Karma -

Hi Folks - !

How's life?!

I had gonet off on a 20-day Vipassana course to Igatpuri and just came back.

I had no time to update the blog before going and I did not want to write a patchy post.

This space is sacred to me!

Now if you don't yet know what Vipassana is, there are 2 posts on it and 1 on Metta Bhavana on this blog.

Please do read!

However, let me tell you here in brief -

The word Vipassana means to see in a special way.

The Buddha realized that the root cause of all the misery was inside the mind.

So he meditated and re-discovered this technique where you learn to experience how misery is formed, and how to eradicate it forever.

That's it.

No fancy frills and wordplay, no magic nor benevolence.

You emerge as calm and equanimous and serene as the effort you have put in.

The regular courses are of 10 days.

Then you practice for longer and longer duration, going in deeper and deeper to the habit-patterns which govern us and play us like a puppet.

It is a great technique of meditation and I recommend and request everyone to gift themselves 10 days of it to empower themselves and live in peace and harmony.

After this course, I am feeling grounded, calm, on top of the world - all at the same time!

There have been a few interesting queries and let us take them one by one-

1. Do we get rewarded for our good karma in this life time?

Yes, we do! Definitely!

Each action is preceded by a thought, and it is the thought which sows the seed.

Some times, it may seem that something we have worked hard for, sacrificed for, is taking a long time coming to fruition.

But along with the expected result, may be there is an intangible but important lesson of patience which we are learning too.

Whatever is happening to us, is the result of a seed in the past.

It may be of this life or an earlier one/s.

The important things to note are 2-

Each seed produces only that which it contains.

So the time to be careful is when you are sowing it.

Which is with every thought - and so, every moment.

No amount of praying, cajoling, fear or threat is going to change a seed's composition once it takes root.

So instead of time/energy/money-wasting rituals and living in constant fear, learn to be aware of how the mind works and control it.

It is definitely easier, if you learn and practice Vipassana.

2.Can I erase the bad karma of my past birth?

This is a beautiful question.

We are made to believe that we can do nothing but suffer the consequences of our past actions which we may now know nothing about.

How does one even know whether one has actually done anything so bad that life is so horrible as a result?

Past Life Regression takes you to that particular situation when the seed was sown, whichever the lifetime.

Let me illustrate with a few examples from my files -

A young man came with the problem of his boss having no faith in him where financial matters were concerned.

He was doing well in other aspects but this constant suspicion was hampering his growth in the office and his own self - esteem too.

He went into a PL when he and his boss were very close friends who used to take stuff to village bazaars to sell.

The boss, in that life-time, was a rich man's son.

On one such trip, our man had killed his sleeping friend, stolen the money and ran away.

He had not been found out in that lifetime, having been a childhood friend, but in this life, well - the' boss' knew intuitively!

In the resolution, when this man asked for his friend's forgiveness,in the beginning, he was extremely hurt and angry.

'Was gold more valuable to you than our friendship?' - he asked, but finally forgave and after a lot of crying, both went off as friends again.

When sincere apologies are given and forgiveness sought after experiencing and understanding what exactly was the cause, when such forgiveness is granted, karma gets erased.

The young man's relation with his boss improved along with the added lesson of what to value in life.

And the boss still has no idea why he distrusted before and is friendlier and more trusting now!

Similarly, a lady was fed up of her drunk and abusive husband who womanised and spent millions on a married lady and her 2 children providing nothing for his own.

She said she just wanted to know the reason, there was no hope of reconciliation and she did not want one.

She saw herself as a rich and stingy mill-owner who did not pay his workers at all.

Her husband had been one such worker with a wife and 2 children who were starving.

He went to ask for his legitimate earning but she kicked him out.

The wife and children committed suicide out of hunger and eventually this man went insane and died a painful death.

In this lifetime, her husband was caring for that lady and her children who were his own in the previous one.

She sought forgiveness from all during the session and is now at peace.

She is aware that though very 'spiritual' now, one could have been nasty in an earlier incarnation so it is better not to inflate one's ego - !

So think about your life, your fears and blocks and procrastinations and jealousies.

They hamper your progress.

Take a session of Past Life Regression to understand your life's purpose.

Learn and practice Vipassana.

Bye for now -