Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Atma namaste. Welcome to the session for study and Great Invocation. How are you all doing today? Super happy, super healthy, super strong, yes! Even if not feeling super happy, super healthy, you should keep affirming, “I am super happy! I am super healthy! I am super strong! Yes!”
And sometimes, if you find your finances are low, keep affirming, “I am super rich! I am super successful! I will make it!” Take advantage of the power of affirmations. What you repeatedly think and say, manifest! This is very important.
All right, in the morning, we had a short study before the Great Invocation and we mentioned about the principle of synchronicity, how everything that you come across has a message for you. So, we took the example of one of the great Saint, by name Dattatreya.
He is considered to be the incarnation of Shiva. Some say he is the incarnation of Vishnu, some say he is the incarnation of Brahma. So, conveniently he is portrayed with three heads as the incarnation of all the three of them. That is wonderful! He has many Gurus who are not humans.
So, the scriptures talk about 24 Gurus of Dattatreya. For example, he has the earth, the water, the air, the fire and the sky as his Gurus, the five elements. So, let us see what he learnt from his five Gurus. We are not going to read the entire 24 Gurus. You can always browse on the internet to know the remainder of the gurus of Dattatreya.
He says, “I learnt patience and doing good to others from the Earth, for it endures every injury man commits on its surface and yet, does good by producing crops, trees and so on.” Then from the water, he says, “I learnt the quality of purity.” Just as pure water cleanses others, so also, the sage who is pure and free from selfishness, lust, ego, anger and greed and therefore, he purifies anyone who comes in contact with him.
That is from the water. From the air, he says, “Air, though moving everywhere, never gets attached to anything! So, I have learnt from the air to be without attachment, though I move with many people in this world.” Wow! What a beautiful inspiration from air! We don’t even think about the air, though we are surrounded with air and we experience it all the time.
How beautiful! That’s the greatness of the Saints. Now, from the fire, just as fire burns bright, so also, the sage should be glowing with the splendor of his knowledge and Tapas. Tapas is intense penance and then, from the air, he says the air, the stars and the clouds etc, are all contained in the sky but the sky does not come in contact with any of them.
“I have learnt from the sky that the Atma or the soul is all pervading and yet, it has no contact with any object.” That means, it is all the time in a state of perfect detachment. So beautiful, amazing really! So, for the remaining of the Gurus, you can certainly browse on the net. I’m sure you will do it. So, keep getting inspired with the people around, even though they are troublemakers.
They are really wonders. Sometimes, you really think about how wonderful they are. They are teaching you constantly patience, tolerance, acceptance, practicing unconditional love, helping you to neutralize many of your past karmas, helping you to evolve spiritually.
Isn’t it a wonder that you are surrounded with many troublemakers? The problem is with us! When the universe conspires to help you to learn rapidly through many situations and people, we simply focus on the people or the situation and drop the essence of their existence in our life.
Please think about it! Alright, let us continue with our study from the Secrets of Karma. We were talking about “Looking at the whole picture!” So, we took the example of the story of the elephant and the five blind men. Let’s continue.
To live well in the present, you must look at the past that has brought you to your present, and plant ‘good seeds’ to harvest the kind of future you wish to have. Therefore, be willing to learn the lessons of the past, check and change your present actions and create a strong base to build a grand future.
Never ever get annoyed with anything that is happening in the present. The present is simply a reflection of our past. You don’t want to brood in the past.
One of the wonderful formula for failure is, keep thinking about the past and be struck with that. If you want to be successful, let go of the past. Also, let go of the concerns of the future, live in the present. So, your present is the most precious moment that the Universe has offered you.
However, to understand your present properly, sometimes we need to understand what is the cause that has brought me to this present. Only in that aspect, we do the contemplation of the causes but not to brood on the causes endlessly. Living in the present is very important.
So, understanding well that whatever that I am experiencing is a result of something that I have sown in the past and therefore, the nature wants me to take 100% responsibility and accountability for your life.
We are not going to point fingers at anybody and moreover, remember, the people whom you are pointing are actually your teachers in disguise. Recognize that! Without them, you would not be where you are.
What would have taken 5, 6, 10 lifetimes, maybe more, you are learning it in one lifetime because of these people. Be so grateful to these teachers in disguise! Same with situations. Situations keep on teaching you. Conditions of life keep on teaching you. So, lessons are contained in people, in situations and conditions.
When a situation is challenging and compels you to get angry, you may take a moment to reflect on the cause of that crisis. “What could be the root cause of this issue? Is there a lesson to be learnt? Are there hidden blessings?” No situation is devoid of blessings. “Sabhi mein kalyan hi bhara hua hai!” In everything, there is only goodness. This is the truth!
