New karma vs resisting the fruits of past karma

[Guest guest]



Namaste,

 

 

> It is perfectly OK if you reply on the forum,

 

> I have had conflicts of thought on the concept of brahmacharya

> in house-holders. Especially when one of the spouses is

> inclined to brahmacharya and the other is equally opposite.

 

This is the dilemma faced by a lot of householders. You asked specifically about one area of life. I will actually generalize the question a bit and answer it.

 

Suppose you want to engage in what you perceive as a good action and someone is throwing obstacles. Should you fight and try to engage in the action at any cost or accept the obstacle as a fruit of previous karma and move on? This is a very tricky question. Let me give my 2 cents on it.

 

* * *

 

 

It is true that one has to engage in the right actions. However, it is also true that the reactions to previous actions are received constantly and they create various easy and difficult circumstances for current actions. In other words, all our actions take place in the backdrop of encouraging or discouraging circumstances created by nature as a reaction to our previous actions.

 

If somebody is throwing obstacles at you, giving you trouble and stopping you from engaging in what you consider as the right action, it is obviously a payback for previous actions. Of course, if the person being used as a medium for this payback by the nature identifies with that action (of throwing an obstacle at you), it becomes new karma for that person and that person will have to pay for it later. But that is *that person's* problem and not yours. As far as you are concerned, nature is finding a medium (other person creating problems) and paying you back for your past actions via that medium. You should not waste time and emotional energy in thoughts like "why is this happening" or "I wish this did not happen".

 

One cannot be stuck in the past and should live in the present. The only question one should always focus on is: what is the correct action *now*? Past actions are over. Their fruits are not in our hands. There is no point in thinking about them. We should only think about what to do *now*.

 

* * *

 

Acceptance of the fruits of previous actions is a must for progress. However, accepting the fruit of a previous action does not mean not fighting it. If the correct action *now* is to fight, one should fight. But, even as one fights, one should not be thinking "why did this happen" or "I hate this" or "why is he doing this to me" or "why did I do that before" etc. Emotional investment in such thoughts is a waste of time and energy and, more importantly, an unnecessary new karma!! Accept that a karma has been committed and a fruit (tasty or rotten) has been given by the nature. Accept it. The only question is: what is the right course of action now? Focus on that consciously.

 

Suppose you are driving on a one lane road and someone is going very slowly in front of you. You slowed someone down in the past and caused inconvenience. For that karma, nature used a new person as the medium and paid you back. Now, a lot of people become frustrated and start cursing the person in front of them. That is useless and new karma. That amounts to not accepting the fruit of a previous karma. Instead, think of what to do. Can you take a different turn and change the route? Is it worthwhile? If not, is there an area where you can safely and legally overtake the slow car by driving on the other side of the road momentarily? Think along the lines of current action and pick the best possible action. If even the best possible action is not good enough, well, so be it. Nothing can be done about it.

 

 

Thus, I am differentiating between not accepting the fruits of previous actions and picking correct current actions to overcome the trouble caused by the fruits of previous actions. The former is bad and avoidable. The latter is fine.

 

If you are always focussed on the "present" and "current action", without the unnecessary emotional baggage of "why" and "why not" about the past, you minimize emotional suffering and energy dispersion and maximize your efficiency. Thus, this approach makes sense not only spiritually but practically too.

 

* * *

 

While that is good, that is not all. Even one behaving like that will incur new karmas. Each current action becomes new karma and gives fruits later. In fact, each action has various repercussions and enables various other people to engage in various other actions. A part of all those actions enabled by one's action comes to the doer of the original action. Thus, each new action generates several new karmas. This will result in fruits later on, which may encourage or discourage one's future actions.

 

How do we get out of this cycle? Well, by performing the action without a sense of ownership. However, the fact that we are engaging in an action means there is an expected result. We are performing an action because we ideally want a particular result and our judgment says that this action will bring that result. When we want a result and do an action, how can we let go the sense of ownership over it?

 

It is mighty tough. That is why I suggest an intermediate step. When planning an action, think of a goal and plan the action. But, once the action is done, you can forget about the goal as well as the action. When an action finishes, surrender ownership over it to the Lord. Think that you are now not the owner of the action or its goal or its fruit. It belongs to Lord. Don't waste any further time thinking and analyzing the task. "Oops, I should have done like that", "Why couldn't I do it right", "Will it work? Will I get it?" etc are useless thoughts. Once the action is over, there is really nothing you need to do. You should surrender it to the Lord and move on (to focus on the next action).

