DID CHRIST REMOVE KARMA?

 

Healing is meant to bring about wholeness. Healing does not necessarily mean that if you are lame, your leg will grow again, and you will start walking. We call it healing, but it is just part of it. A person has cancer, and healing is done, and the cancer disappears. That is just a superficial, superfluous physical manifestation of a force that already exists, always there in everyone and everywhere. Real healing is finding the wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.

Did Christ take over their karma by doing these healings or bringing wholeness to a person? This is an impossibility. No one can take over anyone else’s karma. This principle is difficult to accept because we have been raised in a tradition where we have expected something for nothing. Why should any being no matter how evolved he might be, or the incarnation of Divinity take over your karma and not the karma of someone else? Man has not changed so much in history. People are the same today as they were two thousand years ago, two and a half thousand years ago when Buddha existed or five thousand years ago when Krishna existed. People today are still basically the same, and technological advancement is no criteria or measure of evolution whatsoever because people commit the same follies. People of today do the same things that they did ages ago.

THE SPIRITUAL FORCE MAKES THE REPAYMENT OF KARMA EASIER

A child writes an examination, and the teacher knows that the child has been doing very well throughout the year, but at the time of assessment, the child might have been nervous. People get these frightened feelings when writing an exam, and instead of getting a passing mark of fifty percent, he gets forty-eight. Knowing the child’s history throughout the year and learning the record, the teacher would award those two or three percent extra and push the child over to the following standard. That is possible. There is a little pushing but no taking away of karma.

We cannot judge a holy or righteous person because we can never understand his actions. His actions might seem so contradictory to us. But he knows what he is doing. He is a law into himself. But in the presence of such a person, there is a force that emanates. He does not do it consciously. It is an automatic emanation like heat from fire or fragrance from a flower. It is an automatic emanation, and by being near that person, that Force has some effect upon us, and the impact would be enlightening. It gives a lightness of Heart. It spurs one on to betterment, to better ourselves. That one little thing happens. But the proper removal of karma has to be done by oneself. But by being bathed by this Force, by this Grace that automatically emanates from this being, it helps us to smoothen our path. The karma is not taken away, but because of that spiritual Force, because of the attunement of mind to mind, Heart to Heart, it makes the repayment of karma easier.

KARMA IS GOOD ACTION AS WELL AS BAD ACTION

The word karma has always been very confused with bad action. Karma means action, and there is good and bad action, but a good action is enhanced more. The beautiful flower is there, but it is so well dressed up in the vase with the lovely leaves and looks gorgeous. The beauty of the flower is enhanced. So, in the company of a righteous, holy person, he might not need to be near because that Grace, that universal Force, is forever there, everywhere, although people are thousands of miles apart. But there has to be that attunement whereby we open the window to allow the fresh air to come in.

Good karma is enhanced by giving it more extraordinary beauty, and by giving it more excellent beauty, life can become more joyous. Every joy becomes more enhanced. It is like having a meal. The Missis might cook a lovely meal, but the feast will lose some value if the table is not nicely laid. So, dressing the table for that lovely dinner is very important. That is how good karma is enhanced. When it comes to bad karma, by this Force, we lose the sting of the reaction, for every action must react. Suitable action will have a good response, nasty action a lousy reaction. Still, we automatically repent by being aware of our wrong actions and tuning in to that grace. If I realise that I have done something wrong, that realisation is a form of repentance, and that repentance is strengthened by not performing that same action again.

GRACE CAN HELP US UNPATTERN OUR MINDS AND MAKE OUR KARMA EASIER

Of course, most people do not do that. To use an analogy from Ramakrishna, he says, “The camel loves eating thorns. It knows its mouth bleeds but still keeps eating the thorns.” Many people do that. But as soon as the sincere seeker realises this action is not good, he has a dawning realisation that I should not perform this again. But the mind is so patterned that he will want to achieve that action again because of the patterned mind.

How many alcoholics are there in the world that does not hate every drink they take? They wish they could get out of it. They suffer, but because of the chemistry built up in their system, it could be physiological as well as psychological, and they just cannot do without that drink. The same thing applies to drug addicts. They hate themselves for it. So, what can they do because they cannot unpattern their patterned mind? They need outside help, and that outside help is Grace, and to draw that Grace, one has to have some faith, as the people had in Jesus. They must believe, “Look, I cannot do anything anymore; I have tried my best. Now, you Lord, please take over and help me.” As soon as this thought strengthens in the mind, as soon as this thought is felt as a burning desire, as a yearning within oneself, one is automatically tuned to that focal point through which this Grace can come. That is how we get helped in life. That is how our karma becomes easier.

WE CAN PERFORM GOOD ACTIONS TO COUNTERACT BAD ACTIONS

I have said before that we do not need to pay for all our wrongdoings, which would constitute forgiveness. Forgiveness does not come automatically. Why should Divinity forgive one and not the other? If He wants to forgive, He forgives the whole lot or not. We are instructed to love our neighbours as ourselves, so when we have performed specific actions and know that these actions are not conducive to us or our neighbours, we perform other actions to counteract the harmful actions. I always say if you have killed twenty people, that does not mean you will have to be killed twenty times. No, no. Save twenty-one lives, and you have one in the credit balance, and all those actions without any need for analysis are automatically rubbed clean. That is progress. That is evolution. It is a shortcut without it being a shortcut. The only thing is that the path becomes smoother. It is not a bumpy or corrugated road, but a well-tarred one and the car just sails along smoothly.

