THE SCIENCE OF KARMA
Gnani Purush Dadashri Explains The Science Of Life After Life.
Does
One Act According To One’s Free Will Or Is It
Happening
Dadashri: Do you ever find that you are forced to do something against your wishes? Does it happen?
Questioner: Yes, that does
happen.
Dadashri: What is the reason for that? You do
not wish to and yet you have to. It
is the effect of karma done in your past life.
People
believe this effect to be the cause.
They do not understand the previous life effect at all. If anything done in this life was a
cause, then why would you do something against your will? Furthermore, why would
you say, ‘I did it’, when you did not want to do it in the first place? Why do people say you did it’ also? People call all visible actions to
be the same as doing the karma.
They will say ‘I did a good deed today and so created a good karma
today’. Whereas the Gnani Purush knows that all visible acts of this life are an
effect.
Questioner: Are we born of our own will or are we
sent here?
Dadashri: No one sends you here. It is your karma that takes you to
places where your rebirth takes place immediately. If your karmas are good, you
will be born in a good place and if they are bad, you will be born in a bad
place.
Questioner: What is the definition of
karma?
Dadashri: When you are doing any work and you
support that action, with the words, ‘I am doing it’, that is karma. To support
the action with the belief ‘I am
the doer’ is called binding the karma. It is this support of the belief of
‘doer-ship’ that binds karma. If you know ‘I am not the doer’ and ‘ who is the
doer’ then the action will not have any support and the karma will be
shed.
Questioner: What
is the principle of karma?
Dadashri: If you yell, “You are a thief!” into a
step well, what happens?
Questioner: You will hear an echo of the words ‘you
are a thief.’
Dadashri: Exactly! If you don’t like to hear what comes to
you, then you should say, “You are a king!” instead. And you hear ‘you are a
king’. Say what you like. Give what you want. That is the principle of
karma. Karma means action. What is a reaction? That is the echo.
All reactions are like ‘echoes’ of previous actions; the fruits will be
inevitable.
What does the step-well illustrate? It tells you that the world is your own projection. What you were referring to as karma, is really a projection.
Questioner: Is there a principal of karma or
not?
Dadashri: The whole world is nothing but the
principle of karma. The existence of bondage lies entirely on you. You are
responsible for it. Everything is
your own projection. You are
responsible even for the formation of your body. Every thing you encounter is your own
design: Nobody else is responsible for it.
For endless lives, you have been responsible “whole and sole”.
People
recognize that whatever they experience is their own projection. As a result they try to change that
projection but are not successful.
This is because the projection is not solely in their hands. Talks about changing the projection are
correct, but does one have the independent ability to do so? Yes one has, but only to a limited
extent. The major portion of this control is not in your hand. Only after attaining the true knowledge,
one becomes independent: Until then it is not quite so.
Now
how can the project be stopped? (The project has the cause and effect
components) Until one finds
one’s real Self in all this, one continues to wander aimlessly. Although one recognizes that ‘I am
not this body’, ‘I am not these eyes.’ There are many other inner components
within him and he continues to identify with them and the fact that ‘I am
Chandubhai’ remains. It is because
of his inability to break free from this belief, that he thinks that he is the
‘doer’. He believes that he is the
one that speaks; he is the one doing the penance, samayik etc. As long as he believes that ‘I am the
doer’, he continues to create new projects and suffer the consequences of the old
(past life causes) ones. If one
understood the principles of karma, one would understand the principle of
liberation.
Dadashri: What
is your name?
Questioner: Chandubhai.
Dadashri: Are you really
Chandubhai?
Questioner: What else can I say? It is whatever
everyone thinks is correct.
Dadashri: Then you really are Chandubhai, are you
not? Are you not sure of that? You say, “My name is
Chandubhai”.
Questioner: I am sure.
Dadashri:
You
say, “My name is Chandubhai,” not “ I am Chandubhai” Then are you really
Chandubhai, or are you something else?
Questioner: That is true that we are something
different. That is a known
fact.
Dadashri:
No.
‘Chandubhai’ is a means to identify this body. You know that ‘Chandubhai’ is the name
for this body, but ‘who are you?’ Should you not know
that?
Questioner: Yes indeed I ought to. I should make an effort to find
out.
