Questioner: Hello, James. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these questions.
If neither the body nor the mind is mine, why should I take any responsibility for it?
James: If you are willing to take whatever karma is due the body and mind with a glad heart, there is no reason why you should take responsibility. But if you don’t get your thinking to align with What you are, i.e. awareness, then your body-mind will default to its present program and will suffer and enjoy accordingly, which is to say that you will just get more of the same. So if you want the subtle body to grow in light and love, you are free to manage it for predominant sattva. Generally, if you ignore your equipment entropy, i.e. tamoguna, it takes over and your apparent life degrades.
Questioner: And another side question, it is often said that, what happens is one’s karma, but whose karma is being alluded to here? Since the body-mind is a product of this life’s circumstances, to what or whom does karma accrue?
James: It accrues to the account of the doer of the karma. The “who” is the subtle body, the sentient human being. If you want to beat karma, then you need to identify with the What, i.e. awareness, since it is unaffected by karma.
Questioner: According to the scripture, it’s the subtle body that transmigrates, but even if this is the case, the subtle body doesn’t have any identity of its own.
James: That’s right. The subtle body is a material instrument. It is not actually sentient, so it can’t do karma. Only the Self under the spell of Maya can do karma.
These are my thoughts.
