Introduction
In his book "Karma," Sadhguru offers a fresh perspective on a concept that has long been misunderstood and often misinterpreted. Many people think of karma as a system of cosmic justice, rewarding good deeds and punishing bad ones. However, Sadhguru presents a more nuanced and empowering view of karma, one that puts us in control of our own destiny.
This book serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding karma from a yogic perspective. It delves into the scientific nature of karma, explaining how it operates on multiple levels of our existence and how we can use this knowledge to live more fulfilling lives. Sadhguru's insights offer a path to liberation from the cycles of suffering and rebirth, showing us how to approach karma in a way that brings hope, joy, and freedom.
The True Nature of Karma
Karma is Self-Generated
One of the most fundamental misconceptions about karma is that it's an external force acting upon us. Many people believe that when good or bad things happen to them, it's because of their past actions catching up with them. However, Sadhguru explains that karma is actually something we generate within ourselves.
Karma isn't a cosmic ledger of good and bad deeds. Instead, it's an internal cycle that we create through our responses to life's experiences. Every time we encounter a stimulus, we have a mental reaction, which triggers a chemical reaction in our body, leading to a physical sensation. This sensation then reinforces the mental and chemical fluctuations, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.
Over time, these responses form patterns that shape our personality and influence how we perceive and interact with the world. This process occurs not just in our minds, but at multiple levels, including our cells and genes. In essence, karma is like a software program we write for ourselves, running repetitively and creating predictable outcomes.
The Role of Volition in Karma
Another crucial aspect of karma that Sadhguru emphasizes is the importance of volition – the intention behind our actions. It's not just what we do that matters, but why we do it. In fact, our thoughts and intentions can accumulate karma even if we don't act on them.
Sadhguru illustrates this with an example: harboring hatred and wishing harm on someone, even without acting on these feelings, can accumulate more negative karma than an impulsive act of violence. This is because karma is fundamentally about the patterns we create in our minds and energy, not just our physical actions.
This understanding of karma puts a great deal of power and responsibility in our hands. We're not at the mercy of fate or destiny; instead, we're constantly creating our own destiny through our thoughts, intentions, and actions. By becoming more conscious of this process, we can start to shape our karma more intentionally.
The Eight Dimensions of Memory
To truly understand karma, Sadhguru explains that we need to grasp the concept of memory as understood in yogic tradition. Everything we've ever experienced through our five senses is stored within us, and we respond to all of it, even memories we're not consciously aware of.
Yogic tradition recognizes eight dimensions of memory:
- Elemental
- Atomic
- Evolutionary
- Genetic
- Karmic
- Sensory
- Articulate
- Inarticulate
The first four dimensions relate to our collective karma – the way we've been shaped by the elements and the genetics of our species. The last four dimensions are where our personal volition comes into play.
All of these memories exist in what's called sanchita, a vast warehouse of karmic memory that we carry with us through multiple lifetimes. However, we don't have access to all of this memory in a single lifetime. Instead, we work with a portion of it, called allotted karma, which is like the hard drive of our current life.
Unloading Karma: The Ultimate Goal
Understanding karma isn't just an intellectual exercise – it's meant to guide us towards a specific goal. According to yogic tradition, our ultimate destination is to merge back into pure intelligence or consciousness, often referred to as God or the divine.
What prevents us from reaching this goal is our attachment to our individuality and our efforts to maintain it. This attachment is what creates and accumulates karma. Therefore, the goal of spiritual practice is to unload or erase this karma.
Karma operates primarily on three levels: our physical bodies, our minds, and our "energy bodies." Even when our physical bodies become frail and our minds fail us, our karmic memory persists in our energy bodies.
The portion of karma we need to work with in our current lifetime is called allotted karma. Our goal is to empty this out, which is challenging because almost any feeling or action creates more karma, called actionable karma. If we become entangled in our actions and thoughts, we create future karma that we'll have to deal with later, either in this lifetime or the next.
It's important to note that not all memories are bad or need to be erased. Memories only become problematic when they create boundaries and limitations, weighing us down with karma. The key is to consciously distance ourselves from our karma without becoming detached from life. Sadhguru advises being involved with people and the world around us, but not entangled.
Choosing How to Work with Karma
While we can't choose the karma we're born with, we have complete control over how we respond to it and what we do with it. This is where the power of volition comes into play again.
Sadhguru illustrates this with a story about a yogi who misinterprets a divine message, choosing to emulate a crippled fox rather than a brave lion. The moral is that we always have a choice in how we interpret and respond to our circumstances.
When it comes to working with our karma, intention is crucial. If we perform good deeds or acts of service with self-conscious motives or out of a sense of duty, we may actually accumulate more karma rather than dissolving it. The key is to act either with total awareness or complete abandon.
Any action – whether it's a job, a performance, or a simple errand – should be embraced and done with total absorption. When these acts are performed with joy and love, they become an offering, helping to dissolve karma rather than create more of it.
This approach to life can transform our existence from a pursuit of happiness to an expression of happiness. By fostering a conscious desire to live in bliss here on Earth, we can create a heaven within ourselves.
Working with Karma on Three Levels
Sadhguru explains that we must work to erase our karma on three levels: the physical, the psychological, and the energetic.
Physical Level
On the physical level, even simple actions like shaking hands can create karmic energy and leave a karmic imprint. This is why some spiritual traditions emphasize practices like limiting physical contact or being selective about accepting food from others.
To dislodge karmic energy on the physical level, yoga can be particularly effective. The stretching and movement involved in yoga practices can help shed karmic energy. In general, vigorous physical work is a good starting point for those seeking to reduce their karmic load.
