Karma

How did the Buddha look then? Who is the Buddha? Let’s try to understand with the story of Gautama Buddha, The ‘Shakya Muni Buddha’ as we call him. So, who was he? Let’s look at his central characteristics. One, someone who is well versed in the knowledge of his time. Buddha had deep scriptural knowledge. He was born in a Hindu Kshatriya family, he was a prince and ever since his childhood he was quite talented. So, one thing about him is that he was quite well-read. Second thing is, he was deeply interested in knowing the depths of life. He did not want to remain merely at the superficial levels, so he would observe a lot, he would think a lot. https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/todays-buddha-1_4d1b6bf

Nothing is preordained. Every moment you have the liberty to make a fresh choice. The principle of karma offers you great freedom; the principle of karma simply does not sit well with any kind of fatalistic argument. Nothing is preordained except your ultimate destiny, which is to be liberated. All…

What you are is what you get. If you are continuously getting rubbish from the world, you know who you are. If you are constantly being mistreated in this life, then you know who you are.

The Saints have lived like kings, even though the world has often prosecuted them.…

I have often said that animals are in many ways better than human beings. Man had the potential to either rise above the animal or fall way below it. Man has continuously been making the wrong choice.

If you cannot build your cities and your social systems on spiritual foundations,…

“I am not okay, I am not okay… Why am I not okay? Don’t ask me that. I was born like that! Not that something has happened to me and is making me feel bad about myself, no; I am born feeling bad about myself, I am born feeling hungry…

Questioner (Q): If I deeply understand that the bliss of consciousness or Brahm is truly greater by manifolds, then what motivation would I have left to perform the mundane duties, like chasing worldly desires, wealth, etc.? I cannot just sit doing nothing, thinking that my kids will have an education…

Questioner (Q): The Bhagavad Gita says, keep doing the work, don’t worry about the rewards. That has been my ideal in life—be a jack of all trades, do whatever gives you mental pleasure, and do it freely. If I want to do this, I just do this—that has been my…

Questioner (Q): Sir, I have read that karma means action, what one thinks consciously and subconsciously, what one does. Our future action depends on the karma of the past and the present. But there is a thing in circulation these days that says that karma is actually a boomerang: if…

Questioner (Q): How to distinguish between kartavya and Dharma? Can you give a quick distinction between the two?

Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, when you do not really know what to do, when you are not in direct touch with Krishna, Brahman, Ātman,

Questioner: At one place you say, “To know your intentions watch your actions”. But at some other place you say, “Action does not matter, the actor does.” I see a contradiction here. Kindly clarify.

Acharya Prashant: When I say, “To know your intentions watch your actions”, I want you to…

Acharya Prashant (AP): Now, let’s revisit a few basic things regarding the deed and the doer. Action and the actor. Shri Krishna tells Arjun very early on in his epic discourse — “All that is ever happening is due to the three Gunas (attributes) of Prakriti (material nature). Yet, the…

Acharya Prashant: In ‘Karma’, in normal action you feel you have a choice. In ‘Akarma’ you feel you have no choice at all rather you are feeling that you are acting out of compulsion, obligation. You have convinced yourself that this is something that I have no control over. So,…

Questioner (Q): Sir, you have said that “right action is its own reward; the wrong action is its own punishment.” Basis your quote, the common man must choose right action and be naturally aversive to the wrong action but that does not happen. Kindly, throw some light on it.

Acharya…

Acharya Prashant: The quote says - “Every thought I have imprisoned in an expression I must free by my deeds.”

What are the deeds? What is honest doing?

In honest doing realization guides thoughts, determination, and in that, determination instantaneously turns into action. The doer is realization. The real doer

Questioner: When something good or bad happens to someone unexpectedly, is it karma or mere coincidence?

Acharya Prashant: The happening is just a random coincidence. How you experience the happening is your own decision, your own doing, in other words, karma.

Get the difference right, please. The material world is

Question (Q): Acharya Ji, on being asked, can Karma ever come to an end? Ramana Maharshi says, "Karmas carry the seed of their own destruction in themselves." Dear Acharya Ji, please help me understand, how Karmas carry the seed of their own destruction?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Karma is action. We…

नियतं सङ्गरहितमरागद्वेषत: कृतम् ।

अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यतत्सात्विकमुच्यते ।।

niyataṁ saṅga-rahitam arāga-dveṣhataḥ kṛitam

Questioner (Q): What is the exact meaning of ’Gahna Karmo Gati’? There are a lot of sayings about that.

Acharya Prashant (AP): You'll have to quote the entire shloka (verse); then you'll understand. Actually, these three words, ‘Gahna Karmo Gati’, have been quoted so variously and so frequently, even by

श्रेयान्द्रव्यमयाद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञः परन्तप।

सर्वं कर्माखिलं पार्थ ज्ञाने परिसमाप्यते।। 4.33 ।।

śhreyān dravya-mayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapa

यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः ।

तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसंगः समाचर ।। 3.9 ।।

yajñārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ

Question: Acharya Ji, what is karma (action)? What is karmafal (fruits of action)? How to be free of fruits of actions?

