Letters on Karma

According to Yoga there are three types of Karma collectively known as Sanchita, Prarabdha & Agami.

Sanchita-karma is a residue produced by actions performed either in this life or in a previous one, which remain dormant during this life. Sanchita-karma is a potentiality of karmic seeds  and most beings* (see notes) don't experience the effect of it during the current incarnation.
Prarabdha-karma is indeed the residue of actions working itself out during the present life.
Agami-karma, ''yet-to-come'' is the result of actions performed during this present life which will mature in the normal course of events.

Just like with other Fundamental Laws no matter how much awareness we have of it, the Law of Karma - a current that ripples waters of the ocean - affects the surface of creation from within. It's not just action per se, but what, in its motivational force, fills the creature with desire for existence.

Notes: * The exceptions are those in whom the Latent Energy (Kundalini) has been awakened. When an awakening is powerful enough and the physiology is pure enough for a proper ascend of Consciousness  inside the (Sushumna) channel, the rising Energy will compress the karmic load expelling the latent tendencies along with latent sanchita-karma. That explains why many advanced meditators after awakening  have to endure more than what was otherwise ''written'' in their life-scenario.

(Extracts from the letters, Cote d'Azur, France, July, 2009)

The subject of Karma is vast and we would inevitably touch the other aspects of Vedic wisdom in order to expand the understanding of the concept. One of the disciplines closely related to the concept of Karma is the Vedic Astrology, known as Jyotish (Science of Light). According to that science trajectory of the soul is calculable just like any other heavenly body in the Cosmos.

In fact it provides an entirely new perspective on the notion of Karma, which is much more to do with the respective positioning of the Planets and their combined effect on the incarnation in question. The Science (Jyotish) itself was founded by the ancient Rishi Parashara who fathered that great son of Indian pantheon of Seers, the author of the 'Four Vedas', The Mahabharata and the Yoga Vashishtha.

Rishi Parashara did not just conceived his child randomly but made sure the seed was sawn at such precise time that it would assure the birth under the most auspicious planets with potency enough to create nothing less than a super-human. Surely enough his son was born a Veda Vyasa one of the most celebrated Rishis and most beloved author of the epics, the lore which was destined to influence an entire Orient.

The celestial trajectory of the soul is not a random traveling, it has an orbit so when the jyotish pandits build the birth-chart of a particular individual they can trace the past as well as foresee the future.

Some New Age authors have a tendency to portray Karma as something easily mendable, something one can navigate at will. As tempting as that sounds it is a far fetched view on the fundamental Law which sets everything in motion. According to Yoga, and as mentioned earlier, Karma consists of different degree of density. It has to be accepted and worked with by purifying the field of action itself, because Karma is not separate from Dharma. ''Purifying the field'' - meaning transcending action from the most fundamental level, from the level of thought.

Jai Guru Dev (Extracts from the letters, Cote d'Azur, France, August, 2009)

The triadic flow of Karma

Next to the notion of Yoga, Karma is probably the least understood concept that came out of India. The theory of Karma is accepted by most systems originated in the Subcontinent, yet there is no agreement on the way the notion is interpreted by various traditions associated with the systems of Indian Philosophy.

We are not going to focus here on the particularities between different doctrines, suffice to say there is a wide spectrum of interpretation. For instance Buddhism does not recognize identity, their doctrine of karma is based on the notion of dependent origination. In Veda the action is seen as the means to gain Self-realization, while according to Advaita Vedanta action is not the means to total freedom.

They all agree though in the main aspect: Karma (action) performed leaves potency behind powerful enough to produce future experiences of joy or sorrow according to its nature. 

The most elaborate explanations are given in Patanjali Sutra in that classical gloss by an ancient commenter Vyasa with its almost scientific pragmatism. The other in The Bhagavad Gita which defined action as one of the means to attain Liberation in one of its chapters entitled The Yoga of Action, Karma Yoga.

Going back to the triadic nature of karma it's important to understand that karma is not something rigid but in itself a subject to extremely complex fluctuation of the generic matrix which produced the flow of karma in the first place. We should immediately point out that in reality there is no in the first place for there is no beginning and no end to karma as such. That's why the Gita says: ''Unfathomable is the cause of action.''

Karma consists of three currents: fixed, mixed and flexible. 

~ The fixed portion of karma is the most gripping and it is formed of the countless factors accumulated by the sum total of all previous actions put together with mathematical precision. It determines or rather betrays the celestial trajectory of the soul on its evolutionary path. The moment of conception along with the moment of departure is recorded in the number of the breaths literally.

Speaking plainly, it is that portion of karma which is impossible to change just like it's impossible to reverse the river against its flow. Genetic setup, intellectual capacities, constitutional build, racial and ethnic background cannot be changed, just like the time and place of birth which forces an individual to share the collective consequences of a larger karmic influences. 

~ The mixed portion is formed of immediate energies produced by more recent actions infused with the latent tendencies of the previous kind. Because of that it is less gripping and allows a certain degree of cooperation with the overall karmic flow. The skillful swimmer will be able to go along with the current knowing where to apply the effort and where to let it go. 

The way the mixed portion of karma will affect an individual is to a large degree depends on the awareness available to witness one's own actions and reactions. That is, what is considered a bad luck for one is a good luck in disguise for another. The quality of our experiences are too a large degree influenced by the interpretation we assign to them, whence it is pointless to talk about the positive and negative in a larger scheme of events.

Generally speaking the mixed part of karma is where we feel the presence of the providence and ''good lack'' or as opposite to that the feeling of being haunted by the ''unfortunate'' circumstances.