Dadashri: So in essence what you are doing, is
taking advantage of everything in ‘Chandubhai's’ name. You claim to be Chandubhai when all
along you are not. Under the name of Chandubhai, you are enjoying all the
advantages: 'I am this lady’s husband', 'I am his uncle' etc… and consequently,
binding endless karmas, through this false accusation.
As
long as you are under the influence of this false imposition, you are binding
karma. When, the question ‘Who am I?’ is resolved, you will no longer bind
karmas.
At
the present time you are binding karma, even in your sleep, because you go to
sleep believing that you are Chandubhai.
The Lord says that the biggest karma of all is to shove the Self in a
sack before sleeping, with the belief that, ‘I am Chandulal.”
Questioner: How is a karma bound? Would you please
explain that further?
Dadashri: I will explain to you how karma is
bound. You are not doing any karma and yet you believe that you are doing it,
and so you remain bound. Even God
is not the doer. If he were, then
he too would be bound by karma. Neither you nor God is the doer. You believe that you are the doer, and
therefore you bind karmas.
When
you pass your exams, you say, ‘I passed!’ yet, there is another force that
prevails behind the success. To
believe, ‘I did it!’ is the false imposition, and that is why you bind
karma.
Questioner: So
if everything happens because of some other power, then it would not matter
whether one steals or gives to charity.
Dadashri: Yes, you can say that both are the same,
but people do not keep them as such.
Those that give to charity bind karma because they walk around with
inflated egos. The thief too, binds
karma when he says, ‘No one will ever catch me! Nothing will touch you, as long as you
do not hold‘I did it’.
Questioner: In
the initial stage there is a belief that God is the doer. Going further, the Vedas hold that God
is not the doer. And the Upanishads say the same. God is not the doer; everyone
has to suffer the fruits of their own karma. Do the consequences of karma continue
life after life?
Dadashri: Yes of course! Karma is like the fruit
of a mango tree. The mango will yield the tree and the tree will yield the mango
and the cycle continues.
Questioner: That is the principle of Evolution. It
keeps continuing.
Dadashri: No. That is effect of karma. The mango
is the fruit, which will have the seed that will grow into the tree, which in
turn will yield the fruit. This will continue on. Karma spills the seeds of
karma on and on…
Questioner:
Then people will therefore keep on doing good and bad karmas and never be
free.
Dadashri: Yes, the pulp of the mango is eaten and
the stone seed is thrown out.
Questioner: And on that site will sprout a new mango
tree.
Dadashri: There is no
escape.
If
you believe that God is the doer, then why do you also believe that you are the
‘doer’? You tend to become a doer
too. Humans are the only species
that believe ‘I am the doer'.
Whenever one becomes a doer, there is a breakdown in dependency on
God. God says, 'since you are the
‘doer’, then you and I are both free! Do what you want.' Then what use do you have for God?
When
one believes that he is the ‘doer’, he is binding karma. When one ceases to believe that he is
the ‘doer’, his karma effects will come to an end.
That
is why Akha Bhagat spoke these words,
If
you are Jiva (mortal), the doer is Hari (God)
If
you are Shiva (Shuddhatma-pure Soul), that is the truth.
It
means that if you are a pure Soul, then you are correct. And if you are a mortal
living being, then the one above, God is the doer. The truth is that you are a pure Soul
and that there is no one up there by the name of God as your superior. So when
the difference between Jiva and Shiva is gone, one is ready to become the
Parmatma (the Supreme Soul). When
people pray to God they are separating themselves from the Lord. Here, after receiving Gnan (the
knowledge of Self-Realization), the Jiv-Shiva difference is gone and the
separation is eliminated.
The second verse of the poem
reads,
That
is the secret meaning of this great verse.
Charging of karmas occurs with the wrong belief of, ‘I am Chandubhai and I did this’. After receiving Atma Gnan (the knowledge that you are pure Soul), you are no longer Chandubhai. In the world’s day-to-day interactions you are Chandubhai, but in reality, you are not. In reality you are the Self. ‘I did this’ is a term that applicable only for your daily interactions. The cycle of karma is broken once your sense of doer ship goes. After acquiring the Self, Chandubhai, is the doer, you are not.
