From: "Arisudan Deva"
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: You Can't Escape from Divine Reward or Punishment
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:13:54 +0000
Baba
Note: This letter is based on Baba's discourse, The Science of Action, delivered on the occasion of Shrávańii Púrńimá 1959 DMC, Bhagalpur, as well as His other discourses on action-reaction theory.
Namaskar,
Many are interested in knowing more about karma theory and in particular how the requital of samskaras happens. In one of His discourses Baba has shed light on this.
First let’s examine a few case scenarios and then identify the operative factor involved, as well as other key elements.
Suppose you were helping someone who was sick and bed-ridden for an entire week, and they experienced much relief by your service. The requital of that samskara is not that in the near future you are going to become sick and somebody will serve you. This is not the way samskara theory works, according to Baba.
Or suppose, you broke someone’s leg, the requital of that samskara is not that in this lifetime or the next someone is therefore going to break your leg. Baba explicitly tells us that this is not the way it works.
Or suppose you and another person climbed a tree and you pushed him from the tree and he died. The requital of that samskara is not that in this lifetime or the next someone will push you from a tree wherein you die. This also is not the way it works.
Or suppose you helped someone fix their motorcycle then it does not mean that at some point in the future someone will help you fix your motorcycle. Karma theory does not work like that.
Or suppose you killed a shark, it is not that a shark is going to swallow you in your next life.
The central idea is that the reaction of one’s past deed is not identical in presentation to the original action. It is not based on the theory, “an eye for an eye.” Our samskara theory is far more subtle and complex than that.
What then is the operative factor in determining how one will undergo the reactions of their original actions?
Here Baba tells us the key answer: The requital of samskaras, or samska'ra bhoga, happens in the mind. The mind does the action and the mind faces the reaction.
Let’s revisit one of our earlier examples: If you help someone while they are sick and bed-ridden, then in that person’s mind they feel a sense of relief and happiness because they know they are in good care. Your service soothes their pain and suffering.
In reaction, you may experience that positive reaction in any number of ways: Someone might unexpectedly support you in a public debate and you felt so happy; or someone might return your lost wallet with all the money inside thereby giving you so much psychic relief; or someone might lift you up from the road and bring you for medical treatment after you fell and broke your knees and you felt so much gratitude. All these events might happen in response.
The key point being that samskaras are expressed by the degree of pain or happiness felt by the mind. Physical experiences alone do not represent the burning of samskaras. Rather it is the degree of pain or happiness experienced in the psychic realm. For instance, if someone goes to the operating room to have surgery and in the mind they do not feel any pain, then they are not exhausting any samskaras.
When burning a samskara, there may or may not be the presence of physical pain, but there must be the presence of either mental pain or happiness. Because the expression of samskaras occurs in the mind.
That is the operative factor: Pain or joy will be experienced by the mind.
Another key point in the requital of samskaras is the amount of payback and how interest figures into the equation.
Let’s just say you have given your bed-ridden friend 30 positive points of psychic relief, then you will receive at least 30 points of happiness in the future. The more time that goes by, the greater amount of interest you will have earned, in which case you may receive 45 points or even 50 points of happiness.
In short, you have accumulated a good samskara – the principal of which is worth 30 points. Then you are going to receive that 30 points plus interest, depending upon how much time transpires. How you experience the reaction might take shape in any number of ways, as mentioned above. But it is certain that you will receive that same degree of goodness, joy or happiness in the mind, plus interest.
Let’s revisit another example: If you push someone from a tree and they suffer 65 points of misery in the mind, then at some point in the future you will undergo 65 points of misery plus interest, depending upon when you undergo the reaction. Depending on how much time transpires the reaction might equal 85 or 90 points of pain. And that might get expressed in any number of ways: You might crash your car and agonize over the loss, or you might be publicly humiliated at work and face so much shame. So it does not mean that someone will push you from the tree. But you will have to undergo 65 points of pain plus interest, depending on how much time lapses between the original actions and the reaction.
So that is the interest rule with regards to samskara theory.
One other key point that must not be lost sight of: You can't escape the consequences of your good or bad deeds by doing more good or bad deeds. For instance, if you stole $10, and then donated $100 to charity, still you have to undergo the negative samskara of having stolen $10. There is no escape and no place to hide. Sooner or later one must undergo the reaction to that negative deed. Baba explains this in detail in various discourses.
