Hari
OM
Story-day is for cultural exploration, puraanas and
parables and finding out about leading lights in spiritual philosophy.
The first half of a lengthy piece is given
today. Gurudev's words are always filled with colour and insights - sometimes
so blindingly clear, we wonder how we missed the point ourselves!
The Law of
Karma has been often misunderstood as the Law of Destiny. There is indeed a lot
of difference between the Law of Karma and the Law of Destiny. Had our Law of
Karma been equal to the Law of Destiny, the Hindu civilisation would have been
long ago ended like the Roman or the Egyptian civilisation. The Law of Destiny
has a corroding effect upon the human heart, and in a short time, it renders its
followers to be mere ineffectual lotus-eaters. If a nation depends entirely
upon the Law of Destiny to guide it, it shall fall and become a country of
narrow-minded, inactive animals.
On the
other hand, a people believing in the Law of Karma and who live up to it,
become a generation of spiritual giants and dynamic citizens. The Law of Karma
is based upon the final conclusion that this life is not an end in itself but
is just one of the little incidents in the Eternal Existence of each of us.
Among us, each one is a type and has a life different from the other. The
destiny of one is obviously different from that of the other. Had this been the
very first and the last of our births; we should have had a more uniform
experience in life.
Let us
suppose that we have just ‘fallen’ from Truth or Reality into this momentous
and calamitous misunderstanding, then we should not have such a dissimilar
scheme, of each Ego living its own life of unique joys and woes. When we
enquire, with the causes of great differences among human beings we are driven
to the conclusion that having risen from different ’causes’, each of us should
manifest as a different ‘effect.’ Effects depend upon their causes. This life
in which we are living is only one of our incarnations. We have had many
incarnations in the past, and probably, many more shall come to our lot. From
birth to death and from death to birth, the whirl goes on, but we do not
appreciate it or understand it because we are viewing life from a very
circumscribed point of view.
We think
that life means the period spent by us between our birth and our death, and
what we see and experience around during this interval is life. Supposing there
hangs a picture painted on a canvas. To see the entire picture painted
on it, we have to step back to some distance, and only then can we see the
whole view, the rhythm of the colours, the beauty of the curves, etc.
Similarly, when Life is viewed, in its nearer perspective, we find that it is
illogical, unrhythmic, etc. In detachment, we will have to move away from our
present Life to view the whole Life and understand it as such.
Some of us
blame the Creator for our unfortunate lives, and despair by saying ‘it is all
our FATE.’ You should understand that there is a Rhythm in the Universe, in
that the planets ‘move’ regularly, the stars ‘ride their appointed paths, etc.
Everywhere there is the Law of Rhythm, and everything conforms to that Law.
Only when we come to the subject of Life, we say “there is no Rhythm and there
is no logic or system in it.”
It is not
so. We are the various ‘effects’ rising from different ’causes.’ The ’causes’
being different, the ‘effects’ are different. Thus, each of our actions of the
past has its own reactions, and each of us must have a treasure-house of the
entire-past-actions. This is called the Sanchita Karma. We all should
understand that at the end of living, the ‘fruits’ allotted for the life are
called Prarabdha; on departing, each should take the next form according to the
pattern ordained by the ripened ones in our total Sanchita Karma.
Let me
explain it more clearly. Suppose I have a piece of land divided into plots. In
one, I plant coconut seedlings, in the second seeds of lady’s-finger and in the
third, mango seeds. In order to germinate, grow and yield fruit, each seed
would take its own time. This is very well known to us. Similarly, each of our
actions has got its own time limit for its fruition. Every action has got its
own reaction; certain actions give their reactions immediately, while others
will provide their reactions only after an interval. To enjoy and suffer the
reactions of the past actions, each of us needs certain joys and sorrows, and in
order to bring forth these required experiences, each must have a definite
‘field’ of his own experiences. The word Loka does not merely indicate its
generally accepted meaning: 'the world'. Loka means the special world in which I live my own inner experiences, the
external world-of-objects remaining almost the same for all. Loka
etymologically means a field of experience.
Again,
people misunderstand the real meaning of Prarabdha when they take the word to
mean all the failure, impotence and weakness in them. If we are to be guided by
this delusion, the Prarabdha, in every act of ours, there is no room for
self-improvement through self-effort (purushaartha). There are some who console
themselves by saying that, ‘I have no faith or love in God, and it is my
‘Prarabdha.’ This is a defeatist mentality. So far as we entertain and live in
a defeatist mentality, we cannot expect any progress. Without personal morale,
we cannot work for our progress.
From where
does this Purushartha come in if Prarabdha orders every action? That we have
been given by the Divine Being a limited freedom is the truth. For example, we
cannot bend a piece of rail as it is but supposing this rail-piece is beaten
out and made into a chain, the rail-matter becomes very easily pliable.
Similarly, when a cow is tied to a rope in the centre of pasture land, she is
not free to graze the entire field but she can move freely within that circle
drawn by that rope. Again, Man, though he has taken his body to live a fixed
Prarabdha can reach the Supreme Goal of life by living the freedom allowed to
him from moment to moment.
No doubt, we have come here into this world to enjoy and suffer for
certain of our past Karmas, through the circumstances ordered by our Prarabdha,
and there is provision for us to discriminate and act rightly. For example, is
there not a certain amount of freedom in choosing whether we should go to a
cinema or a Satsang? Every moment in our life there is a challenge posed by
these lines: ‘Shall I do this or shall I do that.’ There are two ways to deal
with each challenge. Two distinct paths are open to us – the Path of the Good (shreyas) and the Path of the Pleasant
(preyas). We find ourselves from moment to moment, standing at the junction of
these two paths. Often we are at a loss to decide which route to pursue. There
is a tussle between Satan and God in us at such a moment of trial. By adopting
the Path of the Pleasant, man cannot get, in the long run, his full
satisfaction. This is the experience of all. One who has adopted the path of
the Good gains peace of mind. Slowly, the former, under the impact of repeated
disappointments, will come to think that he should go through the Path of the Good.
...tbc...