Donna: I’m not sure I fully believe in the Prarabdha karma I’ve had a fair amount of illness (so much for organic food, no alcohol, etc) this jiva must have done some horrible stuff in past lives. Then it probably doesn’t work like that. There is a possibility the haemorrhage might have come from an old brain injury that occurred some years ago when I fell coming down a mountain & landed on my head. That day I hadn’t felt well & was undecided whether to go or not. I was taking 2 friends didn’t want to let them down & decide to go, had I listened to myself I would not have gone. Yet I don’t want to blame myself. How was I to know?
Sundari: Who is the ‘I’ above, the one that does not believe in prarabdha karma, and what does belief have to do with karma? Nobody asks for the karma they receive in this life, even if they think they do. As stated in our previous exchange, prarabdha karma is the momentum of past actions, either by the current jiva or its predecessor, who’s to know? All you can know for sure is that it comes from Isvara who never makes mistakes. Maya is inscrutable.
As for eating well and taking care of the body, we can take action to gain a given result but whether we like it or not, the Field of Existence alone determines the result. It is possible to take the right action with the right attitude and still get a result we do not want because the Field of Existence or Isvara considers what is in our karma account as well as the needs of the Total. Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they do not, but the needs of the Total always come first.
Additionally, there are so many factors in the field responsible for the smallest of actions/outcomes, it is impossible to point a finger directly at anything or anyone. It is totally ridiculous to blame oneself or anyone else for any karma because the doer is only one component of any action or outcome. Only someone who is totally ignorant of Isvara, who is the only doer, can falsely claim ownership of or blame anyone for karma.
Except that Isvara is not an actual doer either because the creation is not real and Isvara is not a person. Isvara is called karma phala datta because it alone provides jiva with the field within which to work out its karma. Whatever karma we must work out is our lot in life as a jiva and its true purpose is to drive the mind into self-inquiry so that Self-knowledge can free it of Self-ignorance.
Karma itself is neutral; we either like it or hate it, identify with it as a jiva or we don’t because we know we are not the jiva but the Self. There is no karma for the Self. When karma is looked upon as a function of the invariable laws of action, or what is even better, if it is looked upon as the grace of the Field of Existence, peace of mind is maintained.
Yes of course we all want to maintain good health and optimum functionality as a jiva, but ultimately, the body is designed to break, break down and return to Isvara. And that has nothing to do with who you are as the unbreakable Self. Surrender to Isvara means that we can love our karma whatever it may be, because it comes from Isvara, and we share the same identity with Isvara as the Self. So, loving your karma is devotion to the Self.
Donna: I need to practice Vedanta more than ever, yet my day is taken up with just trying to manage activities of daily living. My mantra I am the Self keeps me going. I could recover totally too. I’m very determined. I get overwhelmed too. I turn it over to Isvara & practice gratitude.
Sundari: Taking a stand in Awareness as Awareness is your best lifeline. Putting the knowledge into practice means karma yoga and guna yoga: observe the gunas. Keep up a devotional practice, read the scripture every day. As I said in my last email to you, illness makes the mind extroverted/fearful (rajasic) and dull (tamasic). It is easy to allow those two imposters to take over. I know it is hard now, but if sattva, peace of mind is the aim, taking your karma as a gift will be the attitude you bring to everything. Sameness of mind is the essence of sattva.
Karma Yoga means responding appropriately to what life asks on a moment-to-moment basis. Knowing that all karma is up to Isvara, karma yoga is an attitude of gratitude and loving consecration based on the understanding that despite the hardships, life is a great gift that requires reciprocation. It is accepting all results (karma) with equanimity.
There is no point railing against our karma, what good with that do? It will only increase the suffering. The whole point of suffering is to free the mind of identification with the Subtle body. Things happen or seem to happen as they must in the dream of mithya, it is a perfectly ordered system. Only Isvara, who is behind it all is omniscient and can see the whole picture. But for you, the Self, nothing ever happens.
In cultivating the right attitude toward life, one performs one’s daily duty by conforming to the pattern and harmony of creation and thus become alive to the beauty of the cosmic order, regardless of how good or bad one is feeling.
Much love
Sundari
