From: "gabriel Deva"
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:05:06
Subject: Boon or Curse - Depending
Baba
"Ei vanaviithika'y pus'pama'ya'y nije ese dhara' dile a'ma'y..." P.S. 2108
Purport:
Baba, You have graced me and You have come in my mind-- in my mental garden You have appeared. Baba, You have shown me the magical display of flowers and You have allowed me to hold You. Baba, whatever You have taught and whatever You have told, everything I have kept in my mind, in my mental plate, by Your grace.
O' my dearmost, how can I forget that very special memorable day when I saw You. I could tell that that Your whole heart was saturated with the deep feeling of mineness and love towards me. With the mental flower and in the cycle of the seasons and months, with the passage of time, that very love is getting stronger & stronger, more serene and pure.
Baba, by Your grace I have got You in my heart. Up till now I was just searching You externally-- moving here and there-- but I could not get You. But now You have come in my heart, so I have everything. In the secret, solitary, depths of my mind-- all my desires are getting satiated. Baba, You have graced me and You have come directly into my heart. You have made my life meaningful...
Namaskar,
A man at the peak of his career, with a good wife, social respect, and financial power opts to carouse around with a young woman and risk everything, thinking that he will never be caught.
A popular leader - a man of the people - grabs congressional control only to turn his back on the masses and rule with an iron fist.
A pious woman who has led a simple life, gets hit by a bus when crossing the street and loses both her legs.
A young man shocks everyone by stepping away from a life of "guaranteed worldly success" in order to dedicate himself to a noble cause with seemingly little rewards.
So many things happen in life - good things and bad things, smart choices and foolish ones. And it is all distinctly linked with the expression of our samskaras - reactions from our past actions & past lives, or yoga's theory of cause and effect.
For some, their good samskaras can be a gateway to liberation, while for others their good samskaras can ricochet them onto the path to hell, if they abuse the fruits of their pious past actions.
Good then does not always signify future greatness or liberation, and bad does not mean terrible things. A man suffering from bad samskaras may reflect more deeply and vow to lead a virtuous life.
All that can be said is that all samskaras - whether they be good ones or bad ones - are binding, keeping one forever tied to the cycle of life and death.
This letter investigates some of the many nuances of the ways of karma and at the same time presents Baba's guideline for how to escape the endless cycle or noose of action and reaction.
While at some point or another we have all learned about karma theory - let's take a moment to review some fundamental rules.
(A) Must Have Free Will to Create Samskaras
Only human beings can create samskaras, whether good or bad. Someone may decide to steal a chocolate bar or a sports car, while another may volunteer in a literacy center. By exercising our free will and making life choices, we create our samskaras, or unexpressed reactions.
In contrast, animals cannot create any (new) samskaras because they do not have free will. Everything they do is according to instinct, nature, and the Cosmic operative principle, or prakrti. If a monkey bites a small human baby, then that monkey will not incur any samskara.
The only thing that can be said is that that monkey may have been born into animal life because of their previous bad samskaras from human life, but during that animal life no new samskaras can be created.
From the time one first emerges from the Supreme Hub in the form of fire or water, or wood etc up until one's highest expression of animal life - i.e. along the path of saincara - one will not have any samskaras. It is only during one's first human life - that first step into the arena of pratisaincara - that samskaras get created based on what one does.
One may then may bounce back and forth between various grades of human and animal life, between pratisaincara, negative pratisaincara, and saincara. It all depends upon how one exercises their free will when in human form.
A despotic ruler will most assuredly be reborn as a lower being or even as a piece of iron, depending upon the nature of their sins etc.
(B) Samskaras Carry Over From Life to Life
We must always remember that ours is a part life - we have been coming and going from one life to the next for ions. We may be 50, or 35, or 71 years old, so unless this is our first human life, we are carrying around a big bundle of samskaras from our past lives.
And that can take shape in so many ways and explain why a very good person my undergo a terrible problem in life. It may seem totally unfair, yet what they are undergoing may be the result of a samskara from 2 or even 5 or 10 lives ago.
Thus there is no set time frame for when a Samskara will take expression, nor is there an easy escape from those unexpressed reactions - they have to take form. Not even a man of extraordinary wealth can free himself from those reactions. In addition, those samskaras are more than we can ever undergo in one life - and in this life also we will create even more samskaras.
