Understanding Karma

Karma means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect).

As per Hindu Religion, the Soul remains and gets manifested in different bodies across births, till it reaches its final destiny of Moksha. So the ultimate goal of soul is to attain Moksha, ie to reach the abode of God, the parabhahman. But this is not easy.

The Karma's performed by soul determines how long it takes to attain Moksha and what are the happiness and sufferings the body containing the soul has to go through across different births. The Soul without body cannot experience either happiness or suffering. That is why God blesses it with a body to experience the happiness and sufferings as per the Karma's it performs across births. Till the Karma's dont get exhausted and there is something to be experienced by the Soul, the cycle of birth and death continues.

So the whole concept of human taking birth empty handed is wrong. They come in with accumulated Karma of past life and also leave the world with accumulated Karma based on actions they performed between birth and death.

The whole Karma can be classified into 3 major types.

1) Sanchitha Karma - These are the Karma's( Good and Bad) of the past life, that were not fructified in that life and are carried over to the next birth of the soul. 

The reason for the carry forward may be because those Karma's require time to fructify. We can understand this by example of drinking ice cold water and immediately we catch cold. But if we keep consuming alcohol for a certain period and then leave its consumption,certainly there will be an effect on the liver, which will be reflected after many years.

2) Prarabdha Karma - These are the Karma's that are carried forward from past life into present life and that which are going to be fructified or experienced by the body of the soul in the current birth.These are part of Sanchitha Karma, that will be experienced in current birth.

3) Kriyamana Karma or Agami Karma - These are Karma's carried out in current birth, that will be accumulated for the future.These will be added to the Sanchitha karma for future births.

In the three categories we have total control over the Kriyamana Karma. We should properly think twice before performing actions and make sure our action do not affect any human, any life or nature etc. We will be accumulating good karma for future if we perform good Kriyamana Karma now.

So now we can clearly understand why some people in this life though keep doing good things and are very good suffer a lot, while some people who are really bad and do all kind of bad activities live a happy life. Reason is Karmic Cycle. 

The Soul through this birth and body experiences the pain and suffering that were fructified due the bad karmas of the past life while accumulating good Sanchita Karma through the various good Kriyamana Karma that it is performing in the current birth. This is the former case of a good person suffering in this current birth.

The Soul through this birth and body experiences happiness and pleasure that were fructified due to good karmas of the past life while accumulating bad Sanchitha Karma through the various bad Kriyamana Karma that it is performing in the current birth. This is the latter case of bad person enjoying in this current birth.

The Karmic Cycle can be broken by the three spiritual ways - Gyana Yoga - Perform good actions after analyzing and understanding the principles of Karma. Do only good actions., Bhakthi Yoga - Devotion to God and Karma Yoga - Perform good actions.

The Karmic cycles are repetitive and almost occur in cycle at same frequency and time. We should be conscious enough to understand it and break it by devotion to God.

They are not new Inventions- They existed much earlier

We flaunt about various inventions and discoveries that we have done in in modern world. Especially the West, without realizing that these existed way back as per our Indian Tradition. Just that we had done injustice by not having understood the methodology based on which the technologies were developed and having lost the technique to reproduce them. Hence we could not claim that we had them already with us during the times these were rediscovered. The main reason for this being our misfortune and our ignorance and our attitude towards our own rich heritage. We kept ignoring them and respecting that which is outside our tradition.

Below I give list of such examples.

1) Pushpaka Vimana - Used by Ravan to abduct Sita Devi. This Vimana travelled in air and cross the ocean to take Sita Devi from India to Srilanka. This was many centuries before aeroplane was invented. Many more used such vimanas during the period.

2) Brahmastra - Used by Arujna during the Mahabarath wars way before the nuclear weapons were invented. Many more such astras existed.

3) Sajayan seeing the Mahabarath war happening at a distance from home - Classic example of telescope.

4) Auto recording of Vishnu Sahasra Nama when it was recited by Bheeshma to Yudishtra by the Spatikamani that Nakula was wearing.Example of record and play back.

5) Surrogate Father hood - Seen in case of Vyasa fathering Dritarastra and Pandu as requested by Sathyavathi.

6) IVF - Birth of 100 Sons to Gandhari. The actual gestation of 100 sons from flesh is still not discovered by modern medicine yet. May be will be discovered some day.

7) Classification of plant species in Ayurveda way before modern Herbarium.

List goes on.

There are many more concepts that are found, which are waiting for modern inventions to happen, as the methodology and technology was lost

1) Method Krishna used to give Saree to Draupadi continuously from a remote place.