When
the awareness of “I am not the doer” is firmly established in your conviction,
new karmas will halt from binding, new causes will not be laid. The old karma will discharge. This is
the meaning of the great spiritual verse. It is the essence of all the
scriptures.
Questioner: Our scriptures say that everyone reaps
the fruit of karma depending upon their deeds.
Dadashri: Each person is responsible for his own
self. God has never interfered in
this. There is no one above us. You
are independent in this world. All
along you have been accustomed to having a subordinate, so there will be a boss.
Otherwise there is no one above you, nor is there a subordinate. That is how the world is. This simply needs to be
understood.
I
have roamed the entire universe and have not found a single place where an
almighty power exists. There is no such Almighty who goes by the name of God.
There is no so-called God above you. You yourself are responsible for
yourself. People everywhere believe
that God created this world. Those
who believe in the principle of reincarnation cannot believe that God created
the world. What is reincarnation
based on? It is based on the concept: I am the doer and I am the sufferer. I am
reaping the fruits of my own karma. God does not interfere in this!’
Questioner: Up until now, I used to think that God
is responsible for all this.
Dadashri: No. The responsibility is your own. You
are whole and sole resonsible. A
person gets shot. He is suffering the effect of his past life karma. The person,
who shot, will get his suffering when his karma is ready to give fruits.
It
is just like a mango. You will not
be able to extract any juice out of the mango on the day you buy it. You can only do that when it ripens.
Similarly, the time has to be just right for the person to receive the bullet.
The fact that the bullet is received means that the fruit has ripened and the
juice has come out. The one who shot the bullet, his fruit is now small and is
growing and will ripen in time. There after the juice will come out (the result
of karma).
Questioner: Now,
is it the body or the Soul that is in bondage?
Dadashri:
The
body itself is karma. So how can it have any other bondage? The one who feels
that he is not free is bound. Who
suffers imprisonment, the prison or the prisoner? So this body is the prison, and the one
within is bound. The one who believes, ‘I am bound, I am this body, I am
Chandubhai,’ is the one who is bound.
Questioner:
Do
you mean to say that the Soul binds (charges) and discharges karma through the
body?
Dadashri: No, it is not like that. The Soul is
absolutely not involved in this. In
fact, the Soul is free. It is independent. It is the ego, which has been created
through a false imposition that binds karma, and it is the ego that experiences
the fruits of karma. You are pure
Self and yet you claim you are Chandubhai – to claim to be what you are not is
called the ego. This is the false imposition of the ego. Egoism is to usurp someone else's
space and call it your own. When
this ego leaves, you can return to your own place; the place where no karmas, no
bondage.
Questioner: So is it possible for the Soul to be
free from karma? When does that happen?
Dadashri: When no circumstance stick and attach to
the Self, then not a single karma, will stick or attach him. No karmas exist for the absolute
liberated souls. They are only in the Siddhagati (domain of the liberated
souls).
One
is subject to karma bondage only in the universe of life; and this has been the
case for time immemorial.
Furthermore it is all scientific circumstantial evidence. All this has come about as result of the
elements being constantly in motion. This gives rise to illusion, which in turn
gives rise to the ego in man.
Illusion
itself is the identification with that which is not real, the non-self. Amidst all this illusion the Self is
forgotten. So there has never been a time that the Soul has been free of
karma.
By
the time when one meets a Gnani Purush, a considerable weight of karma has been
shed. In fact it is when one’s
karma become lighter that one is able to meet a Gnani Purush. The meeting of the two is also
scientific, it happens when all the scientific circumstantial evidences come
together. Such a meeting cannot
occur through one’s own efforts. This meeting simply happens and one's work gets
accomplished.
Karma
is the coming together of circumstances, and dissipation is its
nature.
Questioner:
What is the relationship between the Soul and karma?
Dadashri: Both will separate if the link of
doership between the two is broken.
The Soul will go to its own place and the karma will go to its own
place.
Questioner: I
did not understand that very well.
Dadashri:
Without doership there is no karma. With doership there is karma. If you are not
the doer, then no matter what you do, you will not bind any
karma.
Questioner: Then
is karma the doer?
Dadashri: The doer is the doer. Karma is not the doer. Do you say, ‘I did it’ or do you say, ‘Karma did
it’?