So here is how samskara theory works:
(a) Whatever action you did – whether it be good or bad, helping a sick friend or pushing someone from a tree – then you will undergo the reaction to that action in the mental sphere. What exactly the reaction will be is not known – only it is known that you will experience joy or pain in the mind, and that may or may not be accompanied by physical pain as well.
(b) The amount of mental pain which you have inflicted on others or the degree of joy you have given others is what you yourself are going to face in the psychic realm, plus interest. The more time that goes by, the greater the interest.
In brief, that is how action-reaction theory works. It has nothing to do with undergoing the same type of action such as being pushed from a tree if you pushed someone else from a tree. Plus there will always be interest added onto the principal. If you did 23 points of good, you will experience 37, 35, or 49 etc points of goodness, depending how much time goes by.
The golden rule of our samskara theory is that the degree of psychic suffering you inflict on others you yourself will undergo - plus a little extra. And that suffering can undertake a multitude of forms. The only constant is that you will undergo that degree or mental pain plus interest.
In all such cases the psychic suffering is the operative factor. When facing the reaction of that samskara, you will suffer psychically to that same degree plus interest. You may or may not suffer physically as well. The chief measurement is psychic pain or pleasure. That is the operative factor in samskara theory.
Namaskar,
Arisudan Deva
Here Baba gives us a practical example of how samskaras take shape in one's life.
Baba says, "When people rob others, or indulge in hypocrisy, or cheat people, or indulge in tall talk day after day, they are committing original actions. When a dishonest government employee accepts a bribe it is an original action, and when his son gets sick and has to be rushed to the doctor it is the reactive action (the reaction to the original action). When his son dies he laments, “I haven’t knowingly done anything wrong. Oh, Lord, why have you given me such severe punishment.” But God did not give him any punishment – the deep sorrow he felt at the death of his child was the result of his past original actions." (Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life - 8, Sádhaná)
By Baba's above example we can understand the following:
1. The father had a very negative samskara to suffer and that took expression in the form of his son dying.
2. The son had a very negative samskara to die an early death and that was used in combination with his father's samskara to suffer.
3. In this way parama prakrti organizes and arranges everyone's samskaras.
4. In spite of all this, when people we know need help we must come to their aid. You should not succumb to dogma and refrain from helping because you think that you are interfering with prakrti's grand plan. Rather one must help - not to help is to commit sin (pratyavaya or sin of omission) and thereby incur samskara.
With their devotion in sadhana and by the grace of Parama Purusa, a sadhaka can quickly burn all their remaining samskaras.
To: AM-GLOBAL
Subject: You Can't Escape from Divine Reward or Punishment
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:13:54 +0000
Baba
== YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FROM DIVINE REWARD OR
PUNISHMENT ==
Note: This letter is based on Baba's discourse, The Science of Action, delivered on the occasion of Shrávańii Púrńimá 1959 DMC, Bhagalpur, as well as His other discourses on action-reaction theory.
Namaskar,
Many are interested in knowing more about karma theory and in particular how the requital of samskaras happens. In one of His discourses Baba has shed light on this.
First let’s examine a few case scenarios and then identify the operative factor involved, as well as other key elements.
SUPPOSE YOU...
Suppose you were helping someone who was sick and bed-ridden for an entire week, and they experienced much relief by your service. The requital of that samskara is not that in the near future you are going to become sick and somebody will serve you. This is not the way samskara theory works, according to Baba.
Or suppose, you broke someone’s leg, the requital of that samskara is not that in this lifetime or the next someone is therefore going to break your leg. Baba explicitly tells us that this is not the way it works.
Or suppose you and another person climbed a tree and you pushed him from the tree and he died. The requital of that samskara is not that in this lifetime or the next someone will push you from a tree wherein you die. This also is not the way it works.
Or suppose you helped someone fix their motorcycle then it does not mean that at some point in the future someone will help you fix your motorcycle. Karma theory does not work like that.
Or suppose you killed a shark, it is not that a shark is going to swallow you in your next life.
The central idea is that the reaction of one’s past deed is not identical in presentation to the original action. It is not based on the theory, “an eye for an eye.” Our samskara theory is far more subtle and complex than that.
THE OPERATIVE FACTOR
What then is the operative factor in determining how one will undergo the reactions of their original actions?
Here Baba tells us the key answer: The requital of samskaras, or samska'ra bhoga, happens in the mind. The mind does the action and the mind faces the reaction.
