Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
We continue from the study on Secrets of Karma. Yesterday, we were talking about the cycle of descent. We are actually reading on the law of impermanence.
When the conditions of life are bad, remind yourself that, ‘This too shall pass.’ Remember: “When the wheel comes down, it has to go up.”
So, do not lose hope or courage. Learn your lesson properly from the situation and generate more good karma. Simply do what you can and be patient. You will make it. Very profound wisdom contained.
As I am reading, I remembered a beautiful story. I will try to narrate it as much as I remember it:
There was a bird in a desert, highly depleted. It could not fly nor did it have the strength. So, it was just lying on the hot sand. At that very moment, there was a pigeon that was passing through the desert and this bird asked the pigeon, ‘Where are you going?’ and the pigeon said ‘I’m going to the heavens.’ So, this bird told the pigeon, ‘Please ask the beings of the heaven, how long do I need to suffer like this?’
The pigeon said, ‘Yes, of course, I will ask them and I will come and give you the reply.’ So, the pigeon went to the heavens and it met the beings of light. Immediately, the pigeon enquired about this bird: ‘It needs to know how long it has to suffer, please let me know!’ The beings there said, ‘Oh! Based on whatever it has done in the past, it has to suffer for another seven years. There is no other way.’
The pigeon said, ‘The poor fellow is already in big problem, in deep pain. If I give a message like this, it will only add to its sufferings. Is there something that I can tell him so that he has some hope?’ So, the beings said, ‘You go and tell it to repeat this often: “God thank you for all this!” ‘God, thank you for all this!’ You ask it to repeat this over and over again whenever it is confronting any problem.’
So, the pigeon came back to the desert and told the poor bird,‘ My dear friend, the being there said that you should keep saying “God thank you for all this!” The pigeon afterwards left and after seven days, it happened to pass through the desert again and it found the bird in a wonderful state, very bright and happy. It was cheerful and in a desert where there was neither water nor greeneries, suddenly, it found few plants were sprouting and there was a pond with water.
It was surprised and thought to itself, “These beings of light said the bird has to endure this condition for seven years and in seven days, everything changed for it.” So, it went to the heavens and then, again enquired with the beings of light, ‘How is it possible that you said the bird would suffer for seven years and then, it has recovered in just seven days?’
The light being said, ‘Listen, it kept on repeating “God, thank you for all this! God, thank you for all this!” whenever it was actually feeling so thirsty and could not find water and it was so hot that the bird could not fly and at that time, it said, God, thank you for all this! In this way, it kept thanking and thanking and because of the power of his affirmation and the faith in God, it got recovered in seven days.‘
What it had to suffer for seven years is over in seven days. This story is extraordinarily powerful and simple but then the message it carries is fantastic. Three things: unshakable faith in God, acceptance and affirmation. All these three things put together can really make miracles happen.
Unshakable faith! Deep level of faith, acceptance and power of affirmation. Unshakable faith means you do not ask questions why, what, how! That is unshakable faith. If there is so much of faith in God then the question of worry will not be there at all. How can you have 100% faith in God and still have worries?
I recall a very beautiful incidence. Of course, I think I had repeated it once or twice in the past but good idea to remind ourselves of what is unshakable faith.
So, I was at the beach and we were in the sea and then on that particular day, the tides were a little bit high. So, I saw some of our own students with their family happily swimming in the water. Then, I happened to see two parents with their small child. One was our own student and this parent was holding the child in the hand, and then, the child was enjoying so much. Once, I saw that the tide was so high it covered the child.
And then, when the water receded, the child was giggling because she had the faith in the father. So much of faith that even though she was drowned for a few moments, she was in bliss because of that unshakable faith that the father is there to protect her whereas I was seeing another parent at a distance and the child was screaming. He didn’t want to come into the water and the moment the water came even at the hip level, it started screaming and screaming so much that the parent had to leave the child in the shore.
Two extreme cases I was witnessing and I was just telling myself, ‘If my faith in my father is so much, how can I ever have fear, worry or any concern for that matter?
This is what is called unshakable faith. So, the first and foremost thing that you need to develop when you are confronted with challenges is unshakable faith. I was listening to one of the discourse of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, very beautiful discourse.
He said that you need to have the life jacket when you are drowning but unfortunately, you let go of the life jacket of faith when there is a mighty challenge in front of you. So, at the time when you need it most, you drop the faith. It is like dropping the life jacket when you are drowning.
Unshakable faith in the divine plan, unshakable faith in the existence of God. That is our force, that is our power. Based on that, the acceptance comes. Together with that, do something more. Use the power of affirmations.
All the time, have gratitude! God thank you for this. Whatever way you would like to do the affirmation and see the power of the transformation happening. You can actually manifest miracles on the strengths of these three important things; unshakable faith, acceptance and affirmation. Alright, let’s continue!
Law of Balance
Extreme activities in one lifetime may result in a compulsive part that would force you to walk in an opposite direction in another lifetime.
This is an extremely important topic. It is not easy to understand unless you had experienced it. Anything that you tend to do in extreme will compel you to move in an opposite direction, either within a lifetime or in another lifetime.
So, this topic is of extreme importance. Extreme activities in one lifetime may result in a compulsive part that would force you to walk in an opposite direction in another lifetime.
Thus, a sinner can tread a saintly path and a tyrant be made to work like a slave. Through the pairs of opposites, karma tames the soul and forces it to evolve.
That means, if you are a very arrogant person full of pride, just remind yourself, this too shall pass. You will unnecessarily attract the condition where you will be forced to be humble. We should not be attracting these kinds of situations.
All the time, be very careful not to use anything excessively, whether it is wealth or power, use it in moderation. It is in this, there is benefit for you on a long run. You will be certainly tamed. You cannot fight with the nature.
That is why, there is a very profound proverb, ‘Nature is conquered through obedience.’ It is only by obeying the laws of nature, you can actually conquer the nature, meaning the same laws that punish people can also be used for helping yourself to reward yourself.
Laws are not simply made to punish. It punishes because you violate the laws. As long as you flow with the laws, you obey the laws of nature, nature will protect you. That is the law. Its protection comes naturally.
Nature tends to bring balance in everything. People realize that there has been a definite purpose for many events of their past and are indicators to the path of balance that one needs to tread.
People realize that there has been a definite purpose for many events of their past. Who are these people? People who do self analysis and contemplation, understanding what is happening to them.
So, rather than going through life mechanically without even knowing what is happening, there are some spiritual aspirants who all the time put a break and contemplate, reflect on their life. Why these things are happening despite all my efforts? What is the root cause of this problem?
The moment you identify the root cause of the problem, 90% of the problems of your life can be resolved rapidly. The 10% might be remaining because you have to learn the lesson out of that. Identifying the root cause, that is very important.
So, why did this challenge come over and over again in my life? There has to be a cause. When you ponder deeply, you will understand that because of certain such inputs in the past, such output is being left to me. I am forced to face it over and over again.
That understanding will automatically come. You don’t have to go in a past life regression to know what had happened, which is also ok if you are already doing it. But your present will tell you what was your past when you do the contemplation or self analysis.
People realize that there has been a definite purpose for many events of their past and are indicators to the path of balance that one needs to tread.
Further reading, Secrets of Karma, Page 124