Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Let us joyfully continue with our study from the Secrets of Karma. We shall do the Inner Reflection for Neutralising Karma. Yesterday, we were reading about how important it is to generate good karma on the spiritual path.
Neutralizing Karma – Inner reflection
1. I will look for opportunities to serve. I will share my resources with people in need. I will share wisely with discrimination.
2. I will give more of what I lack in my life. I will share and serve discreetly. I will not crave for name, fame or recognition.
3. Everyday I will bless the world, my country and all those who need my help. I will bless people with hope and inner strength to overcome their weaknesses.
4. I will bless people who cause harm to me. I will not harbour ill-will towards anyone.
5. What comes out of my mouth and my mind will be wholesome. I will think before I talk.
6. I will be careful not to block anyone’s progress with my critical thoughts. I will recall and cancel all negative thoughts and words.
7. I will commit myself to regular service and sharing.
Earth School
There is a beautiful quotation from Stephen Covey.
‘‘We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey.’’
Stephen R. Covey
Very profound quotation!
Evolution is an intrinsic part of creation, be it humans or the universe, everything is constantly evolving.
When you say universe, you have to remember it is fundamentally energy to a substantial level. The refinement of universe is constantly happening with the refinement of the mankind. So, mankind is not actually in this one small planet. Beings are there in every part of the universe.
We talked about this before. What we call our world is just a small planet in the Solar system which is a part of our galaxy called the Milky Way. So, like our solar system, there are billions of Solar systems. This is only one galaxy and there are billions of galaxies in one universe.
So, you can imagine that beings are there in all that is there in the creation. And not only a universe, there are billions of universes and that is exactly where we come to the subject of multiverse. So, as the beings in different planes, different dimensions keep evolving, the matter also starts getting refined.
So, together with the evolution of the sentient beings, there is an evolution of the energy, the substance that is made up of the universe. So, everything is constantly evolving, this is very important to understand.
Be it humans or the universe everything is constantly evolving. It is this fundamental aspect of your life on earth that explains “Why are you here?”
So, sometimes it is a very useful thing for you to ponder upon this very lofty subject of your existence. Ask yourself first of all, “Who are you?” Try to move your fingers, move your legs. Check whether you are the hands, you are the legs. These kind of experiments we keep doing in many courses.
You will notice that you are neither the hands nor the legs nor the body. You are a Spirit. If you are the Spirit, what is the necessity for you to come in the human embodiment? You have to ponder upon all these questions. It will give you a lot of deeper insight.
So, the most important purpose for which we are in the plane of matter is for the purpose of evolution. That means, once you understand this not just intellectually but experientially that I am here on this plane of matter for the purpose of evolution, period!
For the purpose of evolution I am expected to go through a set of conditions, a set of experiences. Using those experiences, I learn my lessons. These lessons strengthen my spiritual muscles. That is the whole gamete of our activities, there is nothing more. The bottom line is experience and the lesson that are arising out of those experiences.
So, if you understand this very clearly and at a deeper level you know exactly this is what is, then there would be no questions, their would be no pain, no reactions. Zero! Because you know that certain conditions are created for the purpose of learning certain lessons through which I do evolve.
If that is very clear, where is the question of you being sorrowful or sad or depressed? It doesn’t happen. Depression is basically a sign of ignorance. Sadness is a sign of ignorance. Ignorance of the purpose for which you are here on the plane of matter. You have to ponder upon all these important subjects.
Your very existence on earth is for learning and growing spiritually. You are actually enrolled in a greater school, the ‘earth school’, where your ‘education’ continues for several lifetimes! You learn the ‘lessons of life’ during the course of your journey through various embodiments. In each life, you go through certain experiences that offer the lessons that are assigned to you for that lifetime.
That means, even before coming into an embodiment there is a grand destiny, grand plan for your lifetime of activities. There is a very clear planning that is happening. Nothing in the universe is devoid of planning.
If you take little time to ponder upon the fruits or vegetables that you are consuming and if you start meditating on that, you will realize that so much of intelligence has gone into creation of the fruits or the vegetables that you are consuming. Real extraordinary intelligence.