 

* * *

 

I am not giving a specific solution to a specific problem here, but outlining the methodology.

 

Going back to your example, suppose your current desired good action is brahmacharya. Suppose the obstacle is that your spouse forces you to have sex. This is a fruit of your previous actions. There is no reason to hate him or dislike him or harbor ill-feelings for him. That amounts to not accepting the fruits of your actions. That does not pertain to the question "what should be the current action". That is more like "why I hate the fruit of my previous action". That is a useless activity.

 

Instead see if there is something that can be done. By discussing or even fighting (it is possible to fight without hatred or anger in the heart. Anger and hatred in the heart is non-acceptance of the fruit of previous actions, while the act of fighting or appearing to fight can merely be the best current action!), do you have a decent chance of convincing? If you think you do, that may be the correct current action to undertake. If not, don't waste time. If you have to anyway go through with something, you just go through with it. When the correct action you want is impossible, you perform whatever action is the best among feasible actions.

 

Anyway, whichever action you perform - good or bad, you surrender it to Lord in the end! So, it matters only for a short while. After that, the action is not yours anyway. If it is an action you are performing without interest, you can try to surrender the action to the Lord even as the action is being performed and try to do it without attachment and involvement. Of course, the same can done with actions you like also, but it is more difficult.

 

Whether good or bad, if an action is surrendered to the Lord, we form a distance from it. We do not think too much about it and we do not waste time speculating about what result will come etc.

 

* * *

 

Bottomline: Two thumb rules: (1) Focus on current action and always ask "what is the *best* thing I can do in the *current* circumstances? (2) After doing what you decided do, surrender the owenership over that action, its goals and its fruits to God. Do NOT think about that action or its goals or its fruits after that. Think about something else (like "what should I do NOW").

 

* * *

 

Actually what I wanted to write is not over, but my budget of time is over. So I have to stop for tonight. I have been busy at work and working late hours everyday and coming home quite late, for the last 2.5 weeks. I was also working full days in the last 2 weekends. I have been sleeping very little and today I want to get a little extra sleep.

 

What I mentioned is karma yoga in a nut shell (not the above about work and sleep ;-) but the stuff before it). Bhagavad Geeta is a great text. Swami Vivekananda's book on Karma Yoga is a good one.

 

Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

 

Hare Rama Krsna

 

Sri Narasimha garu,

Namaskar.

Pardon me for writing to your mail id.

I have had conflicts of thought on the concept of brahmacharya in house-holders.

Especially when one of the spouses is inclined to brahmacharya and the other is equally opposite. When the children are grown enough to 'flow the nest', a western derivative and the primary objective of raising children is over and done with, indulgence( over??) soemtimes provokes these thoughts. Especially when I read mails like these. This has been my personal dilemma. To be or not to be, that is the question...

I would be frank here, my spouse 'enjoys' the physical aspect of marital bliss and though I feel it affects the marriage, I prefer to delegate it to the last of my list. This has been a source of arguments and conflicts and I sometimes feel if it is my 'duty' to be a part of it. It is at times like these that I tend to 'surrender' to The Divine Mother, the very physical act. I am riddled with doubts if it is alright to do so but take solace that She is the Akhilandakoti Brahmandanayika who is overseeing the whole world.

 

I also feel very closely aligned to the Mother and constantly 'talk' to her for reassurance etc and she has never failed to guide me through, albeit through subtle cryptic messages which I cannot share with my spouse but with my siblings and mother who are all very spiritually inclined.

In my recent visit to India, I had an onerous task of ... It was accomplished single-handedly( unseen Grace) and ... I feel that the purpose of my birth is not just 'living' but transform this diseased body into a 'vessel of Godhead' as She had herself communicated to my question on one of my birthdays. But i feel that I have not been doing anything about the cleansing the 'sareeras' to make it fit for the Divine to manifest in each of the cells of my body. I have just started to chant Vishnusahasranamam each week at my friends' houses which also does not seem to give that ananda that I derive just bringing one of Her names to my mind and her picture which makes it impossible for me to continue with ther sahasranamam.

 

May I have your thoughts on these?

It is perfectly OK is you reply on the forum,

 

Kind Regards,

<deleted>