So, that is why, yesterday, we were reading the very beautiful, marvelous quotation of Saint Iamblichus, “The powers that are superior to us know the whole life of the soul and all its former lives and therefore, it knows that everything happens with a perfect reason and for the benevolent aspect of the soul.”
“Are there hidden blessings? Do I need to transform my ways and act differently?” If you are going to give the same input all the time, for example, reacting in the same way over and over again, the inputs are the same and the outputs cannot be different. You cannot keep repeating the same thing over and over again and expect life to be better.
How is it possible? In the computer jargon, we say GIGO, Garbage In, Garbage Out! Very simple and straightforward. So, if you do not change the inputs, the outputs cannot change. Is it clear?
“Is that a signal for me to change the course of my life and move in another direction?” This is seeing the whole picture. You will then, be able to transform any condition and bring positive changes in your life and in the lives of people.
There is another beautiful story. Even though you might have listened to it before many at times, repeated reminders help you to switch on to another level of understanding. Most of the time, we try to understand things intellectually which is also important, but what is important is also experientially.
That means, you have to connect activities that are happening around you with yourself and with your life. One of the most important treasures in all the Universe is experience. The moment you are able to understand that whatever that you had gone through has a definite purpose and you cash on those experiences, you are the wealthiest man in all the existence.
The biggest treasures of the Universe are the knowledge or the wisdom and experience. If your life was filled with so many difficult challenges, recall those challenges quickly and just check how did you come out of those challenges? What kind of tactics that you applied but if you had repeatedly experienced the same challenge?
Check what kind of inputs were there and what kind of inputs have to be changed. That is what we say, check and change! Let’s listen to the story. This is a real story.
Once a trainer of wild animals was badly bitten by his pet lion. Fortunately, he survived. But he could not accept what the lion did to him because the beast was attached to him from the time it was a cub. Later, he came to know that the lion had a bad tooth and this was the way it could express the pain!
People also have the problem of a bad tooth.
So, when people are biting, not literally, when people are making your life very difficult, try to understand, they are in deep pain. The only way they can express their pain is by expressing it on people close to them. They will keep expressing their frustrations in absolutely unjustifiable ways.
You have to understand what is happening. You remember, I was actually mentioning about my own mentor calling me almost late at night and abusing me with a wholly of very unpleasant words. I could sense the pain. That is a very classic example of people having a bad tooth. If you only look at the bad tooth, you will miss beautiful people in your life.
Today, when I am looking at this person, he’s an inspiration for me. I’m actually writing another book with him. The title of the book is “Life after death.” So, both of us are actually partnering to complete this book. An amazing insight. If I had done the mistake of abusing him in return, I would have lost the advantage of having known a great Saint.
Of course, even today, I cannot say that his views of life and my views of life are the same. No, both of us are coming from a different background, different race as we call it. It cannot be the same.
But however, there are so many beautiful things about people in our life which we tend to ignore and we are focused only on the faults and weaknesses of the people. If there are many people in your life who are causing you repeatedly pain, maybe the problem is with you.
You are not seeing the hidden blessings in that person, the goodness of the person and because of your tendencies to over and over again look into the faults of that person, you are making that person even more worse, miserable. This is a bad karma.
Remember the Bhramari misal, “Bhoom Bhoom!” All the time, keep spreading the vibrations of hope, faith, goodness and benevolence. That is the job of a spiritual aspirant. All the time, the problem is with us, if not all the time, at least most of the time. Recognize that!
The Universe will keep on putting you to challenges. As we mentioned before, you cannot go to the gym and then, say the weights are giving you pain. That is the purpose of the weights. It is there to build your muscles.
The same is with the people. The bigger the weights, the greater is the development. You cannot build up your spiritual muscles by sitting in a very cozy environment. Impossible! Be very grateful that life is putting you again and again amidst challenging situations.
That is why, sometimes back I said, a spiritual warrior has got no business outside the battlefield. That means, you have to embrace the battlefield cheerfully, get used to it. So, the Kurukshetra is the life itself. The battlefield is the life and you have to embrace it happily.
Do not run away from people. Do not run away from challenges. Even if you have to move away from people, do not leave them until you have learnt the lessons perfectly. Number 2. Leave only when you know that you have balanced or neutralized whatever residual that you have to do with that person or organization.
Never leave any relationship or an organization in hatred, in anger, in pain. That means, you have not learnt the lessons and you are already karmically bound for another episode of repeated activities. Think about it! Tomorrow we shall continue from this particular story.
Further reading, Secrets of Karma, Page 148 – 149