Acharya Prashant Ji: What is this thing called ‘Karma’?

Questioner: Sins.

Questioner: You are holding a rabbit in your hands, what else is there except sensory perception? Why must there be anything beyond sensory perception? Just look at the creature, look into his eyes. Let the perception be total, and you will realize what is beyond perception. But that comes as…

Questioner (Q): Acharya Ji, do you believe in past life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): That is irrelevant. Will I find you after your death? Will even you find yourself after your death?

Q: I may be in a different body.

Questioner: Is there any action that is bad?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, there is no action at all that is inherently bad.

I repeat this with emphasis:

Question: Sir, you said, ‘non-doing is important’. What if I want to do something good for the world?

Acharya Prashant: Let the dreamer live to materialise his dream.

Questioner (Q): When I want to do something, I plan a lot. But in the spiritual domain, it is said that planning is bad. What should I do, because when I don’t execute my plans, I don’t get the desired outcome?

Acharya Prashant (AP): No, plan fully and execute fully…

Questioner: What is karma? Does the subconscious exist?

Acharya Prashant: Yes, they exist. They play their own game. You are talking about karma. The ball goes up, the ball comes down. But when the ball goes up, you are still free; and when the ball comes down, you are equally…

Questioner: If man’s nature is intelligence, then why is ignorance so prevalent and there are very few intelligent people in the world? There have been very few Saints compared to the overall population of mankind. Why is it so?

Acharya Prashant: It cannot really be explained but what is certain…

EXCERPT: Before doing anything we always and usually ask, “What will happen if I do this?” - That is our worldly practice, and even in the domain of Truth, we try that. We say, “What will happen if I get to the Truth?” and the answer comes—All the falseness will…

Question: Sir, as you said right now that when I am really here, then there is no opportunity for restlessness. But when I am really here, a restlessness, an inner thirst, is there. And this thirst is unbearable.

Shri Prashant: No, you call that restlessness. It is never there on…

Question: Destruction of our world, which we find comfort in, is inevitable. We can only help ourselves understand this, and minimize our suffering. To a cozily sleeping mind though, this realization is a nightmare. We can only pull it out slowly from of its deep sleep.

Questioner (Q): We have often discussed that one should not go to somebody with a reason. But if we discuss this in the context of a student-teacher relationship, a student goes to his teacher thinking that going to the teacher, he will probably get rid of his diseases. So, there…

Question: Life is almost like a tug-of-war. At one point we are averse to change, but at the other end, we love change so much. At least speaking about myself, I can say so. You don’t like change when it happens on its own, but you like to make changes…

Question: How do I make the mind work for what I know to be important at that moment?

Speaker: Once you know what is important there will be no need to make the mind work for it. Realization is such a potent force! It cannot be surmounted. If you think…

Question: Dear Sir,

There is one question on the ‘action’ that has been playing on my mind since you sent me the mail about the desireless action.

You said when there is no self, there is purity in being and hence the desireless action takes place. By this do you…

Question: Sir, why do people celebrate festivals and are always desperately looking for holidays and vacations?

Answer:

It is very necessary for the insecure and terrified mind to keep looking towards future. So, some special day must always be there a week or a month ahead. New year goes, then

Question: Sir, is understanding of non-doership incumbent to love ones adversaries or are there people who feel no hate right from the onset?

For instance, Buddha would regard someone hitting him, like a twig falling on his head- each karma- each cause and effect dependently originated in wholeness. I, on…

Question: Sir, how to correct a bad decision? If not, then should we keep living with it?

Answer: Ankur, There is no need to ‘correct’ a ‘bad’ decision.

All decisions arise from mind. The quality of mind remaining what it is, the quality of any and all decisions will remain…

Speaker: It is true that where there is no action, there will be no effort. True! That is right because effort itself is action. Effort itself is born out of thought and that thought is action, whether it translates physically or not. But is it so that for action to…

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रिय:।

ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम्।।29।।

samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣhu na me dveṣhyo ’sti na priyaḥ

Sunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian ColumnSunday Guardian Column

The Truth cannot be objectified as a thing, place, person, or book. So, don't be too quick to accept your own assessments, judgments, likes, dislikes, and experiences. Whatever you're seeing is seen by "you" — the Ego — and you are no absolute. Everything must be available to enquiry, investigation, and questioning — and questioning cannot happen if you declare that you’ve already come to the Truth. Never believe that the journey has ended or that the ego itself is the Truth.