Hence the cycle is unending: Birth to death and then rebirth, until one is blessed to enter the path of sadhana. Even then it is not an easy ride. It takes tremendous effort, coupled with His divine grace, to achieve liberation.
So ours is a part life, linked with a whole chain of past lives and hence old samskaras.
We all then enter this world with so much baggage - and just having good samskaras alone does not ensure that one's movement will be proper. Actually, it is usually those who are enjoying the fruits of their past good actions who then inflict the most harm on others.
Most often it is due to the expression of our good samskaras that we then create such a nasty pile of bad samskaras. The real culprit is our false sense of vanity. Just see.
For most of us, our life choices do not dramatically effect entire populations of people. Just a few people hold such positions - often due to their good deeds in the past.
Because of their honesty or service in the past, in this life they have taken on a high stature. And then what happens: Ego grows and grows.
Hey may begin to think that they have the world in the palm of their hand, or feel that they are invincible etc. In that seemingly unbeatable - yet precarious and vulnerable position - they may commit so many wrongs that they will put themselves on the fast track to hell.
They may drop a bomb on an entire city or nation, or they may suppress millions, or they may declare an entire people to be slaves. So many things one may do under that false sense of vanity. In their blindness they think that no harm can come their way, but in the due course they will undergo each and every reaction. And so many times those harsh reactions begin in this very life.
How many times have we witnessed those at the height of power fall to the depths of hell within a few years. Their names are endless and come in so many shapes and sizes: Mrs. Indira Gandhi, O.J. Simpson, Bernie Madoff, Adolf Hitler, Christopher Reeve, Saddam Hussein, and the list goes on and on.
Thus even if one has good samskaras from the past, that is not necessarily a key for greatness. One may tumble at any moment if one is not careful.
All in all, we never know when a good or bad samskara may take expression. There is no fixed time frame - it may be this life or the next. Just a conducive environment is needed.
When we are young and feeling strong and healthy then we may only reap our past good samskaras and our bad ones are just waiting for the proper moment to come forth. A man in his youth may marry a beautiful woman only to watch that woman run off with another man, or vice versa. So many things can happen - it just depends on when the ground is fertile.
And of course, one's good samskaras can lead one further along the path of righteousness.
Baba says, "Vaedikii diiks'a' is to request God, request the Lord, to show one the right path. And after a long time, when the Lord is satisfied, He arranges for Ta'ntrikii diiks'a'. Ananda Marga diiks'a' is Ta'ntrikii diiks'a'." (AV-3)
By Baba's grace, many of us have come onto the path of Ananda Marga due to some proper effort in the past. Yet we all know, we must all put forth the right effort to keep on this path. The moment we think that we ourselves are great or the moment we look to material satisfaction for our happiness, we may fall from the path.
Here the point then is that good samskaras are not just a liability such as in the case of Mrs Gandhi or OJ Simpson etc, because of one's past samskaras with proper feeling one can become a great sadhaka, as we se in so many examples.
The main problem comes when people think, "I will take the good samskaras and Parama Purusa should take my bad ones."
This is when vanity, ego, lust, and all kinds of degenerative properties take shape in the mind. Because that outlook is devoid of any service mentality.
Then one asserts their free will in a negative direction. Most or Hollywood, sports stars, and political leaders fall in this category. Due to their past good deeds they got some qualification in this life, yet due to ego they end up tumbling far, far below.
What they fail to realise is that getting human life again is not an easy task. Again one will have to go through countless animals lives.
So this whole entire samskara theory is quite complex. It may bring us fame and fortune or it may remain hidden for decades and then crop up one day, dramatically changing the course of our lives.
One other critical point is that samskaras may take physical expression or psychic expression. At this point in the advanced societies, most undergo mental torment and torture in the form of anxiety, stress, depression, or so many other psychic ailments.
Whereas in the poor countries, people suffer in the material sphere but not necessarily in the mental realm.
Baba has graciously blessed us by bringing us on the path. We understand that we this world is not our eternal abode and it cannot offer us endless bliss. Rather we are to become one with Him - in this very life itself. That is our aim; that is our destiny. Yet we have so many samskaras.
