Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study - Secrets of Karma
We will continue with our study from the book Secrets of Karma. We studied about the three important laws, Law of Harvest, Law of Lag Time and Law of Multiplier effect. Very importantly, we mentioned about when the karmic effects are realized.
So, karmic effects are realised when the conditions are conducive; means that when it is useful for you to reap whatever that you have sown. So, untimely, if a negative karma is maturing, you will not be in a position to learn the lesson. So, just for you to realize what you need to do and what you need to learn, there is a lag time.
That is what we mean by the divine timing or a time that is conducive for the karma to materialize. We shall now proceed to the first law:
Law of Harvest
There is a very beautiful quotation from Lord Krishna here:
Just as a farmer plants a certain kind of seeds and gets a certain crop so it is with good and bad deeds.
Lord Krishna
So, all the great masters and teachers have been talking about the laws of karma in their own way but there is a universal truth that we inevitably reap what we sow, which is under the law of harvest. That is exactly what has been said in the Holy Koran:
Thou shall receive requital and reward in just return for whatsover thou does.
Holy Koran
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Holy Bible
So long as evil action does not mature karmically, the fool thinks his action to be as sweet as honey but when matures, the fool experiences untold misery.
Dhammapada, the teachings of Buddha
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Confucius
So, regardless of the religions or the teachings of the masters, there is a universal truth that we inevitably reap what we sow. So, let us move on:
As you sow, so you reap
This is the first point under the Law of Harvest.
Just as when you sow a mango seed, you reap mangoes and when you plant a cactus, you can only reap cactus, you reap what you sow through your actions.
The Golden Rule is: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. If you want joy, give joy to others. If you want peace, create peace for others. If you want love, give love to others.
These are very simple instructions but it has got a very profound implication. If you check very carefully, many at times, we give so much of pain to people, either mentally, verbally but in return, we want them to give us lots of care, attention, love. Observe your own life.
How many times you are causing harm even to people who are very close to you with your thoughts, with your speech, maybe not in action, but you expect the person to be very caring, very loving to you and reciprocate all the goodness. How is it possible?
The same thing happens when you repeatedly keep facing people who are unkind or people who are very selfish. Perhaps they are actually acting like a mirror of what we are truly and that is the reason why, you need to be so careful about what is going out of you, moment to moment.
Most importantly, at the mental level. Check your thoughts. If someone is actually giving you pain, instantly you have got so much of negative thinking towards that person. You are shooting missiles, you are shooting arrows and now you expect that person to become better. It is not possible.
If somebody is giving you pain, obviously, as we said earlier, we reap what we sow; that in the past, harm has been caused to that person. Otherwise, it is impossible for you to reap anything that you did not sow, not possible at all.
Given that you are simply reaping whatever that you had sown, and therefore, rather than adding more to what you have to pay, you better learn to neutralize the karma by blessing the person, by blessing the situations.
It is not easy but this is the truth that until and unless you learn not to react and you learn to bless people and situations unconditionally, do not expect people or situation to transform. So, rather than confounding the problem, you learn to be wise and learn to give that which you want in return.
That is why the golden rule simply says, Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, very simple and straight forward instruction. We are continuing with the Law of Harvest.
He who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly. He who sows abundantly, shall also reap abundantly.
Saint Paul
That means if you want to reap grand level of good karma, you should first of all be willing to sow the seeds in larger quantity. You cannot expect to sow one seed of wheat or one grain of rice and expect to harvest acres of rice and weed. In proportion to what you expect to reap, you have to be willing to sow.
That means repeated kindness, repeated good benevolent thoughts towards others. Keep on sowing something good benevolent all the time. It will have a cumulative effect over a period of time.
Little by little, all the goodness, all the benevolent feelings and thoughts that you are having towards people will accrue and when the time comes, it will automatically harvest into a bountiful crop. That is what you need to remember. Let’s carry on.
If you want good fortune, share your wealth and help people in need. One grain of wheat produces over a hundred grains. So, if you want to harvest in abundance, what you need to do? You must sow in abundance.
The Golden Rule also states: Do not do unto others what you would not want do unto you. If you do not want to get cheated, do not cheat others. If you do not want others to steal your wealth, do not steal the wealth of others, including ideas and intellectual property. Do not steal the reward given to others.
Many at times, people commit this mistake. For instance, somebody has worked so hard and you simply take the credit by putting your name into that hard work of somebody else. This is actually stealing the reward. So, when time comes, this will mature as great deceit.
Often, we come across research scholars whose research paper, at a very crucial time, has been stolen by somebody else and been published. Sometimes, people go to the extent of even committing suicide because the pain is so enormous. But what we need to realize is that, when these kinds of things are happening, it is an indication that what has happened in the past.
Of course, what we are discussing has got many levels of truth; it cannot be a linear understanding. But just to basically simplify the idea, I am trying to make you understand that you have to be so careful in what you are doing to others, moment to moment. So, stealing the reward given to others is also an act of stealing.
Do not use others literary or artwork without due credit.
Very unfortunately, I happened to see somebody posting on Instagram about one of the quotations of Grand Master. I told the person, “Hey listen, this has been said by a very great person, a very great master. You have to give credit for that,” and that person told me amazingly, “Oh no, that person also should have taken it from somebody else!”
Now, this level of ignorance and adamancy to prove what you are doing is correct is not going to be helpful. So, these are all different ways by which we keep on digging our own grave, not knowing that the laws of nature are absolutely precise.
Nothing might happen immediately but you will definitely see people reaping what they are sowing over a prolonged period of time. No one is beyond the law. This is very important to understand. Do not use others literary or artwork without due credit. Do not even underpay for services provided to you.
Many at time, we have a tendency to bargain even with poor people, even with vegetable vendors. I have seen people doing this. We don’t mind buying very costly costumes or any other gadgets but with a small vegetable vendor or a fruit vendor, or a vendor on the street, we go a long way to bargain.
When I was basically standing in karma expositions and I was once standing at the counter for the karma books where we displayed, there was a lady, she was actually bargaining to buy the book. Just one book, she wanted basically 30% discount. What can be done?
We have a tendency to bargain for everything in life and when people start bargaining with us, we don’t feel so good about it. Life will bargain with you if you have the habit of bargaining for everything, in every situation. I am not saying to throw away the money.
There are times when you have to give the right price for a commodity but do not stretch it to unlimited activities. Learn to cultivate compassion. So, when it comes to the point of giving the dues to somebody, pay on time, do not delay any of your payment. This is the most important instruction. There is a saying that, “Even before the sweat of the labourer dries, pay them the money, do not delay. Paseena sookhne ke pehle, jo unko dena hai, turant dedo.”
This is basically the instruction from the great masters. And when you pay, maybe you can pay 1%, 2%, 10% extra, but never ever underpay. This is not a very useful good karma for you. Besides,
Do not covet someone else’s spouse. It is an emotional stealing that will bring much pain later.
Perhaps, you are not basically coveting somebody but sometimes we have a tendency to emotionally steal the love of other person or attention of people. We do not need anyone’s attention other than the attention of God.
If you are on the path of truth, God’s love, God’s compassion and God’s mighty hand will always be on you. You do not have to worry about it. So, when you are doing things, do not try to steal the attention of others, do not try to steal the emotion, the love of other people. This is also not very useful.
Debts to pay have to be paid.
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Law of Harvest, Page 14