So, whatever that you are consuming is a product of a supreme intelligence that has gone into it. If that is the case, then how is it possible that you and I are created randomly and that we do not have any purpose except to live and enjoy? There is something much deeper to our life. You have to ponder upon that.
In each life, you go through certain experiences that offer the lessons that are assigned to you for that lifetime. So, this is exactly where we come to the subject of esoteric teachings that talk about different dimensions of existence.
So, after the physical death, you move on to higher dimensions and stay in certain planes for a certain period of time and when the time is over, once again you come back on the material plane to continue with your journey of learning lessons and evolution. It is an ongoing activity.
The day you have mastered the material plane, that there is nothing more for you to gather in the material plane, then you keep moving to higher dimensions. There is no need for you to come to the physical plane again for the purpose of incarnation because you have already learnt and mastered whatever you have to.
That means, if you are here, it simply tells you that you have still not mastered the lessons that are expected to be learnt in the material world. There is no other reason other than this. If you do not learn the lesson, for eons of times you are trapped in the cycle of birth and death. You are unable to move forward on your journey to higher dimensions.
Of course, these are all very vast topics but the gist of the matter is, material plane simply provides me with the conditions through which I learn lessons for the purpose of my evolution. That is the most important purpose why you are here on the plane of matter.
No other reason, because you do not carry anything with you after this lifetime is over. There is no guarantee that you will be born in the same family, in the same country or in the same conditions. It can be worse, it can be better. You never know.
So, that is the reason why getting attached to anything materially is not very useful. That is exactly why practicing detachment we talked about is so important. Doing all the activities and enjoying to a certain level with whatever that you are having but at the same time practicing detachment because this doesn’t belong to you, the soul.
You are not going to carry any of these with you. Neither the family is being carried with you nor any of the material possessions that you will carry with you. What you carry is the lessons, the experiences and the virtues you have developed. That goes from lifetime to lifetime.
As you learn and master those lessons, you move on to the next level. The process goes on until you are enlightened, but evolution continues on other planes of existence.
So, as we said, it is an evolving universe. That means that even after you proceed to other dimensions, there also, there are certain experiences that you have to go through. The scriptures talk about paradise.
So, in the eastern scriptures, the king of the paradise is called Lord Indra and you find that even in Paradise there is no utter peace. Lord Indra has been shown as a king having constant fights with the demons. So it appears that there are challenges in many many planes of existence, not just the material plane.
The lessons in the ‘earth school’ come to you from different situations and people that you encounter during your life. They are there to help you develop the virtues or skills essential for your evolution.
For example, if you had inflicted pain on others in your past by abusing your authority, you may attract a situation that would compel you to learn the lessons of humility and tolerance by serving others, even those inferior in intelligence or skills, thereby forcing you to cultivate these virtues.
So, some of you would have experienced that you are a very talented person, extremely intelligent but then by virtue of duty, you have to serve. This happens more often in many of the government offices where supremely intelligent people have to serve political leaders who are not that sharp, but because they are basically having the mandate of the public, you have to serve them. That’s exactly how it is.
So, conditions are attracted by the soul to learn many, many lessons that it has been missed; lessons arising out of misuse of authority or power in the past. So, you have to be very careful to ensure that you never ever misuse your authority, your power. You are wielding the right power, exerting the right force at the right time and that is exactly how you will be saved from future problems.
So, if you are in an environment which is compelling you over and over again to be submissive, to be humble, you have to understand you have attracted this karma of a lesson that is very very appropriate for you to master. That means, no conditions of life is devoid of a lesson. That is the most important message.
For example, if you had inflicted pain on others in the past by abusing your authority, you may attract a situation that would compel you to learn the lesson of humility and tolerance by serving others, even those inferior in intelligence or skills, thereby forcing you to cultivate these virtues.
All karma have to be worked out. A doctor or a healer can cure or heal the physical or an emotional problem. But, if the underlining karma or cause of the issue is not worked out, the problems will surely resurface in another way.
That means, learning the lessons is the ultimate solution for getting rid of challenges of life. So long as you keep reacting and not accepting, the challenges will persist.
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Page 112- 113