to support them, beyond a certain extent, you will not be able to do anything. Why? – Because the soul has already decided on a particular set of life lessons to be learnt.
Lessons have to be learnt internally. It cannot be taught only externally and that is the reason why no matter how sensible your suggestions and advices are, generally you will find, especially the ones who are very close to you, reject that.
Not because they do not want to change, but because they have to go through the intense lesson and it is possible only when they themselves start experiencing the effects of whatever that they are doing. So, beyond certain extent, you have to only cultivate a good attitude, keep blessing them and support them subtly; not with your words, not by any other means.
Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient patience and we have a tendency to get frustrated and angry, not realising that every time a spiritual practitioner gets frustrated, it is only compounding the problem manifold.
So, one of the toughest challenge for a spiritual practitioner is maintaining a deeper level of compassion and understanding all the time. Your slightest anger or frustration can create a tsunami in the lives of people and the bad karma also comes back to you.
So, we did mention before that the higher you grow, the greater is the impact of karma on you. It is like falling from a mountain. So, if you basically fall from a small height, the damage is less but higher, the greater.
This is what you need to remember always. So, all the time, be very very careful that you are no longer wielding a stick. As one Great master said: “You are wielding a sword, you cannot even tap people with the sword.”
Even that really hurts, inflicts deep injury. You need to be so careful about your thoughts, your speech; of course, actions have already become better but most importantly at your mental level, you have to practice Ahimsa.
Hopefully, all of you have mastered at least 50% mental and verbal Ahimsa. Sometimes, we also have to learn our own lessons regardless of our level. So, it is possible that we fall, but we should not spend time or waste time in waking up slowly.
That is why in Hindi we say, “Girna bhi hai, aur sambhalna bhi hai.” It is natural to fall. That is exactly the energy of the plane of matter. Nothing is perfect here. So, it is absolutely possible to get succumbed to vibrations, to contamination, to several forms of psychic attacks and intrusions.
So, there is a possibility that we fall, but we should not lose time in rising up again, getting up again and start moving ahead. It does not mean that you keep on falling, you should also learn the lesson not to fall again. As far as possible, do not repeat the same mistake.
If you keep repeating the same mistake over and over again, it becomes a groove, it is like the old record player and when you play music and when the pin gets trapped in a particular groove, and it keeps on playing the certain music; same with your habits, your sanskar as we call it.
If you do not become aware of your habits, when consciously you have a tendency to fall in the same groove over and over again, this groove is going to become very very deep. Over a period of time, it is so difficult to get out of your problems.
Be very careful and be aware of all this and a spiritual practitioner, remember, is not having an easy time, balancing their karma of several lifetimes, because once your spiritual energy reaches a certain level, there will be an acceleration of karma.
So, on one side, there is acceleration; on the other side, you are compounding by repeating the same mistakes. It is not an easy life but we shall make it together. That is the purpose of these group activities.
The synergy effect of all the group activities brings tremendous levels of insight and inner strength that what is difficult for a common man becomes easier for your spiritual practices, because of the wonderful spiritual family we belong to. Hope you are all understanding what we are talking. Let us continue!
Some lessons have to be learnt and no one can change it. Therefore, there are times when you will not be able to help others beyond a certain level and need to let the person to live and learn according to the choices he or she has made.
And this is true for you as well. Your life is the product of the choices you made in the past and no one excepting you is responsible for whatever you need to endure or experience. Hence, do not point a finger at others.
Never ever complain! Never ever blame anybody or any situation for your conditions. This is useless! There is nothing called “because,” this does not exist in the dictionary of a spiritual aspirant. There is a wonderful quotation from the Holy Bible:
‘‘When you point a finger at others, three fingers point back at you”
– Holy Bible
Try showing a finger at somebody, you will notice that at least three fingers are pointing you. You need to be aware of this.
Moreover, people who make you suffer most are often the ones who are close to you. They are not entirely responsible for this as they are simply returning what you had given to them in the past. So, even if they act unreasonably, they are quite reasonable in some way.
This, you have to make a note very carefully. So, regardless of the pain people are causing you, at a deeper level, the understanding should come to you that: I cannot reap something that I did not sow and therefore when pain comes to you, do not react, do not reject.
Of course, as we keep on reminding you, you have to take proper action but that action should not have a trace of frustration, anger and irritation. If you have that, you are finished. You have already sown another seed and that will again keep sprouting and you are caught up in the chain of action and reaction.
Remember what Annie Besant said beautifully: “Do not sow a new seed while you are reaping the old one.” You remember this very very carefully.
I was counselling a student who was in the process of a divorce. The student felt humiliated that his partner made false allegations and dragged him to court for one reason or the other.
He was quite distressed that his children were also kept away from him. Indeed, this is very painful, but you have to look at the whole picture. You have to pay your karmic debts anyway and the crisis is just a means to reconcile it. Situations are there to simply balance your karma.
So, in this particular instance, when the person realized what was happening and stopped reacting, gradually, the situation improved manifold. Everything started getting settled very very amicably and very very peacefully, though they eventually divorced but they are good friends.
This is exactly what we mean here: Zero reaction! Zero reaction! Zero reaction! Remember that!
Therefore, instead of pointing your finger at others, you may use the ‘thumbs-up’ sign and silently affirm: ‘‘I am responsible for this.’’
So, think of any person or any situation where you have a tendency to point your fingers, now, you put yourself in that thumbs up mudra, and say: “I am responsible for this.” Then, you say: “I will make it!”
In this way, it will help you to remind yourself of the lessons that you need to learn and the debts that you need to pay.
So, two things are mentioned here, lessons and the debts. Lessons, you have to get and debts you have to pay. There is no other way my dear friends, my dear brothers, my dear sisters. I have tried for the last 45 years, I have realized that there is no other way other than acceptance; acceptance of yourself, as you are, acceptance of the situations, acceptance of people in your life. Hope it is very clear.
However, take proper action as the situation demands. If need be, you may resort to legal help. Follow spirituality at the soul level, but practicality at the physical level. The key is: ‘Act, but do not react.’
You can heal ‘past wounds’ by practicing Forgiveness Meditation listed in Key 43. We shall be talking about that. When you heal the past, the present will get better by itself.
…without any effort!
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Page 65-66