2) Method used by Hanuman Ji to lift the Sanjeevini Mountain and sail through the air holding it.

3) Method by which Sita Devi was born from the Boomi and went inside the Boomi.

4) Method by which Draupadi and DhritaDhyuman were born from Fire.

Here again the list goes on.

Three Paths to Realization

 Sanatahna Dharma there are three paths to realization. Realization of God, The Truth etc.

1) Gyana Yoga - This is by way of knowledge. You want to ask questions, seek and try to get the clarity on the concept and once you have the sufficient knowledge you can realize Truth, God, Brahman

2) Bakthi Yoga - This is by way of Devotion. Complete Surrender, Complete Bakthi, Faith. There should be no questions asked. You completely have faith in God, Truth that you just practice what is told to you. You realize the God, Truth through this way

3) Karma Yoga - This is by way of Action. You perform the actions and by doing the actions selflessly without expecting the results.By way of actions and experience we can realize the God. Truth.

We can take the Philosophies of the Hindu Religion. The way the Veda's and Upanishads are interpreted and understood. These also born out of constant seeking and questioning and understanding of the Vedas. We also can understand that the paths specified to realization is used in each philosophy.

1) Advaitha - This philosophy believes that the Atman and the Brahman are the same and unified. Adhi Shankara. The Gyana Yoga path is preferred one to realize God here.

2) Vishistadaviatha - This philosophy believes Advaitha but in a Qualified manner. That is Brahman is there are all Atman are parts of the Brahman. Ramanujacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as part of Brahman.

3) Dwaitha -  This philosophy believes in dualism ie the Atman and Brahman are separate and not the same. All Atman are under the case of Brahman. Madwacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as Atman under the care of Brahman.

Uniqueness of Hinduism - Ask Questions

What is it that is so distinct thing about Hinduism? As Sadhguru says, we are seekers and not preachers. Anyone who seeks gets an answer. Seeking is basically questioning. We are encouraged to question the Status -Quo, process, methodologies. We are encouraged to ask questions we dont understand.

Here I try to list down all the important questions that the seekers asked that led to great things in life.

1. Sage Valmiki Rishi seeked to know " Who was the greatest person in the world – the most accomplished, wise and compassionate?" and asked this to Naradha Maha Muni - Ramayana was born
2. Arjuna asked Krishna Baghavan " What is the use of fighting with near and dear, teachers, brothers over kingdom, what use is that kingdom off, that affect the near and dear and what use the whole fight had and dropped to fight the war" and Krishna's advice to Arjuna became the Bagavadh Geetha
3. When Krishna's friend Uddav asked questions to Krishna " On why he didnt help the Pandavas by making them not to play the game of dice, or help them to win the game of dice, or prevented them from keeping Draupadi at stakes in the game, Why he allowed Duryodhana to do what ever he did" the answers to these questions became Uddav Geetha.
4. When Yudishtir asked Bheesha on who is the only god, by worshiping whom, all sins committed byhuman is washed away and the human can attain Moksha, the answer given becomes the Jewel " Vishu Sahasranama"
5. When King Pariksheeth asks Maharishi Sukha Bramha on what the people is good for the man especially when his death is near" , the answer given becomes "Srimadh Bhagavatham"

This list goes on. This is applicable to any great Epic in Hindu Religion which was born out of questioning.

Next we can take the Philosophies of the Hindu Religion. The way the Veda's and Upanishads are interpreted and understood. These also born out of constant seeking and questioning and understanding of the Vedas.

1) Advaitha - This philosophy believes that the Atman and the Brahman are the same and unified. Adhi Shankara. The Gyana Yoga path is preferred one to realize God here.

2) Vishistadaviatha - This philosophy believes Advaitha but in a Qualified manner. That is Brahman is there are all Atman are parts of the Brahman. Ramanujacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as part of Brahman.

3) Dwaitha -  This philosophy believes in dualism ie the Atman and Brahman are separate and not the same. All Atman are under the case of Brahman. Madwacharya. Bhakthi Yoga is way to realize ourself as Atman under the care of Brahman.

Lord Hanuman

Lord Hanuman, the Guruji of the world, who is always there to guide us and help us reach lord Rama. His immense blessings always make this life so beautiful. I recently had the opportunity to listen to Amerendranath Gurji's discourse on Lord Hanuman and it has left a lasting impact on my life. How beautifully he explained the whole process of experiencing Hanuman Ji in simple words that could reach to layman like me who has no deep knowledge on Veda or Shastra's. It left me spellbound and made me clear in my pursuit to reach Lord Rama at some point of time in life, hopefully if the Lord himself blesses me to attain that state.

