Yogi Ashwini

The whole of Bhagavad Gita is about the Law of Karma. It is often said, “You shall reap, what you sow”. When you sow seeds, its germination and the quality of the plant you will get depends on the fertility of the soil. Similarly, every act of ours, however insignificant it may be, has the potential to germinate and bounce back depending on how and where this act has been performed.

The reaction of this act also depends on the capacity and level of subtleness of the action and the level of subtleness of the event or person against/for whom the action has been performed. The greater the subtleness, the higher the magnitude of the reaction.
For instance, it is often said that one must never keep or express any ill-feeling towards any spiritual person in thought, word or deed. This is not because all spiritual people are egoists but because such a person’s energy, by way of certain practices, is more subtle and stronger. Hence, the reaction of your action against this person will be directly proportional to the level of evolution of this person. Higher the level of consciousness of the doer, quicker the reaction, and higher the intensity of the reaction and lower the consciousness level.
It is said that we are all born in this world with empty hands, and one day we will all die empty handed. Alexander the Great, when he was breathing his last, had expressed the desire that when his body is being taken away, his hands should be left hanging out to make people understand that one comes to the world empty-handed and leaves it empty-handed. But this is not exactly true.
You’ll never find a yogi expressing a thought like that, for he knows what he brings along and what he takes away when he leaves his body — karma. There’s always a difference in the weight of a living person and his/her body soon after the soul departs. This is not the weight of the soul, but that of karma.
When Lord Brahma created the universe, each and every kind of thought and action was created by him. Certain thoughts, as per the desires of a person, get attracted towards him/her and get manifest as karma of their life. We carry forward the karma of one life to another like a genetic code and our karmic databank decides the family that we will be born into. That is to say, whatever has to happen in the future lives is already decided and the result already exists.
In the present life, or any other life, it is not possible to change the experiences we are likely to go through owing to our karmic balance. Now you may ask, if everything is already decided, then what’s the need to think or bother about anything. Why should one make an effort to change anything when one can change nothing.
While it’s true that you cannot change the events of your life as you are bound by prarabdha (collection of past karmas), it is possible to change the experiences or the outcome of those events. It is difficult to understand this intellectually, but it is true. You cannot escape the result of karma in the form of pleasure or pain, whatever it might be, until the grace of Guru falls upon you. Guru is the only one who can overcome the result of karma.
When one walks on the path of yoga and performs the purifications, as shown by the Guru, one reaches a level where pain and pleasure cease to have an effect. You are able to withdraw your senses inwards, at your own will, without suppression of any desire. While the events of your life will not change, they will also not be able to affect you in any way, good or bad. That is called rising above karma. Only a yogi can reach that level of detachment, and anything that is done with detachment is not counted as karma. One becomes karmateet (“gone past one’s karma”, implying, eligible for salvation as the person is no longer bound to Creation).
Our rishis in the mountains, who stay in a state of stillness for long durations, have a thorough understanding of the Law of Karma. They know that it is only by entering stillness that they can evolve to a level where self-realisation or aatma sakshatkar happens. This can happen only when the ripples around them, ripples of their karma, have come to a stand still. That is the state of nothingness — a state which has to be experienced not understood. This is the state of ananda, permanent bliss.

Second of the two-part series

— Yogi Ashwini is an authority on yoga, tantra and the Vedic sciences. He is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. He has recently written a book, Sanatan Kriya: 51 Miracles... And a Haunting.
Contact him at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com