So in sadhaka life, our samskaras ripen very quickly for they must get expressed in this life itself - as there will not be future lives. So we must undergo a huge number of reactions. Even then, they cannot all take expression. There just is not enough time.
Baba says, "So Parama Purus'a says to His devotees, “Just see how difficult it is for you to carry such a heavy load of sam'skaras. You are small children. The load weighs more than you. How long will you be able to carry such a burden? You have accumulated so many sam'skaras that you will have to carry the load for many lives, for thousands of years. One life will certainly be insufficient. So I have a proposition. Give me the entire load of your accumulated sam'skaras. I will carry it for you”.
"The devotees reply, “How can we possibly give our heavy burden to You? No, we must carry the load ourselves. We will sing songs and dance for you, but we will never give you such a heavy load of sins”."
"But Parama Purus'a knows that His dear devotees cannot carry such a heavy load of sins. If they do not give away the load it will be a constant strain for them. So what does Parama Purus'a do in such circumstances? He takes their sins without their permission. If someone takes things from others without their permission, what is it called? It is called theft. Thus, as Parama Purus'a takes the load of sins from the devotees without their permission, He is certainly a thief “Harati pa'pah yah sah Harih.” One who steals others sins is called Hari. So, one of His names is Hari." (AV-8)
Namaskar,
Gaotam
There are many angles and aspects to this our samskara theory. In the above letter, only certain elements were touched on. Others should write in with more points.
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:05:06
Subject: Boon or Curse - Depending
Baba
"Ei vanaviithika'y pus'pama'ya'y nije ese dhara' dile a'ma'y..." P.S. 2108
Purport:
Baba, You have graced me and You have come in my mind-- in my mental garden You have appeared. Baba, You have shown me the magical display of flowers and You have allowed me to hold You. Baba, whatever You have taught and whatever You have told, everything I have kept in my mind, in my mental plate, by Your grace.
O' my dearmost, how can I forget that very special memorable day when I saw You. I could tell that that Your whole heart was saturated with the deep feeling of mineness and love towards me. With the mental flower and in the cycle of the seasons and months, with the passage of time, that very love is getting stronger & stronger, more serene and pure.
Baba, by Your grace I have got You in my heart. Up till now I was just searching You externally-- moving here and there-- but I could not get You. But now You have come in my heart, so I have everything. In the secret, solitary, depths of my mind-- all my desires are getting satiated. Baba, You have graced me and You have come directly into my heart. You have made my life meaningful...
== BOON OR CURSE - DEPENDING ==
Namaskar,
A man at the peak of his career, with a good wife, social respect, and financial power opts to carouse around with a young woman and risk everything, thinking that he will never be caught.
A popular leader - a man of the people - grabs congressional control only to turn his back on the masses and rule with an iron fist.
A pious woman who has led a simple life, gets hit by a bus when crossing the street and loses both her legs.
A young man shocks everyone by stepping away from a life of "guaranteed worldly success" in order to dedicate himself to a noble cause with seemingly little rewards.
LIFE IS FULL OF EVENTS
So many things happen in life - good things and bad things, smart choices and foolish ones. And it is all distinctly linked with the expression of our samskaras - reactions from our past actions & past lives, or yoga's theory of cause and effect.
For some, their good samskaras can be a gateway to liberation, while for others their good samskaras can ricochet them onto the path to hell, if they abuse the fruits of their pious past actions.
Good then does not always signify future greatness or liberation, and bad does not mean terrible things. A man suffering from bad samskaras may reflect more deeply and vow to lead a virtuous life.
All that can be said is that all samskaras - whether they be good ones or bad ones - are binding, keeping one forever tied to the cycle of life and death.
This letter investigates some of the many nuances of the ways of karma and at the same time presents Baba's guideline for how to escape the endless cycle or noose of action and reaction.
A FEW RULES OF THE GAME
While at some point or another we have all learned about karma theory - let's take a moment to review some fundamental rules.
(A) Must Have Free Will to Create Samskaras
Only human beings can create samskaras, whether good or bad. Someone may decide to steal a chocolate bar or a sports car, while another may volunteer in a literacy center. By exercising our free will and making life choices, we create our samskaras, or unexpressed reactions.