For my own reference and for my future reading, summarizing Guruji's discourse here.

Lord Hanuman when he was young he thought the Sun to be an orange and just swallowed it. the Sun represents the vast knowledge of Veda's and Shastra's. When in such a young age anyone consumes such a ball of fire of knowledge, the whole surrounding becomes dark, as people around fear the child may become a Brahmachari etc and want the child to pursue the normal life. Hanuman actually spits the Sun out, but however in the process, he had experienced and understood the knowledge and had become a very knowledgable child. However during his childhood, Hanuman continued to be a playful child, which represents being immersed in materialistic world. Due to this Hanuman also got a curse, that he will not know about the knowledge he holds and someone external has to remind Hanuman for Hanuman to realize his knowledge/skills.

Sundara kandh main attribute in the beauty in it- Sundaratha. Why? Anyone who is able to unit the Lord Ram and the Devi Sita is considered a great person and the whole process is so beautiful. The first time somebody did this was Vishwamitra Rishi, incidentally he is called the Sundara Rishi. He was the one instrumental in the Swayamvar of Lord Ram and Devi Sita. The second person to do this is Our Guruji Lord Hanuman. Hanuman is also so beautiful himself and all the thing he does is so beautiful.

Lord Hanuman didn't know that he had the capability and skills to actually cross the ocean to go and find Devi SitaJi. He had to be reminded by his Guruji Jambhavan on this. Jambhavan himself was of course capable of crossing the ocean, however as a good leader, he chose to select the best person capable of doing this task in the whole team and zeroed in on Hanuman. This represents the good quality of a Leader- identify the team, their skills and expose them, give them opportunity.  Once His Guruji, gave him the confidence and the guidance, Hanumanji was ready to start the Journey. He had absolute faith on the Mantra - Holy name of Lord Rama. His devotion to Lord Rama could make Hanuman achieve anything in this world.

He set off and the way he jumped into the ocean is compared to how the Arrow from Lord Ram's Banam sets off. One way and doesn't stop till the mission is achieved. Similarly Lord Hanuman set off with full vigor and lot of determination to complete the mission.

While he was flying on top of the ocean, he didn't lean on his father's strength ( his father was Vayu deva). He could have, but he didn't. He chose only his devotion on Lord Rama as his strength.

While he was on his mission, he came across three main hurdles- The Mountain- Mainika, The Rakshashi- Surasa, And another Rakshashi- Simhika.

The first hurdle is Mainika - Lord Hanuman's great grand mother and Mainika was so disturbed to see his grandson taking so much strain in crossing the ocean, that she wanted him to take some rest on her. But Hanuman told her he would rest after completing the mission. This is the same kind of hurdle we come across in our daily life in the form of love and affection while we are on our mission in life.

The second hurdle was Surasa, she wanted Hanuman to go into her mouth. Hanuman adapted himself to grow big and made Surasa open her mouth and suddenly became small and went inside her mouth and came out. Surasa represents the different pleasures, different wordly matters, that will want us to fall into it, but we should know ways to escape out of it.

The third hurdle was Simhika, who pulled Hanuman's Chayya and disabled Hanuman from flying ahead. Through Bakthi any bad quality can be won> If there is more anger, then it can be venting out that anger on people who disgrace God. If there is greed, it can be won by venting out that greed by indulging more and more on God. But if there is envy, there is no way that it can be won by Bhakthi. Hence that is the reason, Hanuman killed Simhika.

After crossing these three hurdles, Hanuman enters Lanka. The first person he sees there is Lankini and he slaps her. On getting the slap, Lankini is so happy and shows her other cheek because with this slap, she can move on praying to Lord Rama, from what she was doing till then - praying to Ravan.

Hanuman is wondering if there is any devotee at all in Lanka and he finds one Vibheeshana. How he finds him is by seeing the Thulasi Plant. So a devotee never misses to have a Thulasi plant in his house/vicinity. Also even while being in a place like Lanka under the leadership of Ravan it is possible to be devoted to Lord Ram like Vibheeshana.

So Hanuman reaches Lanka and then goes to Ashoka vana. It is called a Shoka where there is no Shoka, but Devi Sita Ji is full of Shoka in the vanam. Hanuman does not jump in front of her, but goes to the tree and does three things

1) Chants Ram nama and Rama Mahima

2) Answers the questions that Devi Sita had

3) Provides the Chudamani to Devi Sita.

These are the typical characters of a Guru. So when we are in a fix on how to find the right Guru who will guide us, we can identify such Guru's mainly by three things. First they will be themselves great Ram Bhakths. They will chant the Rama Nama always and help us get initiated into Rama nama chanting. Second they will be able to answer to all the queries we have on the wordly difficulties and bring clarity to our mind.Third they will help us get the true blessings of the Lord- Chudamani.