Let’s revisit one of our earlier examples: If you help someone while they are sick and bed-ridden, then in that person’s mind they feel a sense of relief and happiness because they know they are in good care. Your service soothes their pain and suffering.
In reaction, you may experience that positive reaction in any number of ways: Someone might unexpectedly support you in a public debate and you felt so happy; or someone might return your lost wallet with all the money inside thereby giving you so much psychic relief; or someone might lift you up from the road and bring you for medical treatment after you fell and broke your knees and you felt so much gratitude. All these events might happen in response.
The key point being that samskaras are expressed by the degree of pain or happiness felt by the mind. Physical experiences alone do not represent the burning of samskaras. Rather it is the degree of pain or happiness experienced in the psychic realm. For instance, if someone goes to the operating room to have surgery and in the mind they do not feel any pain, then they are not exhausting any samskaras.
When burning a samskara, there may or may not be the presence of physical pain, but there must be the presence of either mental pain or happiness. Because the expression of samskaras occurs in the mind.
That is the operative factor: Pain or joy will be experienced by the mind.
THE QUESTION OF INTEREST
Another key point in the requital of samskaras is the amount of payback and how interest figures into the equation.
Let’s just say you have given your bed-ridden friend 30 positive points of psychic relief, then you will receive at least 30 points of happiness in the future. The more time that goes by, the greater amount of interest you will have earned, in which case you may receive 45 points or even 50 points of happiness.
In short, you have accumulated a good samskara – the principal of which is worth 30 points. Then you are going to receive that 30 points plus interest, depending upon how much time transpires. How you experience the reaction might take shape in any number of ways, as mentioned above. But it is certain that you will receive that same degree of goodness, joy or happiness in the mind, plus interest.
Let’s revisit another example: If you push someone from a tree and they suffer 65 points of misery in the mind, then at some point in the future you will undergo 65 points of misery plus interest, depending upon when you undergo the reaction. Depending on how much time transpires the reaction might equal 85 or 90 points of pain. And that might get expressed in any number of ways: You might crash your car and agonize over the loss, or you might be publicly humiliated at work and face so much shame. So it does not mean that someone will push you from the tree. But you will have to undergo 65 points of pain plus interest, depending on how much time lapses between the original actions and the reaction.
So that is the interest rule with regards to samskara theory.
THERE IS NO ESCAPE
One other key point that must not be lost sight of: You can't escape the consequences of your good or bad deeds by doing more good or bad deeds. For instance, if you stole $10, and then donated $100 to charity, still you have to undergo the negative samskara of having stolen $10. There is no escape and no place to hide. Sooner or later one must undergo the reaction to that negative deed. Baba explains this in detail in various discourses.
SUMMARY:
HOW IT WORKS & THE GOLDEN RULE
HOW IT WORKS & THE GOLDEN RULE
So here is how samskara theory works:
(a) Whatever action you did – whether it be good or bad, helping a sick friend or pushing someone from a tree – then you will undergo the reaction to that action in the mental sphere. What exactly the reaction will be is not known – only it is known that you will experience joy or pain in the mind, and that may or may not be accompanied by physical pain as well.
(b) The amount of mental pain which you have inflicted on others or the degree of joy you have given others is what you yourself are going to face in the psychic realm, plus interest. The more time that goes by, the greater the interest.
In brief, that is how action-reaction theory works. It has nothing to do with undergoing the same type of action such as being pushed from a tree if you pushed someone else from a tree. Plus there will always be interest added onto the principal. If you did 23 points of good, you will experience 37, 35, or 49 etc points of goodness, depending how much time goes by.
The golden rule of our samskara theory is that the degree of psychic suffering you inflict on others you yourself will undergo - plus a little extra. And that suffering can undertake a multitude of forms. The only constant is that you will undergo that degree or mental pain plus interest.
In all such cases the psychic suffering is the operative factor. When facing the reaction of that samskara, you will suffer psychically to that same degree plus interest. You may or may not suffer physically as well. The chief measurement is psychic pain or pleasure. That is the operative factor in samskara theory.
Namaskar,
Arisudan Deva
Note 1: BABA'S PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Here Baba gives us a practical example of how samskaras take shape in one's life.