In contrast, animals cannot create any (new) samskaras because they do not have free will. Everything they do is according to instinct, nature, and the Cosmic operative principle, or prakrti. If a monkey bites a small human baby, then that monkey will not incur any samskara.
The only thing that can be said is that that monkey may have been born into animal life because of their previous bad samskaras from human life, but during that animal life no new samskaras can be created.
From the time one first emerges from the Supreme Hub in the form of fire or water, or wood etc up until one's highest expression of animal life - i.e. along the path of saincara - one will not have any samskaras. It is only during one's first human life - that first step into the arena of pratisaincara - that samskaras get created based on what one does.
One may then may bounce back and forth between various grades of human and animal life, between pratisaincara, negative pratisaincara, and saincara. It all depends upon how one exercises their free will when in human form.
A despotic ruler will most assuredly be reborn as a lower being or even as a piece of iron, depending upon the nature of their sins etc.
(B) Samskaras Carry Over From Life to Life
We must always remember that ours is a part life - we have been coming and going from one life to the next for ions. We may be 50, or 35, or 71 years old, so unless this is our first human life, we are carrying around a big bundle of samskaras from our past lives.
And that can take shape in so many ways and explain why a very good person my undergo a terrible problem in life. It may seem totally unfair, yet what they are undergoing may be the result of a samskara from 2 or even 5 or 10 lives ago.
Thus there is no set time frame for when a Samskara will take expression, nor is there an easy escape from those unexpressed reactions - they have to take form. Not even a man of extraordinary wealth can free himself from those reactions. In addition, those samskaras are more than we can ever undergo in one life - and in this life also we will create even more samskaras.
Hence the cycle is unending: Birth to death and then rebirth, until one is blessed to enter the path of sadhana. Even then it is not an easy ride. It takes tremendous effort, coupled with His divine grace, to achieve liberation.
So ours is a part life, linked with a whole chain of past lives and hence old samskaras.
HOW GOOD SAMSKARAS LEAD TO BAD ONES
We all then enter this world with so much baggage - and just having good samskaras alone does not ensure that one's movement will be proper. Actually, it is usually those who are enjoying the fruits of their past good actions who then inflict the most harm on others.
Most often it is due to the expression of our good samskaras that we then create such a nasty pile of bad samskaras. The real culprit is our false sense of vanity. Just see.
For most of us, our life choices do not dramatically effect entire populations of people. Just a few people hold such positions - often due to their good deeds in the past.
Because of their honesty or service in the past, in this life they have taken on a high stature. And then what happens: Ego grows and grows.
Hey may begin to think that they have the world in the palm of their hand, or feel that they are invincible etc. In that seemingly unbeatable - yet precarious and vulnerable position - they may commit so many wrongs that they will put themselves on the fast track to hell.
They may drop a bomb on an entire city or nation, or they may suppress millions, or they may declare an entire people to be slaves. So many things one may do under that false sense of vanity. In their blindness they think that no harm can come their way, but in the due course they will undergo each and every reaction. And so many times those harsh reactions begin in this very life.
How many times have we witnessed those at the height of power fall to the depths of hell within a few years. Their names are endless and come in so many shapes and sizes: Mrs. Indira Gandhi, O.J. Simpson, Bernie Madoff, Adolf Hitler, Christopher Reeve, Saddam Hussein, and the list goes on and on.
Thus even if one has good samskaras from the past, that is not necessarily a key for greatness. One may tumble at any moment if one is not careful.
CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT NEEDED
All in all, we never know when a good or bad samskara may take expression. There is no fixed time frame - it may be this life or the next. Just a conducive environment is needed.
When we are young and feeling strong and healthy then we may only reap our past good samskaras and our bad ones are just waiting for the proper moment to come forth. A man in his youth may marry a beautiful woman only to watch that woman run off with another man, or vice versa. So many things can happen - it just depends on when the ground is fertile.
GOOD SAMSKARAS AS A BOON
And of course, one's good samskaras can lead one further along the path of righteousness.