Thus Devi Sita Ji becomes happy to see the Chudamani and gets reunited with the Lord Rama and the whole scene is so beautiful and scenic.

In our life also all the Jeevathma's like Devi Sita get interested in Gold( Maya Dear) and crave to have the Golden Maya Dear ( Worldly pleasures). The moment we get interested and become slave to wordly pleasures our Lord will move away from us, just like how Lord Rama gets separated from Devi Sita. Once our Lord gets separated from us, we lose our mind and stress, sorrow, anger gets into our mind we tend to drive away our protector Guru also away from us, just like how Devi Sita Ji drove away Lakhsmanan ( Guru/Protector of Sita), away.

Once the Lord and the Guru move away from us, any devil can take some magical/misleading forms and cheat us. Like How Ravan the devil, dressed up like a saint and asked Biksha and mislead Devi Sita and Kidnapped her.

Once we get cheated, we are left in the wretched Ashoka Van all alone and in deep sorrow, with our Lord and Guru away from us. We are surrounded by all sorts of bad people.

That is the moment again, when we require another Guru ( Lord Hanuman Ji), to reunite us with the Lord and take away our sorrows.

Glory to Hanuman Ji. The story doesnt stop here. While he returns back to convey to Lord Rama, that he has found Devi Sita Ji, he sets up Lanka on fire, to prove that that place which is against Lord, though it may be filled with Gold and Natures blessings, will be ruined.

Glory to Lord hanuman Ji. Jai Sri Ram.

Poem on Lord Sri Rama

I have attempted poems on many topics, but never it striked to write a poem on Lord Ram. However was fortunate to be encouraged and initiated into this by my well wisher and Guruji to attempt this and the whole experience of writing about Lord Ram was so beautiful and pure magic. Feel Srirama asked me to try this through my Guruji.
Experienced Lord Ram in each word that I wrote and felt his immense blessing in the whole process.

Sri Rama - Praises to Lord Sri Rama


Sri Rama, You are embodiment of how children should Obey their Parents and this left them satisfied and pleased forever|
Pray to you Sri Dasaratha Rama, bless me, so I obey my parents as much as you||1||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of what a good student should be and it made your Guru proud of you|
Pray to you Sri Vasishta Rama, bless me, so I learn and respect all my Guru's always||2||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of Brotherly Guidance and Siblings look up-to you for guidance always|
Pray to you Sri Saumitra Rama, bless me, so I get enough knowledge to guide my siblings through difficult times||3||

Sri Rama,You are embodiment of Chastity,your love for wife,searching her bearing all difficulty is phenomenal|
Pray to you Sri Sita Rama, bless me, so I get a husband as chastic, loving and caring as you||4||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of friendship and you have helped the friends in their hour of need always|
Pray to you Sri Jithamitra Rama, bless me, so I get good friends and also be good to all my friends||5||

Sri Rama,You are embodiment of empathy and compassion and many have got salvation and blessed life through you|
Pray to you Sri Dhyaya Rama, bless me, so I act with empathy and compassion to all living beings in world ||6||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of calmness and blissfulness even in adverse situations|
Pray to you Sri Saumya Rama, bless me, so I am able to be composed and calm always especially in adversity||7||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of skill, talent and mastered the art of archery and slained the devils and evils||
Pray to you Sri Kodhanda Rama, bless me, so I also become skilled and talented in my chosen field and self reliant for my living||8||

Sri Rama you are embodiment of serving the people in your kingdom and you have heard to even the ordinary citizen in your country and sacrificed your life|
Pray to you Sri Raja Rama, bless me, to serve the people around me with utmost concern and help in their upliftment as much as possible||9||

Sri Rama, You are embodiment of reality, truth, penance, reliever of earthly ailments,  protector of the three worlds|
Pray to you Sri Sarva Rashka Rama, bless me, to be real, truthful, disease free and get salvation at your lotus feet ||10||

Sri Rama, you are embodiment of Nobleness, Giver of boons and Saviour of all those who seek you shelter and protection|
Pray to you Sri Varapradha Rama, bless me, with what ever you think is good for me during my life here and even after life,You know best||11||

Sri Rama, you are embodiment of a true master, your devotee Sri Hanuman Ji, blesses ones who are devoted to you, such is his devotion|
Pray to you Sri Hanuman Priya Rama, bless me, to become your devotee and be immersed in your devotion till I reach salvation at your feet||12||

Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama, Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama.