KARMA #3

Merit on a judgmental level is the balancing of evil and good deeds.
Merit is the credit we receive on the side of good.

Consequences are neither reward nor punishment, they simply are consequences – natural cause and effect, often not immediate but always inescapable. 

Karma is about spiritually attaining merit. According to both Eastern spirituality and Kabbalah everything we do is recorded in the Akashic records or the Book of Life. We get away with nothing on the other side. We will be accountable to spiritual laws whether or not we know about them, believe in them or do anything about them.

Chitragupt

who is supposed to be writing out our deeds in an account book is no other than the conscious and unconscious parts of our mind. The Lord of Law, to whom we have to render the account is the Soul within us.” Gopal Singh

Karma is built in as a default into the soul. God does not play favorites – S/He loves us all and hopes, like the prodigal son or daughter, that we will all eventually be redeemed and return to the Father/Mother. This love is not the test - karma is the test.

The higher we get up the “rungs” of the Tree of Life, or the Yoga Chakras the more the challenges we will encounter, not only from the shadow, ego and monkey mind but also the tricksters or dark forces who want to sabotage our path. To them, anything of the light is a reproach to their mission which is to sabotage good.

Without light and dark, good and evil, positive and negative, the sacred and the profane, there would be no challenge. If everything was sweet and good, life would be spiritually insipid. There must be tension for perfection. The challenge is to find the balance between the polarities of the negative and the positive. Peace of mind can often be a measure of one’s karma.

We build on the experiences of our past incarnations. Without the sum total of all our prior life-time experiences we could not be where we are now, in a sentient body, hopefully facing the challenges at a higher level.

Herein also resides the Buddhist concept of Store Consciousness and our 'Soulular' memory that sometimes surfaces as a kind of de ja vu awareness. We know much more than we think we know and are much more than we believe ourselves to be. We just need to remember.

"May the hero/ine awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow." Upanishads

The Ancestors live in the moment and teach that we should take only what we need from the past and leave the rest behind. Also that in order to remember we need to get spiritual knowledge with all our strength.

In addition, ego, shadow, and our tricksters can tempt us to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Karmically, the means never justifies the end.

 

“The last temptation is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.” 

T.S. Eliot

 

“Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore of nicely calculated less and more.“ W. Wordsworth

We need to do things for their own sake and not because of any ego driven agenda – hidden or otherwise. If rewards were only immediate there would be a huge incentive to always perform correctly.

God wants us to do things for the right reasons and not out of fear of damnation and inheriting a fiery hell.

Karma depends not only on what we do, but how we do it, why we do it and how we feel about it. If it is grudgingly or because it benefits us only materially there will be a karmic consequence or it may be karmically neutral.

Emperor Wu asked, “I’ve built temples and ordained monastics; what merit is there in this?”
Bodhidharma replied, “No merit.”

However, ulterior motives can be underrated. It is better to give charity – even if it is to get our face in the media or for a tax deduction - than not to give it, but the act may not have spiritual merit depending on our intent. Merit depends on whether we subordinate our Evil inclination or Shadow to our Inclination to do Good, Monkey (Narrow) mind to Spacious mind and Ego to the higher Self. Tricksters or dark forces need to be subordinated to our Good Inclination, Spacious mind, our Higher Self, with the help of our Guides. 

Everyone is worthy of redemption no matter how heinous their action/s. We, however, have to do due diligence on our own behalf in order to be released from our malignant actions.

We need to see ourselves as the Creator wants to see us rather than those who may be more interested in our personas than our soul. The sages council that it gets harder as we advance with our practice, not easier.

The contest is fiercest when the stakes are high and so you may expect to be challenged, tempted and dissuaded in any and all manner of your weaknesses – be they physical, mental or emotional – all of which are attributes of the spirit.

 

The main principles determining karma and which challenge our free will and that will be covered in the future blogs are:

Fulfill your destiny.

Correct injustice – heal the planet.

Do no harm

(to any of the Four Beings of Nature - not just the Talking ones.)

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self

(as well as Monkey Mind and Shadow.)

Practice love.

Be in Joy, and responsibly

Savor the opportunity of being in a sentient body.

These quotes below are all embracing guidelines.

“This is what God asks of you, only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah

“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill, keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt, chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench, care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back, the only way to serenity.”  Tao Te Ching