Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Atma namaste! Welcome to the session on Great Invocation. How are you all keeping? Super happy, super healthy, super strong, yes! Wonderful! Alright, before we proceed, we will take up a few questions.
The first question is about the Secrets of Karma book itself. There is a question about free will. What exactly it is meant by, “we have the choice to a certain extent to choose our path?” Now, this is a very important question. It is not only connected with karma, it is connected with many aspects of the creation. The concept of time is subject to the dimension where we are on the physical plane.
The time is on a different scale. As we go to the subtler planes of existence, the scale of time is very different. That is why, in the scriptures, there is a mention about the day of Brahma and the night of Brahma.
So, as per the scriptures, what I have read is that a day of Brahma is equal into 432,000 years on the physical plane. That means, the night of Brahma is another 432,000 years on the plane of matter. One day of Brahma is equal into 864,000 years on the physical plane. And then, there are planes beyond the plane that we are referring to, the plane of Brahma.
So, as we progressively move up to higher dimensions, we are now looking into a completely different frame of time. When the soul is ascending to higher planes of existence, the amount of time that it spends, if you translate it into the number of years on the physical dimension, it can be completely different.
This is not very new to the scientific understanding as well. Some of you might be familiar with the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. A very famous equation, E = mc^2. Now, one of the very profound implications of the theory of relativity is that, if a person is moving at the speed of light, say for about 1 year, then, when that person returns to the physical plane, perhaps about 1000 years would have already lapsed.
This is basically a scientific understanding just to make you know that time is not linear. Time is also different at different dimensions or planes of existence and it depends upon the object that is moving at a specific speed.
So, to this question about free will and the choices the soul makes when it is in another dimension is based upon this most important factor. So, when the soul is actually in another plane, in an altered plane of existence, its thinking faculty is to a very high level influenced by the vibrations of that particular plane where it is residing.
As per the esoteric teachings, when the incarnated soul, called the Jivatma becomes one with the higher soul and then, after a lapse of time when it decides to incarnate on the physical plane, its way of thinking is very different from the way it thinks when it is in the material or the physical embodiment.
It is like you are sitting with your master for a three days program. During that period of three days, you would notice that the way you think is very different from the way you would be thinking otherwise, when you get back to your routine life. That means, the energy of the teacher, the Guru, has got an effect on the way you think.
How much so it would be when you move to the higher dimensions? So, what you call as pain and sufferings is not seen as pain and sufferings in the higher dimensions. You the soul, when you become one with the higher soul, your perception about life is very very different.
So, you make certain choices in that altered state. Choices could be to the level of even assuming a body full of ailment, but at that level, you do not consider all these factors. The factor that is considered is evolution. Number 2, You see life from a very different perspective. The span of life is very very different.
What you spend on the earthly dimension, 70–80 years, is seen as not even a second from a higher realm of existence. So, there is a different dimension altogether that makes your perception about life completely elated. So, when we talk about free will, the free will has got a very different connotation when you are in the higher dimension and when you come to the plane of matter.
In the plane of matter, you are under the influence of the physical vehicle, the astral vehicle, the mental vehicle. We call them the lower vehicles, each impregnated with different types of energies and vibrations for eons of times.
And therefore, it predominantly dominates you the soul, in thinking in a particular way. For example, knowing fully well that smoking is not good for you or drinking is not good for you, you might over and over again be influenced with these because of the demand of the vehicle.
So here, the free will or the choices that you make is different from the free will and the choices that you make when you are in a higher dimension. I hope you are understanding. So, when we talk about existence and we talk about the laws of karma in totality, every dimension is very different in its approach to deal with the subject of karma.
And also, karma has been introduced as per the teachings of the great masters, primarily because of the free will. Because free will has been bestowed, connected with the free will are the laws of karma. What I understand is that, in certain solar systems or in certain galaxies or universes, the laws of karma do not even exist.
I am just assuming that it could be possible that people are naturally people, means the beings, are naturally in a very exalted state of being and consequently, there is no need for them to be governed by any laws. So, on one side we say universal laws of karma but I personally, feel that it could be misnomer.
It could possibly pertain to this solar system or a few solar systems within the milky way but to call it universal probably, may not be very accurate because every universe in the creation has got a very different set up altogether. That is my little understanding.
Alright, I just thought I would address just one question today. There are many more questions that I need to address. We will take them after we complete the Karma book and then, we move on to another topic. So, we were reading about the Karma and the Varna-Dharma.