Baba says, "When people rob others, or indulge in hypocrisy, or cheat people, or indulge in tall talk day after day, they are committing original actions. When a dishonest government employee accepts a bribe it is an original action, and when his son gets sick and has to be rushed to the doctor it is the reactive action (the reaction to the original action). When his son dies he laments, “I haven’t knowingly done anything wrong. Oh, Lord, why have you given me such severe punishment.” But God did not give him any punishment – the deep sorrow he felt at the death of his child was the result of his past original actions." (Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life - 8, Sádhaná)
By Baba's above example we can understand the following:
1. The father had a very negative samskara to suffer and that took expression in the form of his son dying.
2. The son had a very negative samskara to die an early death and that was used in combination with his father's samskara to suffer.
3. In this way parama prakrti organizes and arranges everyone's samskaras.
4. In spite of all this, when people we know need help we must come to their aid. You should not succumb to dogma and refrain from helping because you think that you are interfering with prakrti's grand plan. Rather one must help - not to help is to commit sin (pratyavaya or sin of omission) and thereby incur samskara.
Note 2: SPECIAL GRACE OF PARAMA PURUSA
With their devotion in sadhana and by the grace of Parama Purusa, a sadhaka can quickly burn all their remaining samskaras.
PRABHATA SAMGIITA
“Priyatama ama’r ghare eso, a’loy purn’ kare...” Prabhata Samgiita
#3776
Purport:
O’ my dearmost Baba, please come to me and fulfill my age-old longing. Please grace me and satiate my desire. Please come with Your sweet smile and with Your heart-rending, most attractive lips. Please grace me and fill my heart.
Baba, I do not want anything from You; I want to surrender everything unto You. I only want to offer myself. I want to be ensconced in Your tune and melody. I want to move on that path which is the most pleasing for You. O’ Parama Purusa, I want to involve in Your shravana, manana, nidhidhyásana [1], japa and dhyana. In the past I wasted a lot of time running after imaginary things – mirages. I was sunk in so many dogmas – temporary and ephemeral allurements, thinking they are my permanent shelter.
In the past I was involved in spreading various dogmas: Thinking that some human beings are low and some human beings are high, creating disparities & differentiations, giving unnecessary importance to temporary and worldly status etc. By this way, so much time and money went in vain. My whole life drifted in this way.
O' Divine Entity, now by Your grace I have understood that only You are the eternal truth. Baba, please come to me; I want to surrender...
END NOTES FOR PRABHATA SAMGIITA #3776:
[1] Shravana, Manana, Nididya’sana: Here below Baba explains the great import of these three devotional practices.
Baba says, “To attain Him human beings have to take recourse to shravana (constantly hearing His name), manana (constantly ideating on Him) and nididya’sana (constantly meditating on Him). The Supreme Entity is Gurha, that is, He is lying hidden in the innermost recess of the human entity. To attain Him one must penetrate deep within oneself, and for that the development of an introversial outlook is essential.” (Tattva Kaomudi – 3)
Purport:
O’ my dearmost Baba, please come to me and fulfill my age-old longing. Please grace me and satiate my desire. Please come with Your sweet smile and with Your heart-rending, most attractive lips. Please grace me and fill my heart.
Baba, I do not want anything from You; I want to surrender everything unto You. I only want to offer myself. I want to be ensconced in Your tune and melody. I want to move on that path which is the most pleasing for You. O’ Parama Purusa, I want to involve in Your shravana, manana, nidhidhyásana [1], japa and dhyana. In the past I wasted a lot of time running after imaginary things – mirages. I was sunk in so many dogmas – temporary and ephemeral allurements, thinking they are my permanent shelter.
In the past I was involved in spreading various dogmas: Thinking that some human beings are low and some human beings are high, creating disparities & differentiations, giving unnecessary importance to temporary and worldly status etc. By this way, so much time and money went in vain. My whole life drifted in this way.
O' Divine Entity, now by Your grace I have understood that only You are the eternal truth. Baba, please come to me; I want to surrender...
END NOTES FOR PRABHATA SAMGIITA #3776:
[1] Shravana, Manana, Nididya’sana: Here below Baba explains the great import of these three devotional practices.
Baba says, “To attain Him human beings have to take recourse to shravana (constantly hearing His name), manana (constantly ideating on Him) and nididya’sana (constantly meditating on Him). The Supreme Entity is Gurha, that is, He is lying hidden in the innermost recess of the human entity. To attain Him one must penetrate deep within oneself, and for that the development of an introversial outlook is essential.” (Tattva Kaomudi – 3)
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