Mantra Yoga

This blog is about my experiences with mantra meditation or japa. The purpose is to both inspire and be inspired by others in doing sadhana. All of us are the ordinary children of God, who have access to His extraordinary life-transforming Name or Mantra. My Guru Sivananda says "Religion means 'To Do'. It is only the one two little acts that you actually do, that constitute religion and spirituality. To rise early and take the name of the Lord for ten minutes is what real dharma is."

Thursday, 16 November 2023

Karma, tapas and Kartika

Hari Aum.

As spiritual seekers, we know that the law of karma forms the basis for everything in life. It is the basis of our fortunes and misfortunes, for health, wealth, family, friends, peace and joy. It forms the basis for all material happiness and success.

From a spiritual perspective, success or progress depends upon the extent to which we are able to free ourselves from the shackles of our karma. Our Gurus tell us that spiritual progress requires us to stop creating new karma (both 'good' and 'bad'). This is because, as long as we keep creating new karma, we will have to be reborn in the material realm to experience their results. Furthermore, we need to pay off the karmic debts that we have already created.

As karma is so important in spiritual life, our Gurus tell us that it is vital for us to have a proper understanding of this subject. So, let us look at the subject in a bit more detail.

What is the law of karma? What is its origin and why does it exist? What are the three types of karma? What do we need to do with regard to them in order to progress spiritually? I would like to delve into this a little in this post.

The law of karma states that every action produces a result. Its basis is our free will. As individual souls, we each have free will given to us by God. We each have a choice as to how we act at every moment in our lives.

Once we act, however, the law of karma takes over. This divine law requires us to be prepared to face the consequences of our own actions-- and these may or may not turn out quite as we intended. In general, good actions produce happiness, and bad actions produce sorrow according to this law.

What is good and what is bad? The answer lies in the yama and niyama, or yogic ethics. That which involves non-violence, truthfulness, control of the senses and worship of the Divine is good; this will bring joy both materially and spiritually. That which involves the reverse is bad; this will bring us sorrow both in material and spiritual life.

So, God gives us the freedom to weigh up our choices and act as we see fit. We can choose to adhere to dharma/righteousness or adharma/unrighteousness when we make decisions in life and act. However, He/She then gives us the just and proper results of our own actions.

The wheel of karma may turn slowly, but it turns surely. There is no escaping this divine law. One day or another, in one lifetime or another, the results of our actions, both positive and negative, will come to us.

What is the origin of the law of karma and why does it exist? The origin of the law of karma is God. They may be various reasons for its existence but a key one is that it ensures justice within the universe, it ensures righteousness or dharma is upheld. It allows the material realm to function in accordance with the will of God. (Note: there are also names of Narayana or Vishnu in the famous prayer, the Vishnu Sahasranama, that praise Him as the Creator and upholder of the law of karma e.g. "Vidhata" and "Bhavanah". https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/vishnu/vishnu_1.html)

What is the origin of karma itself; what compels us to create karma? The yogis would say that the root cause of karma or actions that bind us to samsara (the eternal cycle of birth and death in the material world) is kama or desire. Kama includes every type of material desire that can be thought of; it is the desire for anything other than God.

Therefore kama or desire needs to be overcome for us to be able to transcend karma. It is the intention or thought behind our actions that differentiates karmas as good or bad, and as material or spiritual. We will come back to this point again later when we discuss the technique to transcend karma, the method to avoid creating new karma.

What are the three types of karmas that are said to exist? And what must we do to transcend these in order to attain our spiritual goal which is realisation of our divine nature as one with God?

The three types of karma are:

1. Those karmas created in the past that are not to produce results in this lifetime (these are reserved for future lifetimes)-- this is known as 'sanchita karma' in Sanskrit.

The yogis tell us that we have each been born many times on Earth. This is the realm where karma is created, and the only one where it can be completely transcended to attain God. Thus, we each have vast number of past karmas, both good and bad.