We had a lot of discussion on that but still the topic seems to be incomplete. So, let us focus on completing this topic today. Let us just continue from whee we left!
Karma and Varna-Dharma
Moreover, Varna is what you have acquired and not what you have inherited at birth.
For example, if you are in politics, then regardless of your Varna at birth, you are bound by the Kshatriya-Dharma of taking care of the people’s well-being by sacrificing your own needs.
So, a Kshatriya is the one who has got no interest in the self. The real Kshatriyas are the ones who protect dharma, who protect the people. So, that was actually the kind of great warriors we had in the ancient times.
Great kings, for example Lord Rama. Regardless of what he was experiencing, his focus was on protecting the interest of the people. And that is why even today, we use the word Ram Rajya, which is considered to the kind of a paradise on the planet.
So, when Ram was ruling, the people experienced a kind of a paradise scenario. Rajya means kingdom. So, the kingdom of Rama was considered to be such an exulted level of living and that is why, even today, he is remembered.
So, in the ancient times, the warriors, the kings were actually interested in the well being of the people more than himself or herself. Queens and Kings, both were ruling at some point in time. Even in the recent time, if you had actually seen India during its pre-independence time, we had some of the greatest Queens ruling certain kingdoms.
One such great Queen was Jhansi ki Rani. Jhansi is the name of the place in India and Rani is the queen. And if you look into her history, her life, all her life was focused on protecting the people’s interest. She had sacrificed everything till her last breath just to protect the people, just to protect the integrity of the nation.
So, there were many such great kings and queens whose life is something extraordinary and exemplary. Their focus was on protecting dharma, protecting the people. So, here, we are referring to that. If you are into politics, then regardless of your varna at birth, you are bound by the Kshatriya dharma of taking care of people’s wellbeing by sacrificing your own needs.
Well, it is not the case today because times have changed and it is also, basically a part of the divine plan but that is exactly how Kshatriyas were. The episode in the Mahabharata about Yudhisthira’s firm, unshakable commitment to uphold Dharma is a classic example of this.
So, again, we are referring to the scripture Mahabharata, the great Epic. There, we had the main character, the eldest among the Pandavas, we call it Yudhisthira. “Yudh” means battle and “sthira” means stable. So, the one who remains stable in the battle is given the title Yudhisthira. We had mentioned about it several times.
I am very fond of this word because I keep reminding myself that I am the Yudhisthira. That gives me some extra power at times when I’m confronted with mighty challenges.
The episode in the Mahabharata about Yudhisthira’s firm, unshakable commitment to uphold dharma is a classic example of this:
After crowning Prince Parikshit as king, the Pandavas renounced all material comforts and left Hastinapur towards Mandara, the mountain whose peak touches Swarga or heaven.
So, here we have to remember that we are referring to many dimensions in some of the great epics. It is not strictly to be translated as only the physical dimension. There are other great dimensions that were very closely connected with the physical planet which people were in tune with.
So, when we are referring to these phrases, they are not just a mythological statement. They are perhaps very very true and correct because what you are seeing in the world of energy is very different from what you see with the physical eyes. We will read the story.
After crowning Prince Parikshit as king, the Pandavas renounced all material comforts and left Hastinapur towards Mandara, the mountain whose peak touches Swarga or heaven.
So, King Parikshit, as per what I understand, was the grandson of the great warrior Arjuna. Arjuna happens to be one of the five brothers of the Pandavas. So, Yudhisthir was the eldest one and Arjuna was the great archer. The Pandavas renounced all material comforts and left Hastinapur towards Mandara, the mountain whose peak touches Swarga or heaven.
On the way, Yudhisthira lost his wife and all his brothers but was still determined to continue his journey. Finally, on reaching the gates of heaven, he realized a dog was behind him which apparently had followed him all the way. The Devas welcomed Yudhisthira but asked him to enter alone as they would not allow a dog inside the heaven.
Firm in his resolve, Yudhisthira declined entry and said, “It is better to uphold Dharma than gaining Swarga.” At this, the dog transformed into a great being, and it was Yama, the Lord of Justice. “You have passed the final test of devotion to duty,” the Lord of Justice said, “and for this, you shall enter Swarga with your mortal body.”
So, in my understanding, Yudhisthira was one among the very few, who was allowed inside the Paradise with the mortal body. Of course, the mortal body was highly purified, another subject that we have to take some other time.
Further reading, Secrets of Karma, Page 142 – 143