Questioner: The
internal belief that ‘I am doing it’ is always there. We always say, ‘I did
it!’
Dadashri: Yes, you say that ‘I am doing it’, and
hence you become the doer. In reality neither the karma nor the Soul is the
doer.
Questioner: The Soul on one side and karma on the
other. How can the two be
separated?
Dadashri: They are separate. They seem to be
connected because of this link of doer ship. Once this doer ship goes, the one who
claims to be the doer goes, then the two will separate.
Questioner: Do karma apply to human
beings?
Dadashri: Human
beings do nothing but bind karma, constantly. The human ego is such that even
though it does not eat, drink or conduct any actions in the worldly life, it
still maintains ‘I am the doer’ and that is why it binds karma. Karma is bound
through the ego that says, ‘I am doing it’. Is it not a wonder that
happens? It can be proven that the
ego does not eat, drink or do anything else. It can also be proven that in spite
of not doing anything, it binds karmas. Only humans bind
karmas.
Questioner: Because of the body one has to eat and
drink, but despite this it is possible that one is not the doer of
karma?
Dadashri: One cannot see karma being bound. People
in general think of karma as something that is visible to the eye. They may see
someone hurt another person and assume that, that is how the person charges
karma. Is that not the general belief of people?
Questioner: Yes, they say it as they see
it.
Dadashri:
People believe that karma is the external activities people do like eating,
sleeping, hitting someone etc.
People label all actions as karma. But in reality the activity they see
is really the fruit of karma and not the actual karma
itself.
Whenever
karma is bound, there is internal suffering. What does a child do when you give him
bitter medicine? He makes a
face! And when you give him
medicine that is sweet, he will like it. When people do raag-dwesh (attachment- abhorrence) they are
planting causes that give rise to new karma. You will have to experience karma
that you like and also the ones you dislike. The ones you do not like will leave
you hurting while those you like will leave you happy. The causes that were created in your
past life bring fruits to you, in this life.
Questioner: Is there any way of knowing which seed
will flourish and which will not?
Dadashri:
Yes, for example when you say, ‘The
snack was delicious and I ate it’, you are sowing the seed. There is nothing wrong in saying ‘I ate’
as long as you are aware that you are not the one who is eating. But instead you become the doer
and when you take on the doer ship, you plant the seed of karma.
When
you have abhorrence for the one who curses you, and no attachment to the one who
garlands you and takes care of you then no karma will bind. Raag is attachment.
Dwesh is abhorrence.
Questioner: What if you do not realize that raag
dwesh is happening?
Dadashri: The reward for not knowing is the
wandering into life after life.
Questioner: Can you explain the relationship between
the body and the Self in more detail?
Dadashri: The body has come about as a result of
ignorance of the Self. It is the effect of all the causes you created. When someone praises you, you are
pleased, but when they insult you, you are upset. The external display of emotion is
immaterial. The internal happening of these reactions (attachment and
abhorrence) is the cause. It is this inner reaction that will bind karma. And it
is this karma that will be discharged in the next life as an effect. The mind,
speech and body, are all effective. While experiencing the effects one creates
new causes. The cycle of cause and
effect is perpetuated in this manner. Even the foreign scientists can understand
the concept of reincarnation in this way!
These
are all effects. To plead a case in
a court of law is also an effect. You must not have any ego during this effect
by saying, ‘I won the case.’
Effects will follow naturally, like flowing water. The water does not
say, ‘I am going down. Even then it
travels a great distance to the ocean.
Humans on the other hand, have ego and so they bind karma. If a lawyer
wins a lawsuit he will say, I won the lawsuit.’ Claiming doer ship is the ego,
and this binds karma; the ego creates a cause. In return, the fruit of this cause will
come as an effect.
Do
you understand effect now? That
which is happening is effect. When
you submitted your examination paper (past life), it was the cause. You do not
have to worry about the effect, the result, which is inevitable once the exam is
given. The result is the
effect. The whole world is
preoccupied with the effect, and strives to change it. Really they should be
concerned about the cause.
Do
you understand this science?
Science is based on principles. It is irrefutable. If you were to earn
two million in your business, would that be a cause or an effect?
Questioner: It is a cause.