I WORSHIP THE PERSON THAT HAVE SHOWN THE WAY

So that is forgiveness. Christ or any Avatar in which Christ’s Consciousness is manifested is a consciousness we are concerned with. That consciousness can have any label: Christ, Krishna, or Buddha. It depends on what background we have come from, in what religion we were born, and what our childhood training had been. That is why we put on these labels. Speaking, it is the same eternal consciousness and by the expansion of awareness through our spiritual and meditational practices, we come closer and closer to this consciousness. In other words, the mind opens up. The substrate of the mind becomes more and more clarified, and that Light shines through.

Should the man who shows the way not be worshipped as a God or even God incarnate like Krishna, Christ, and Buddha? I worship them. For they have led the way, and by showing the way, they have helped to alleviate our suffering. They have not taken away the karma, but they have demonstrated a way to make the reaction more amenable, accessible, and softer. If you had to jump down from this roof onto a cement floor, you would get hurt, but the hurt would not be so much if there were a thick foam mattress. The fall would be broken, as they would say. But we have to create that mattress. We have to make it, and we can order our lives so that whatever our past has been, it is not to be examined. Whatever trials and tribulations we have gone through are not to be read. We only found that lifestyle or what we did troublesome because we did not have the proper perspective.

My mother-in-law visits me, so I feel upset; I do not want her around the house. I used to think that, for example, when I was a young man. I use myself as an example; it sounds better than saying you because I found her a nuisance, a disturbance because any little squabble there with the wife, she runs to mother. She was a nuisance. But when the perspective developed, when greater understanding was gained, the mother-in-law was very welcome to the house. Why should the little wife not have someone to run to? Let her go and cry on her mother’s shoulders; I can do something else. Perspectives change. It is the same old girl visiting. So, the mother-in-law has not changed, but I have changed. Now I welcome her – “Oh, come more, so we cook for five people in the house. What is the sixth one?” That comes after you have a couple of children and become more mature.

WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS BY RIGHTING OURSELVES

It is our maturity, our reaction, that governs our karma. When we say that these great personages, and that is such an understatement to use the word personage, when these great men teach us these lessons and if we attune ourselves with the spirit of the lesson, not the lesson itself, not the teaching itself but the spirit of the learning, then we open ourselves to that Grace which makes the reaction much smoother, much more joyous. As I always say, we pay off not cash on demand but an easy instalment plan. In that sense, we can say that our karma has been taken away.

But in reality, we are responsible for our actions. Why should we make someone else accountable for our actions? That is not reality; that is wishful thinking. So, I will do all kinds of nasty things and then say, “Oh well, when it comes to the last stages, I will just pray and do these things, and that chap up there will forgive it all.” Forget it. To find forgiveness depends upon ourselves. Why should we be forgiven? What is the reason? What right have we? We can ask for forgiveness, yes, but how do we ask, not just verbally, but by action, by righting ourselves, by what we call self-help, which has nothing to do with mental analysis, by self-help within ourselves, where we change our lifestyle.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR KARMA

One man came to me and had been living with a lady for three years. So, we discussed things he does and what she does, and then the question of marriage came up. He thought, “Should I marry her, or should I not marry her?” So, I told him, “If that woman is good enough to live with for three years, then she is good enough to marry.” He did, and the whole perspective, the entire atmosphere of their home, changed. There was a certain sanctity, a particular responsibility, and a more profound togetherness where each felt a deeper feeling. There is no description to it, but each felt responsible and more caring for each other. Like this, they lived together and did everything married people would do, but one element was missing. That uncaringness was there. They had left one door open so I could escape if it did not work out. That is not responsibility. Burn your bridges behind you, as the old saying goes. She is good enough to live with for three years; she is good enough to marry and for you to accept as your wife. Why should you always have that escape hatch, that exit? Be responsible for yourself and the contract you have entered into in that partnership. Their whole life changed. It assumed a different meaning. When the baby came, that too thought such a beautiful flowering. When the escape hatch was closed, they became more responsible for each other and themselves. You see how beautiful? So, we are the ones that are responsible for our karmas. We are the ones that change our karma and no one else.

GREAT TEACHERS COME TO GUIDE, TO TEACH

Great Teachers come to guide. They come to teach, not to preach; that is, church ministers, they preach. But actual teaching constitutes one thing, that you must have experienced everything yourself in some form or the other by a heightened awareness or by sharing the totality of consciousness, then only are you allowed or only then you should teach. That is what these great Masters like Jesus have done; they have experienced it all, and therefore, their teachings over thousands of years still hold the greatest truth. We cannot improve upon them. We cannot improve upon Buddha, Krishna, Christ, or Mahavir. We cannot. The problems, of course, lie with the different kinds of interpretations. But basically, we could not alter those teachings.