~ The flexible, is that portion of karma were we are legitimate co-authors of life-scenario, we are born to act. It is that part which is constantly in motion, in a sense that it is constantly open to the field of all possibilities. It consists of countless patterns of thoughts with which we deal on a daily basis and which subtly influence the direction our life is taking even if by some invisible force. Yet it is the most valuable portion of karma and the least explored due to the latent tendencies of the previous (fixed and mixed) parts, and is only subjected to the conditioning of our psyche. 

Once freed the flexible part of karma can and does create wonders. Even if it does not allow the rewriting of an actual script, it has the potential to ease the flow by useless fighting with the main current of life and exchanging it with the newly found joy of being transported. 

To utilize the flexible part of karma is an art of living in itself. The mystery of our past and the secret of our future is hidden in the unfolding sequence of each and every moment, that what we call present. 

The greater is the experience of the moment - the greater is the impact we have on our life and every given instance. To do that skillfully one needs to implement the technique which allows that experience of the moment to its maximum. 

Jai Guru Dev

Noli me tangere...

 A child's hand  reaching to grasp a new object,  moved by  instinctive desire to hold the world in those  tiny fingers, to feel the thrill of a new sensation only the touch can reveal...

   

So is with the story, once pressed on the  mind,  forever leaves an  imprint  whose  shape  mothers  all  other stories in its womb, so simple  and  profound  in  its  essence  no  heart  is  left  untouched  by its narrative...

The story of Christ could be read as reversal of the original Vedic Creation Myth, where Prajapati (the Progenitor) in order for the Universe to come forth has to sacrifice Himself through an act of dismembering, so great is Creator's compassion that He willingly puts and end to His unity so that diversity can take place!

That act of an original Sacrifice has to be reconciled, over and over as time goes by, and God incarnate into the flesh as  Jesus in order to restore the unity again between the Spirit and the matter torn apart by the original descend. That's why  so  many  great  spiritual  masters  of  India  recognized  in  Jesus an Avatar  and often  referred to him as Love-incarnate. Some scholars  believe  that the historical  Jesus has spent, those missing  in the new testament  years, in Kashmir learning  at the feet of distinguished  masters  what would  become  later  known as Kashmir  Shaivism (a  fusion of an old Vedic  tradition with emerging  practices of Tantra).  

    

Small wander  many  Hindu  Saints recognized  in  Christ  a  Yogi   par  excellence  and  one of  the  greatest  Siddha ever to walk  the  earth. Leaving  arguments  for  the  scholars  and  theologians,  we'll come back  to the  story  itself,  the  story  which  never  fails  to  move the heart,  being  the  crossing  point,  the  heart  is  where  Christ  left  his  most  healing  touch.

Some of  the most precious moments in Christ' story were  the  encounters with the small circle of his disciples and the most  enigmatic of all with the woman, whom Christ saved from being stoned to death, known as Mary from Magdala. It is worth remembering that the bond of unconditional Love - which broke the bondage of Mary's soul from the constraints of the body - was a touch stone between Compassion of  Jesus and burning desire of Mary to become one with her Beloved. If Christ was greatest yogi than Mary Magdalen was destined to become a yogini of the western world as the foremost Christian Saint.

Noli me tangere - ''touch me not'', is a latin version of words spoken according to John, by Christ to Mary when she recognized him after his Resurrection. The original phrase was written in Greek and translates as ''cease clinging on to me''. What was behind  the line, when Christ appeared in front of Mary Magdalen, his most devoted disciple, making her move on an impulse to embrace the feet of her beloved Master, yet being restrained by him. Noli me tangere, the phrase has been a subject of many debates between the scholars and interpreters of Christianity. We'll give it a Tantric touch. 

According to Kashmir  Shaivism, the touch is considered to be the most important faculty of the senses,  which takes place at the onset of evolutionary  process, more importantly,  that process is being  repeated  over and over again at each and every instant of our  existence! The touch is not only limited to experience of the object of sense perception transmitted  through the air element and expressed  through the organ of cognition as hand. In fact for the possibility of any experience to happen, there must be a moment of the crossing  of two, the union produced by that sensation. Sound uniting  with ear, touch uniting  with  skin,  sight uniting  with  form, taste uniting  with tongue,  scent uniting  with the organ of smelling. 

Through all the activity touch is a culminating  factor in giving possibility of the  experience for the one who is going through it. For that reason Tantra  considers  all experiences  erotic in its  essence,  for in every  instant, on all the levels of creation, the original  act is  being  re-created in a mini replica  of Grand  Union as penetration of the Spirit into the World. The sense of touch is  located  at the Heart Center and transmitted through air element. It associated with the heart chakra, where hands serve as organs  of  cognition and the genitals  as organs  of action. The Heart  center  is  the seat of  prana  (vital  force),  as  well as  the seat of  all emotions. The holy  shrine of the body-temple and  Lord Himself dwells  in its  chamber,  in  the crossing  point  where  the  subject  meets  its  object... and  the experience set in motion.

     

It's as if the Lord  in response to the lover, who is  in the agony to embrace the  Beloved,  warns:  Do  not  touch  me !  If  you  wish  to  unite  with  Me,  you  have  to  go  beyond   the  realm  of  the  senses !  The message is simple, to embrace the Lord  and to be  touched by His Divine Grace,  Mary  Magdalen  has to withdraw  her  mind  from  the activity of the senses  if  she is to enjoy true union with the Beloved.