Maharaj on Destiny and Karma

[Guest guest]

From " I am That " I found some quotes on the concept of 'destiny'

and 'karma.' I'm sure one can find other quotes from Maharaj to

support a different view.

 

" Even destiny is but an idea. Word can be put together in so many

ways! Statements can differ, but do they make any change in the

actual? There are so many theories devised for explaining things--

all are plausible, none is true. " ...

 

" Questioner: The war is on. What is your attitude to it?

 

Maharaj: In some place or other, in some form or other, the war is

always on. Was there a time when there was no war? Some say it is the

will of God. Some say it is God's play. It is another way of saying

that wars are inevitable and nobody is responsible.

 

Q: But what is your attitude?

 

M: Why impose attitudes on me? I have no attitude to call my own.

 

Q: Surely somebody is responsible for this horrible and senseless

carnage. Why do people kill each other so readily?

 

M: Search for the culprit within. The ideas of 'me' and 'mine' are at

the root of all conflict. Be free of them and you will be out of

conflict.

 

Q: What of it that I am out of conflict? It will not affect the war.

If I am the cause of war, I am ready to be destroyed. Yet, it stands

to reason that the disappearance of a thousand like me will not stop

wars. They did not start with my birth nor will end with my death. I

am not responsible. Who is?

 

M: Strife and struggle are a part of existence. Why don't you inquire

who is responsible for existence?

 

Q: Why do you say that existence and conflict are inseparable? Can

there be no existence without strife? I need not fight other to be

myself.

 

M: You fight others all the time for your survival as a separate body-

mind, a particular name and form. To live you must destroy. From the

moment you were conceived you started a war with your environment - a

merciless war of mutual extermination, until death sets you free.

 

Q: My question remains unanswered. You are merely describing what I

know - life and it sorrows. But who is responsible, you do not say.

When I press you, you throw the blame on God, or karma, or on my own

greed and fear - which merely invites further questions. Give me the

final answer.

 

M: The final answer is this: nothing is. All is a momentary

appearance in the field of the universal consciousness; continuity as

name and form is a mental formation only, easy to dispel.

 

Q: I am asking about the immediate, the transitory, the appearance.

Here is a picture of a child killed by soldiers. It is a fact -

staring at you. You cannot deny it. Now, who is responsible for the

death of the child?

 

M: Nobody and everybody. The world is what it contains and each thing

affects all others. We all kill the child and we all die with it.

Every event has innumerable causes and produces numberless effects.

It is useless to keep accounts, nothing is traceable.

 

Q: Your people speak of karma and retribution.

 

M: It is merely a gross approximation; in reality we are all creators

and creatures of each other, causing and bearing each other's burden. "

 

**

 

My comments: I just love the expression " gross approximation. " We

construct models of reality to explain the world. Although Maharaj

was not the most educated guru in the Western sense of the word, in

his own brilliant way, he understands that any equation of reality

falls short of the matrix with countless dimensions. Maharaj does

not explain the nature things. He is always talking about one's true

identity by pointing to the I-am-ness, Consciousness, Beingness.

 

Hur