You see how eternal they are, and that is the meaning of saving humanity by showing them the way, showing them the way of life. For the way is the life. Life is not stagnant. It is forever flowering, and that very flowering is life, is the way. Therefore, when these great Masters say, “I am the way, I am the life,” it is true because they have lived it, they have experienced it in one form or another, and they have realised the true meaning of the words, “I am that I am.”

They have flowered to fullness, and they want to see every bud blossoming to fullness, and when they see that the buds are not blooming, that they lack the elements of thought and action in their lives, and when they see the buds, the plant is withering away, it pains. It pains them that “Here I have come.” Jesus would say, “I give these teachings that could help humanity, that could take them towards my Father, that could make their lives smoother, happier, and they heed not my words. What can I do? I will go on sowing; they will grow if the seeds fall on fertile ground. But I will do my duty.” So, these great personages get hurt when they see the suffering of others. The hurt is not their own, but the harm is of others because of the compassion com-pass-ion. Because they have realised the oneness of all humanity, they have learned the oneness of all creatures on earth. To them, no separation exists; therefore, they feel the pain of others. But to them, that is not suffering because we use the word suffering. I cry with your tears; I laugh with your laughter.

THE DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS IS FOREVER RESIDING WITHIN US

When a great Indian Sage was asked, “Are you not going to eat?” He said, “I am eating with thousands of mouths. Do I need to eat?” You see the meaning behind that. Of course, a person has to eat to sustain the body, but something more profound means that all is one. All is one. And knowing that oneness, experiencing that oneness, your tears become His tears; when those tears mingle, the power of Grace flows. Have you ever kissed your wife or husband when he or she is crying? Have you ever done that? The tears flow from your eyes, too and mingle with hers. Do you know the spark that is set off at that moment? It is just an ordinary example of communion, of togetherness where the tears of the wife are but the tears of the husband, and the tears of the husband are the tears of the wife. Where do you end? Where do I begin? Where can you end? Where can I start? It is an oneness, and as this feeling grows increasingly, our consciousness becomes more and more refined. We reach deeper and deeper levels, higher and higher levels until the level of Christ’s Consciousness is reached, where everything is felt in its true perspective. But one knowledge exists in such a man that all this is necessary. But the seed has to explode in the ground for it to grow. The tree the sampling has to weather the storms and the sunshine. All these are aids for it to grow. And yet the compassion exists, the kindness exists and yet such a man stands apart and observes the play. My Father’s play. My Father is playing. He has created the stage. Look at all these actors; it is a pity they do not play their parts well; they miss their lines. That is all that religion is about missing the lines. That is all that it is about. So we do our parts well; this could be a beautiful play. So a man like Jesus in that consciousness feels your suffering and still feels it now, for that consciousness is an eternal living presence. Because without that consciousness, you cannot feel any joy or sorrow. Because your happiness and sadness are intermixed, interpenetrated by that consciousness. For without that consciousness, nothing could exist. Nothing could be manifested without the Manifestor. He permeates everything, and therefore all the things we do is a play. We are children playing games with what we are in reality; we play games because we forget the basis; we ignore the basis of the Divine Consciousness that is forever residing within us.

I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO HAVE JUST ONE LITTLE GLIMPSE OF THE GLORY OF GOD

The realised man feels the joys, sorrows, pains, and pleasures and yet can stand apart. Standing apart, he knows that these children of mine are so involved in the law of opposites. For that, consciousness does not know any opposites. It knows only oneness. There is no polarity. It is like a stick, two ends of a stick, black on this side and white on that side, pain on this side, pleasure on that side. But as we approach the centre, the stick remains in perfect balance in equilibrium. So, a man of that nature is in that equilibrium, and yet, seeing the polarities on either end, sees the joy and sorrow and stands still because he has known the meaning of the phrase, “Be still and know that I am God’. The opposites do not affect him as it would affect the ordinary person. For the average person, the opposites create karmas, actions with reactions, good or bad.

That man in the world and yet not of the world, whatever he does is unaffected. He is a law unto himself, for he has reached Supreme Consciousness. Ah, what a joy. It is indescribable. I wish I could tell you more about it; I just cannot, but I could make you feel it. Ah, but to know that Christ, to know that Krishna, to know that Buddha, to have Him within you all the time, to be so merged. To be incorporated in that-ness, that-ness is an is-ness, a being-ness. No more and no less could be said about it. It has to be experienced, and everyone will in time to come. In this lifetime, another lifetime, two hundred lifetimes, but who wants to wait so long when it is here and now? We have the tools. Why use the can opener when that ring is there to open the can? That all-pervading spirit, that all-pervading Christ Consciousness is there.

I would like you to have just one little glimpse of the vastness of that glory. St. Paul, on the road to Damascus, experienced it, and if he could, why not you? Why can we not all experience that after practising meditation for a few years? There is a confident readiness, and for some, perhaps it requires just a bit of pushing, gently so. It can be known, perhaps not in totality now, but some little glimpse can be had of the vastness of the glory of God, of Yahweh. Beautiful, beautiful.

… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1979 – 03