To use an example to understand the various types of karma, imagine a farmer with a large number of seeds lying hidden within the soil of his field. Some of these seeds will produce sweet fruits (these are good karmas that will give happiness) and some will produce bitter fruits (these are bad karmas that will give sorrow in the future). The seeds are in the field ready to germinate but they have not yet done so-- they are presently in a dormant state.

This is sanchita karma. This type of karma can be prevented from fructifying through spiritual practice (we will come back to this a bit later).

2. Those karmas created in the past that are in the process of producing results in this lifetime-- this is known as 'prarabdha karma'.

Prarabdha karma is the portion of past karma that is meant to bear fruit or give results in this specific lifetime. This type of karma cannot be escaped; it must bear fruit.

However, through spiritual practice, through the grace of God and Guru, we can acquire the mental strength to bear it with equanimity. That is the approach advised by the yogis for this type of karma.

To continue the analogy of the farmer above, imagine that a section of the seeds in his field are now germinating, growing and bearing fruit-- both sweet and bitter. He is compelled to pluck the sweet and bitter fruits from the plants and eat these (he must accept the results of his past actions). This is the unavoidable prarabdha karma of this lifetime-- the allocated portion of joy and sorrow that must be experienced as a result of our own past actions.

3. That karma that is currently being created-- this is known as 'agami karma'.

This is the karma that we have the most control over. This is the karma or actions we are creating in this lifetime-- today, now, at this very moment in our lives. These are our actions that will produce results in the future (potentially in this and other lifetimes).

To use the analogy of the farmer again, these are the new seeds that he is sowing in his field. Like the previous seeds, these too will yield a mixture of sweet and bitter fruits, and he will need to eat them in the future.

As spiritual aspirants, our Gurus firmly tell us to stop sowing new karmas or seeds (in the field of our 'causal body' or 'karmic storehouse'). This is vitally important as spiritual liberation can only be attained when all karma has been paid off or exhausted. Along with dealing with past karma, therefore, we must stop creating new karma.

But how? How can we achieve this challenging aim of not creating new karma for ourselves in this lifetime?

The Gurus say the answer is simple. They tell us that, as long as we feel that we are the doer of our actions, as long as we perform actions with selfish intent, we will create karma and have to reap the results.

The technique to overcome karma, according to them, is therefore to:

1. Perform actions without a sense of egoistic doership, perform actions with the feeling that it is 'not I but God' who is the ultimate doer. It is He/She alone who is ultimately the true doer of all actions.

As the yogis say, "Without the will of God, not even a leaf can move". Therefore, we need to keep reminding ourselves that it is "not I but God" who is the real doer and dedicate all actions to Him/Her as a form of worship. Then our actions become 'karma yoga' not karma, and become an important spiritual practice.

2. Perform actions without selfishness as far as possible, i.e. perform actions in accordance with dharma or yama/niyama. This includes having a healthy balance between our needs and those of others-- the guiding principle here is 'do as you would be done by'. Such actions become fit to offer as worship of God.

On a practical level, for most of us, it takes time (a great deal of time, may be a lifetime or more) to really learn the art of 'karma yoga'. It takes much time and a truly heroic effort to overcome the lower mind and develop the art of performing actions as a form of worship of God.

And we may fail many a time. But that is ok, say our Gurus. 'Failures are the stepping stones to success' says Swami Sivananda encouragingly. We need not despair, therefore, we just need to keep at it, keep trying day after day after day.

Let us come back again briefly to 'sanchita karma', the giant storehouse of our past karmas of innumerable lifetimes. The yogis tell us we need to destroy these karmas to prevent having to take birth over and over again to experience the results associated with them.

How shall we destroy our vast storehouse of good and bad past karmas, our sanchita karma? The answer is spiritual practice-- known as sadhana, or tapas in Sanskrit.

The word 'taapa' in Sanskrit means 'pain' (mental or physical)-- this forms the basis of the word 'tapas'. The word 'tapa' in Sanskrit means to be 'heated' or to burn. It is no coincidence that the root of the verb meaning to perform spiritual practice or austerities involves an element of burning and pain.