Baba says, "Vaedikii diiks'a' is to request God, request the Lord, to show one the right path. And after a long time, when the Lord is satisfied, He arranges for Ta'ntrikii diiks'a'. Ananda Marga diiks'a' is Ta'ntrikii diiks'a'." (AV-3)
By Baba's grace, many of us have come onto the path of Ananda Marga due to some proper effort in the past. Yet we all know, we must all put forth the right effort to keep on this path. The moment we think that we ourselves are great or the moment we look to material satisfaction for our happiness, we may fall from the path.
Here the point then is that good samskaras are not just a liability such as in the case of Mrs Gandhi or OJ Simpson etc, because of one's past samskaras with proper feeling one can become a great sadhaka, as we se in so many examples.
CLASSIC FAULTY APPROACH
The main problem comes when people think, "I will take the good samskaras and Parama Purusa should take my bad ones."
This is when vanity, ego, lust, and all kinds of degenerative properties take shape in the mind. Because that outlook is devoid of any service mentality.
Then one asserts their free will in a negative direction. Most or Hollywood, sports stars, and political leaders fall in this category. Due to their past good deeds they got some qualification in this life, yet due to ego they end up tumbling far, far below.
What they fail to realise is that getting human life again is not an easy task. Again one will have to go through countless animals lives.
TAKE PHYSICAL EXPRESSION OR PSYCHIC EXPRESSION
So this whole entire samskara theory is quite complex. It may bring us fame and fortune or it may remain hidden for decades and then crop up one day, dramatically changing the course of our lives.
One other critical point is that samskaras may take physical expression or psychic expression. At this point in the advanced societies, most undergo mental torment and torture in the form of anxiety, stress, depression, or so many other psychic ailments.
Whereas in the poor countries, people suffer in the material sphere but not necessarily in the mental realm.
BABA'S BLESSING
Baba has graciously blessed us by bringing us on the path. We understand that we this world is not our eternal abode and it cannot offer us endless bliss. Rather we are to become one with Him - in this very life itself. That is our aim; that is our destiny. Yet we have so many samskaras.
So in sadhaka life, our samskaras ripen very quickly for they must get expressed in this life itself - as there will not be future lives. So we must undergo a huge number of reactions. Even then, they cannot all take expression. There just is not enough time.
Baba says, "So Parama Purus'a says to His devotees, “Just see how difficult it is for you to carry such a heavy load of sam'skaras. You are small children. The load weighs more than you. How long will you be able to carry such a burden? You have accumulated so many sam'skaras that you will have to carry the load for many lives, for thousands of years. One life will certainly be insufficient. So I have a proposition. Give me the entire load of your accumulated sam'skaras. I will carry it for you”.
"The devotees reply, “How can we possibly give our heavy burden to You? No, we must carry the load ourselves. We will sing songs and dance for you, but we will never give you such a heavy load of sins”."
"But Parama Purus'a knows that His dear devotees cannot carry such a heavy load of sins. If they do not give away the load it will be a constant strain for them. So what does Parama Purus'a do in such circumstances? He takes their sins without their permission. If someone takes things from others without their permission, what is it called? It is called theft. Thus, as Parama Purus'a takes the load of sins from the devotees without their permission, He is certainly a thief “Harati pa'pah yah sah Harih.” One who steals others sins is called Hari. So, one of His names is Hari." (AV-8)
Namaskar,
Gaotam
Note 1: MANY ANGLES TO THE ISSUE
There are many angles and aspects to this our samskara theory. In the above letter, only certain elements were touched on. Others should write in with more points.
**************************************
Deserts Needed
Baba says, "Ecologists claim that some deserts are essential for keeping the global ecology in a balanced state. The high day temperatures and the cold night temperatures that occur in desert regions create a useful effect. The hot, dry desert air rises and creates a vacuum which sucks in cool air, generating a chain reaction. Moist air is sucked in from the sea and formed into clouds which then rain on the land. If deserts vanish entirely, the overall rainfall will be reduced." (PNS-16, p.37)
**************************************
Deserts Needed
Baba says, "Ecologists claim that some deserts are essential for keeping the global ecology in a balanced state. The high day temperatures and the cold night temperatures that occur in desert regions create a useful effect. The hot, dry desert air rises and creates a vacuum which sucks in cool air, generating a chain reaction. Moist air is sucked in from the sea and formed into clouds which then rain on the land. If deserts vanish entirely, the overall rainfall will be reduced." (PNS-16, p.37)
**************************************