Questioner: A lot of students that I talk to — it’s the fear of the society, it’s the fear of the unknown, it’s fear of the expectations that they are carrying, that pushes them to become an engineer and then they figure out that probably this is not something that they wanted to be. And that is the reality of a lot of individuals and not just engineers. Probably, here is something that is stopping me from taking a plunge of starting something of myself, right? Fear is something that is stopping somebody who is in a relationship for ten years to take that step to get married. Where does this fear come from? Acharya Prashant: Lack of love, which comes from lack of self-knowledge. You see, when I tie my sense of existence, my very identity, to something that is unreliable, I will have to be afraid. It’s like putting my heart on this table. Now, how can I live in security? The heart is out there on the table, anybody can take it away, anything can happen to it. Or the heart might grow legs and walk away on its own. My very existence has been subjected to something that is not in my control. Something that is definitely going to deceive me at some point, that is fear. My sense of self-worth comes from my monies, my bank account, I will be afraid. That bank account can be closed anytime, anything can happen. My sense of self-worth comes from my physical appearance. I very well know, time will take it away, I will be afraid. Right? Who am I? I am the one who is praised or worshipped by the society. Oh! I will be so afraid, so afraid! You talked of people working for their images, they would be living a cursed life. Because, their heart is out there in the hands of strangers. Their entire identity is tied to their image and the image is in the eyes of other people. So, the image can be distorted or can disappear any moment. Just imagine, how afraid they would be all the time. That’s with the ego. Because, the ego, as I said, is a fundamental sense of incompleteness. Therefore, to complete itself, it just associates itself to anything possible. And the things that you are associating yourself with, they are not reliable. They belong to the world and the world can take them away. They belong to time. They came with time and with time all those things will disappear. And you have tied your identity to those things. Now how can you rest in peace? That’s fear. If you do not have self-knowledge, you will always be afraid. My identity is linked to my husband’s identity. Now the husband has two legs. And the husband has a brain, a mind of his own. If your identity comes from your husband’s name, as happens in India at least, you would always be afraid as a wife. The husband can change his mind any day. You would always be, you know, having one eye on his secretary, and the other eye in his email and mobile phone. What’s he getting into? Who’s texting him? Why is he on the phone so late in the night? Because you are afraid if husband goes away, what happens to you? Your very existence depends on the husband. That’s fear. When you operate from the ego centre and make something very, very important for yourself and that something belongs to the world, it can go away anytime, and you are afraid. And in that fear, there can never be love, never be love. If you are afraid of losing something, you will be very violent towards it. Nobody lets his money go and have a walk down the road. What do you do? You lock up your money. That’s violence. When something starts becoming very meaningful to you, you lock it up. You don’t want it to have freedom. And that’s violence. So, love and fear just cannot go together. If you are dependent on something or somebody, you will be afraid. And that dependence cannot be called love. And that is a confusion, we often get into it. Just because you depend on somebody and somebody depends on you, you start feeling as if it is love, it is not. Questioner: Just like the way political parties think that people love them but it actually is fear. Acharya Prashant: Exactly! Love is a rare quality and rarer in politics. Questioner: So, if I am interested in a particular profession, do I not pursue it wholeheartedly? Do I pursue it wholeheartedly knowing very well that the results can either be zero or one? Acharya Prashant: One has to go into the very nature of interest. Aren’t we interested in cricket? Aren’t we interested in seeing songs in movies? Practically, everybody in India is interested in cricket, nobody in Brazil is. And nobody in India is interested in ice hockey. So, that’s how flimsy the whole thing about interest is. In India, if you don’t get a movie with songs, you say, “I am disinterested.” The movie would bomb. In Hollywood, if you have a movie with songs, that would raise eyebrows, what’s going on? Occasionally, you have an OD song but typically there is no song. So, that is the nature of interest. It is never something of the heart. Love and interest are not the same thing. Interest is something that is given to you by your body, by your environment, by random chance, your circumstances and all these. So that’s how your interests come to you. So, if you are interested in a vocation, first of all, you have to ask yourself, “Just two years back, I was interested in something else and two years before I was interested in that and when I was four years old, I was interested in becoming a fighter pilot. What happened to all those interests?” Today, I smile at those things and just shrug them off, “I don’t want to be a fighter pilot.” What you want to be today? Oh! I want to be an investment banker. What happened to the fighter pilot? You were so interested in that. And how do you know, tomorrow you will not be looking at this I-banker, just the way today you are looking at the fighter pilot. The self of a five-year old appears so naïve and immature when you are twenty-five. How do you know that at thirty-five, you will not look back at this twenty-five year old self and say, “What the hell! How was I taking this fellow so seriously?” So, interest is something that you must look at with healthy contempt. Interest, mind you, can even be induced in you. Interest can be aroused in you. That’s what the entire advertising industry is about. They can make you feel Interested in things that is intrinsically worthless to you. So, of what value is this thing called interest? But, then in today’s world, we place so much premium on this word 'interest.' Do what interests you, this, that. Whereas, it is wisdom to realize that interest is the last thing that you should ever go after. Then people come up and say, “No, should we do things that we are not interested in? No.

Prarabdha refers to the sum total of (apparent)movements in time and space that have resulted in the (apparent) formation of the jiva – the human being, or any other being.Everything that the being appears to be is prarabdha. And prarabdha is all past.

सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।। पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रिया: ।।1.42।।

Overview

We want to reach the end of wanting. We want completion, fulfillment in such a final way that we are left with nothing to want anymore. That’s the destination. Born a human being, you will have to act. Act rightly. Act for the right purpose. Live for the right