Dadashri: Explain to me how it can be a
cause. Does it happen according to
your will?
Questioner:
When you do business, whatever is going
to happen will happen. That would be effect. But one has to create the causes in
order to do the business does one not? Only then will he be able to the
business, right?
Dadashri: No. Cause means nothing of the outside
world is necessary. You can only do the business if your health is good; you
have a sound mind and you have the necessary capital. That which is dependent on
all these things is an effect. But
when a man stays up worrying in the night, he is creating a cause; there is
nothing else necessary in that.
Causes are independent.
Questioner: Is the business we conduct an effect
then?
Dadashri: I call it an effect Business is an
effect. Do you have to do anything for the result of an examination? You have to
do something when you take the exam, which is considered a cause. But do you
have to do anything for the result?
Questioner:
No.
Dadashri:
Similarly even here, you do not have to do anything. Everything happens on its
own accord. Your body is used in the process and things just happen. In causes,
however, one has to do something. The belief of doer ship, ‘I did it’, is the
cause. The suffering of the effect, ‘I am suffering’, is also the cause.
Everything else is effect.
Questioner: The inner happenings are all
causes.
Dadashri: Yes, cause requires no one’s help. When
you cook a wonderful meal, it is an effect, but in the process if you have the
inner happening ‘I am a great cook. I made a wonderful meal’ then a cause has
occurred. As long as you take on this sense of doer ship, it is all effect. All that you hear or see is effect.
Causes cannot be seen.
Questioner: So effect is everything that one
experiences through these five senses?
Dadashri: Yes. All that is an effect. Your whole life is an effect. Bhaav is
the inner happening in life. This is the cause. There is a doer of this bhaav.
It is called the ego (I am Chandulal, this is happening to me, I am suffering).
Whatever bhaavs occur in your life, if you are the ‘doer’ of those bhaavs, then
they are all ‘causes’. That is what everyone in this world
does.
Once
the karma ceases to bind, that is the end.
Are you able to understand this much? Do you think that you can stop binding
karma? Have you ever seen that
happen? When you become involved in
good things, you bind good karma. The bad things are always there. You can never
get rid of karma. Once you become
aware of who you are and what makes all this happen, you will stop binding
karma, forever.
Questioner: According
to the theory of karma, one binds karma and then suffers its consequence
later. So in a sense, it is cause
and effect: First comes the cause and then its effect. So according to your
inference, how can you trace back to the original karma?
Dadashri: There is no beginning in that which has
no beginning. It is like a beaded
necklace. Where is the beginning of
the earth’s rotation and orbit?
Questioner: It has no
beginning.
Dadashri: Therefore there is no beginning for this
world. It is all round. It has no beginning. But there is liberation from this.
Liberation is possible because of the presence of the Self. Everything is round, not square. If it were square, one could say that it
started from one corner and ends at another. Where is there a corner in a round? The
entire universe is round, but your intellect cannot perceive this. So tell your
intellect to stand aside. The
intellect cannot fathom this, but it can be understood through
Gnan.
Which
comes first, the egg or the chicken? Alas, just leave it alone and talk about
something else or else you be doomed to the cycle of birth and death like the
chickens and the egg. Anything that
has no solution is all round. Don't
you hear of someone talking in circles?
Questioner: Still the question keeps arising about
where the original karma comes from before birth. In the cycle of eigh million
and four hundred thousand births and deaths, when and where did all this paap(
demerit karma) and punya(merit karma) begin?
Dadashri: It has no
beginning.
Questioner: It has to have a beginning
somewhere?
Dadashri: It started when the intellect began and
it will end when the intellect ends. Otherwise it has no
beginning.
Questioner: Who gave us this
intellect?
Dadashri:
Where is a giver in all this anyway? There is nobody above you. If someone were
to be your giver, then he would be your superior and he would always remain your
superior. There would be no such thing as liberation in the world. How can there
be liberation when you have a superior over you?
Questioner: But what was the first karma? What was
the original karma that gave rise to this body?
Dadashri: Nobody has given you this body. It is all a result of the coming
together and interactions of the six eternal elements. In reality, you have not
been given this body. You have
assumed this body to be yours. This is your illusion. When this illusion goes away, there will
be nothing there. It all came about because of the belief: I am
Chandubhai.