Here is a summary of the Karma session

Karma is simply Action! Karma is of 3 forms:

1. Sanchita karma – Latent Action in the seed form
2. Prarabdha karma – is the sprouting of the seed and becoming a tree.
3. Agami karma – This tree leaves another seed which can again sprout in future.

So Karma simply means the strongest impression in the mind, the action it has propelled and the impact impression that the action is going to leave on the mind. This whole universe is full of Karma.

What can erase the Karma is Total Awareness and Total Knowledge and Divine Love. Karma can be diminished by Meditation and being in Knowledge consistently. But there are 5 aspects of Sanchita that we cannot erase. They are Birth, Education, Source of wealth, Longevity and Mode of death.

When we say we want to get rid of karma, it means we want to get rid of the impressions. You usually want to get rid of the bad impressions that are there in the mind. But the attachment to positive impressions also has to be gotten rid of. That is Nirvana. When we attach ourselves to the positive impressions then we limit our existence. For e.g. when you think you are too good you always find some one else not so good or bad. That immediately creates a negative impression.
And this whole universe is full of impressions. The skill is to live in all these impressions and not be affected by it. Lord Krishna says move from ‘Karma to Akarma’. This does not mean stopping action! It is doing action yet being a witness to it.

Now why should we work on ‘moving from Karma to Akarma’? Because when the body dies, the mind which is a ball of energy detaches itself from the body. This mind carries with it all the impressions that we have collected and the last thought before death is the most prominent impression in the mind which determines your next birth. If at the last moment of your life you are happy then you get a better body next time. Like this the cycle of birth and death continues until all Karma bank (impressions) are exhausted. So in order to get out of the birth-death cycle, the only way is to erase the past Karma and live spontaneously without creating new karma.

In Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna says, “Gahana Karmanogati” – Unfathomable are the ways of karma. You can never pin point which karma is the cause or effect of something happening in your life. For e.g. in a field you have thrown the seeds of groundnuts, sunflower, mango, they will all sprout at different times though you have sown them all together. Mango will take several years to sprout. Groundnuts will give in a couple of months. Sunflower will sprout in weeks. Different seeds will sprout at diff times. Different karma start functioning/acting at different times.

Homework:

1. Work on Sanchita – Do your meditation and knowledge reading every single day to wipe out the past garbage and the daily garbage of impressions collected.
2. Prarabdha is what you are already experiencing. Just smile and be with it. Smile and let life pass by. Stop holding on to the passing clouds with your attachments, anger, jealousy, hatred, resistance, expectations, feverishness, desires, etc.
3. Working on Agami – Lets start observing our thoughts and start acting spontaneously. Work on detaching yourself from the attachments in life that create new karma.

Question:

During the refresher course a few months ago you had mentioned that Agami karma becomes Sanchita Karma and this cycle continues. Could you please explain that again?

Answer:

Sanchita Karma – is a collection of latent impressions of past actions / they are like seeds. Your thirst for spiritual knowledge is your Sanchita Karma that has resulted in your coming to the Karma session.

Prarabdha Karma – is listening to this knowledge, applying it, asking questions, etc. In the process, there are some things you absorb and they become established knowledge within you but some could just remain as concepts.

Agami Karma – These concepts and established knowledge are seeds for future Karma. Now understand that this Agami karma is finally a seed and someday it has the potentiality to sprout. And the day it sprouts, the same seeds of knowledge and concepts become Sanchita Karma.

So essentially, today’s Agami becomes tomorrow’s Sanchita Karma.

Funny example – Tom the Cat and Jerry the Mouse

• Sanchita – Tom had insulted Jerry some time ago. So Tom had sown the seeds of Jerry’s future attack already. These seeds are Sanchita Karma for Tom.
• Prarabdha – Jerry bombards Tom with explosives on Today. Tom must go through his Prarabdha karma, no option, he started it and now he has to pay for it. If Tom decides to take the high road and let it go, it will all be peace after that. But if he gets angry again and burns down Jerry’s little mouse hole. Then Tom has sown the seeds of Agami Karma.
• Agami – Jerry takes revenge by burning down Tom’s tail…. And the story can go on continuing unless somebody decides to stop the PASSING THE KARMA boomerang!

Please find attached the Karma discussion video link for our Sunday’s Karma session – https://www.youtube.com/EktaOnKarma