Fire is said to be a great purifier in the yogic tradition. The yogis say we need to burn away all internal impurities in the fire of tapas in order to attain realisation of our true divine nature. "No pain, no gain" they say when it comes to spiritual life.

Tapas therefore includes the active performance of spiritual activities, including mantra japa, homam, puja, selfless service of other living beings and so on and so forth. It includes the development of devotion.

And a very important aspect of tapas, which the mind generally does not like at all, is the development of an element of tolerance towards pain (especially that is given unasked for, maybe even apparently undeservingly) by life.

This pain may be mental or physical or both; it may include trouble from within and without. The three sources of pain according to the yogis are ourselves (our own mind and body), other living beings (people, animals, birds, insects etc) and the forces of nature (floods/famines/fires/earthquakes etc).

Developing a serene tolerance towards pain takes time, and certainly does not mean foolishly and deliberately inflicting pain upon ourselves (and most certainly not upon others; being sadistic/masochistic in any form is against yogic ethics and only creates more bad karma which significantly hinders our spiritual progress). What it does mean, according to our Gurus, is being as gracious and accepting as we can be when things do not go the way we want in life.

It involves a gradual development of a serene acceptance of life as it is, in all aspects, both spiritual and material. It involves a firm conviction that whatever happens is for the highest good as ordained by God because of the understanding that "Not even a leaf moves without the will of God".

This attitude of tapas comes to us gradually by the grace of God as we continue with various spiritual practices. Again it can take years or a lifetime or more to fully develop this quality and we just need to patiently keep at it. Mantra japa is a particularly helpful technique in developing this attitude according to Sivananda and other Gurus.

The Gurus tell us "You came alone, and you will go alone". "Only your sadhana and karmas will follow you". "Therefore do sadhana and perform good deeds" they say, "Only then can you expect any happiness". The mind may not like this very much as it requires effort, herculean effort in fact, to go against the lower self. But this is the price we must be willing to pay if we wish to progress spiritually.

And the good news is that our Gurus and yogis are with us every step of the way, their blessings are always with us as we trudge along the arduous spiritual path.

This why the yogis sing the song "Jis haal mein, jis desh mein, jis vesh mein raho, Radha-Raman, Radha-Raman, Radha-Raman kaho" -- which essentially means, whatever condition or situation you find yourself in, repeat the name of God and thus obtain His blessings.

On that note, we are currently in another very auspicious month from a spiritual perspective-- this is the lunar month known as 'Kartika'. This month, the eighth of the Vedic lunar calendar, is regarded as being sacred to Narayana and contains a number of important spiritual festivals including Diwali and Govardhan puja. The full moon day of this month, known as 'Kartika purnima', is especially significant as a day for spiritual practice.

Please see below for a link explaining these in a bit more detail and with the relevant dates:

https://www.drikpanchang.com/festivals/festivals-kartik.html

This month is a very good time to renew spiritual vows and commitments, take up new spiritual practices and worship God and Guru. It is a particularly auspicious time to worship the Krishna avatara of Narayana, to remember His Lilas and perform mantra japa, pujas and homams to Him.

In other words, it is a time that is most conducive to the overcoming of past karmas, both good and bad, and to perform tapas to obtain the blessings of God and Guru.

As this month is dedicated to the worship of Lord Krishna in particular, I will conclude this post with the very popular devotional prayer addressed to Him known as the "Madhura-ashtakam" or "song of sweetness" ('madhura' means 'sweet' in Sanskrit).

This consists of eight slokas ('ashtakam') and was composed by the famous saint, Sri Vallabha acharya, who lived in India in the fifteenth century. He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna and composed many beautiful hymns and prayers in His praise-- this goes as follows:

Madhurashtakam: the song of sweetness in praise of Sri Krishna

(This has many references to Lord Krishna's childhood Lilas as a cowherd boy in Vrindavana)

Adharam madhuram, vadanam madhuram, (Sweet are His lips and sweet is His face,)

Nayanam madhuram, hasitam madhuram, (Sweet are His eyes and sweet is His laugh)

Hridayam madhuram, gamanam madhuram, (Sweet is His heart and sweet is His walk)