Certain physical spaces can also have an effect on karma. Places where mystics have spent significant time often exude a cleansing energy. Even certain times of the year in specific geographical locations can have a purifying effect on karma.
Psychological Level
On the psychological level, the most important thing is to cultivate a deep acceptance of the present moment. While memories of the past and imagination of the future can be sources of happiness, they become problematic when they lead to victimhood or passivity.
Understanding that the present moment is the only reality is crucial for staying focused and mindful. This awareness allows us to harmonize with everything around us, reducing the accumulation of new karma and helping to dissolve existing karma.
Energetic Level
The energy level is perhaps the most subtle and profound level on which karma operates. Our energy body, unlike our physical and mental bodies, persists beyond a single lifetime, carrying our accumulated karma with it.
Advanced spiritual practitioners are able to discard their energy body's karma through practices like yoga and meditation. Those who achieve complete enlightenment are able to rid their energy body of all karma, allowing them to merge with the divine upon death.
Sadhguru uses the analogy of a pond to illustrate this concept. We're all like buckets of water drawn from the same pond of consciousness. The bucket (our individuality) is an illusion, and enlightened beings are able to pour themselves back into the pond, recognizing no separation between themselves and the world around them.
Karma and Death
Understanding the relationship between karma and death is crucial for grasping the full scope of karmic theory. According to Sadhguru, if we haven't worked out our allotted karma when our physical body is destroyed, we become a disembodied person – an intense energy body without a physical form, often described as a ghost.
In this disembodied state, it's much harder to work out karma because all extremes of karma are intensified. This is why it's better to attend to karma while we're still in our physical bodies.
The ultimate goal, from a karmic perspective, is to time the complete shedding of karma with the moment of physical death. This allows for a complete merging with the divine, escaping the cycle of rebirth.
Living Joyfully: The Ultimate Lesson of Karma
At its core, the concept of karma as explained by Sadhguru is about recognizing and transcending the illusion of our individuality. Our attachment to this illusion is what creates and perpetuates karma.
Understanding karma doesn't necessarily require belief in rebirth or past lives. What's most important is recognizing how our thoughts, intentions, and actions create patterns that shape our experience of life.
The key to spiritual freedom from karma, according to Sadhguru, is to stop asking the question "What about me?" The process of shedding karma and progressing toward the divine involves divesting ourselves of our attachments and emptying out everything that makes us feel separate and individual.
By understanding and working with karma in this way, we can live more joyfully and consciously in the present moment. We can engage fully with life without becoming entangled in it, experiencing the world with love and awareness while steadily reducing our karmic load.
Practical Advice for Working with Karma
Sadhguru offers several practical suggestions for those who want to start working with their karma:
Practice mindfulness: Stay aware of your thoughts, intentions, and actions throughout the day. This awareness is the first step in changing karmic patterns.
Act with joy and love: Approach your daily tasks and interactions with a sense of joy and love, rather than duty or obligation. This attitude can transform ordinary actions into karma-dissolving offerings.
Engage in physical practices: Regular yoga or other forms of vigorous physical activity can help dislodge karmic energy stored in the body.
Meditate: Regular meditation practice can help you distance yourself from your thoughts and emotions, reducing the creation of new karma.
Cultivate present-moment awareness: Remind yourself frequently that the present moment is the only reality. This can help reduce the karmic load created by dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
Practice non-attachment: While engaging fully with life, try to avoid becoming overly attached to outcomes or possessions. This can help reduce the accumulation of new karma.
Serve others: Engage in acts of service without expectation of reward. This can help dissolve existing karma and prevent the accumulation of new karma.
Study with a teacher: If possible, seek guidance from a knowledgeable spiritual teacher who can provide personalized advice on working with karma.
Conclusion
"Karma" by Sadhguru offers a profound and empowering perspective on a concept that has often been misunderstood. By presenting karma not as an external system of cosmic justice, but as an internal process that we generate and control, Sadhguru places the power to shape our destiny firmly in our own hands.
The book challenges us to look beyond surface-level understandings of cause and effect, delving into the subtle realms of intention, energy, and consciousness. It shows us how our every thought and action contributes to the shaping of our experience, not just in this lifetime but potentially across many lifetimes.
At the same time, "Karma" is not just a theoretical treatise. It offers practical guidance on how to work with our karma, providing tools and techniques for reducing our karmic load and moving towards greater freedom and joy. From physical practices like yoga to mental disciplines like meditation and mindfulness, Sadhguru outlines a comprehensive approach to karmic management.
Perhaps most importantly, the book presents a vision of spiritual evolution that is both inspiring and achievable. It suggests that by understanding and working with our karma, we can move beyond the limitations of our individual existence and merge with the divine consciousness that underlies all of reality.
In a world where many people feel at the mercy of circumstances beyond their control, "Karma" offers a message of hope and empowerment. It reminds us that we are the authors of our own destiny, capable of shaping our experience through conscious choice and action.
Whether you're a longtime student of Eastern philosophy or someone newly curious about the concept of karma, this book provides valuable insights and practical wisdom. It invites us to take responsibility for our lives, to live with greater awareness and intention, and to embark on a journey of spiritual growth and self-realization.
By presenting karma not as a burden to be feared but as a tool for personal and spiritual development, Sadhguru opens up new possibilities for living a life of joy, freedom, and purpose. "Karma" is ultimately a guidebook for those seeking to understand the deeper workings of existence and to align themselves more fully with the flow of life.