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Wilder
12 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 03 2008 : 11:36:34 AM
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Some describe all of us to be "related" and like water particles in an infinite ocean (pure bliss consciousness). When I, a water particle push another particle (good or bad action to another human being), the ripple that is created goes around and pushes me back (equal reaction) in someway or the other.
I have observed in my case that this law of "instant karma" has been more apparent or easily observable of late than 3 years before when I started to meditate. Everyone is affected by the law of karma but is it true that the more spiritually advanced you are the more easily or quickly you are affected by the law? Please share your views on this
- Wilder |
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mikkiji
USA
219 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2008 : 12:12:34 PM
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I'm not certain what the ancient spiritual texts say about it, but I have found over my 55 years that the more in tune with Nature we are, the more quickly our bad decisions are karmicly pointed out to us. In other words, the more harmoniously we live, the less disharmony is tolerated in our lives. For example, 23 years ago, I adopted a baby boy, despite many indications that this was not the right thing for me to do at that moment. Maybe he was just not the right child for me, but less than 2 weeks after his arrival, he was taken from me--he was just NOT the child of my karma, and my karma knew it, even though I had a hard time admitting it. Nine years later, the child of my karma WAS delivered into my arms, and it was obviously correct--the more in tune we are, the more we can tell what is NOT in tune, and the more quickly we are shown that.
Michael |
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Divineis
Canada
420 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2008 : 1:54:30 PM
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Now to you I ask this, is being less "in tune" any less "in tune"?
Wilder, to me(!) the more spiritually advanced you are, the more you see that "the law of karmah" has no relevance. If you're talking about enlightenment, it has nothing to do with Karmah, it has everything to do with it too, but it's not about Karmah as we see it. If enlightenment is our nature, I say we're all born enlightened (and it doesn't go away) and that all these questions of karmah affecting us quickly\slowly or being "spiritually advanced", it's all just ego tripping nonsense. But that's just me. And i'll redefine enlightenment later and say that none of us here are enlightened, and it's still just as much me, cuz I'm indecisive and mostly just a big question mark.
I like the "are we related" question though. I've never come to an adequate answer. Am I alone in all this, and it's all just part of "my perception"? Or am I an expression of the universe in it's entirety? I like the "somewhere in between the two" answer haha. It's always a little bit of this and a little bit of that I guess haha. |
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brushjw
USA
191 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2008 : 7:31:20 PM
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quote:
is it true that the more spiritually advanced you are the more easily or quickly you are affected by the law?
I believe everyone is equally affected by karma. Those more in tune with the vibrations of the Universe - acting out of their inner silence - will feel the effects of harmful actions more, more quickly correct their actons to eliminate the discord, and be less likely to make them in the first place.
namaste,
Joe |
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yogani
USA
5201 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2008 : 08:22:07 AM
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Hi All:
Since the role of karma has been brought up here, I can't resist sharing that the Bhakti and Karma Yoga book will be out in a few weeks.
In fact, it is already available through some third party ebook vendors -- see the list of sources for ebooks and audiobooks near the bottom of the AYP Books Page. Once the paperback edition shows up on Amazon, we will do an official roll-out.
Below is the table of contents, and an excerpt.
Yes, the more inner silence we have, the quicker we will learn the lessons that karma brings to us. We find new meaning in the phrase "instant karma." 
The guru is in you.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Desire and Action
Chapter 2 – Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti – Up Close and Personal
Ishta – The Chosen Ideal
The Systematic Transformation of Emotion
Bhakti and the Limbs of Yoga
Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga
Action and its Consequences
The Spiritual Evolution of Action
The Role of Service
Chapter 4 – Passionate Living
A Journey from Here to Here
The Dance of Unity
Further Reading and Support
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From Chapter 3 on Karma Yoga
Transcending Karma and Putting It to Good Use
While, on the one hand, it is not possible to fathom the full consequences of karma, on the other hand it is quite possible to influence all outcomes of karma through our actions. We have a choice about how we view the world and what we do in our life each day. The actions we choose to undertake will have short term and long term consequences.
Our choices will be colored by the many influences in our lives (unfathomable karma!), and the ingrained habits we live by, so we might question whether our supposed free will is an illusion. Do we really have a choice about the things we do? If we have given the time and effort to strengthen a higher ideal in our life, we will have a choice. Our ideal, our ishta, will be our choice. From that, everything else will flow. This is the vital connection between bhakti and the actions we undertake, which determine our relationship to the karmic machinery of cause and effect that is constantly operating in life.
Whether our chosen ideal is for God or for Truth, in whatever form we may be drawn to, the effect will be the same. Ideals like these reach beyond the limiting aspects of karma. Having a high ideal is the sure way to reach beyond whatever limitations we are facing in life. Devotion to a high ideal is the way by which we can transcend karma, even while we are making good use of its underlying principles.
There is free will. However, exercising it effectively requires some finesse. If our chosen ideal inspires us to make choices that take us beyond the influences that distract us, then we will be on our way.
Developing bhakti in relation to our chosen ideal is the first step. Then we will be presented with opportunities and act in ways that promote the process of our spiritual development. In the AYP approach, we use an integrated system of practices, beginning with deep meditation. This first step in practice is a key one, once we have found the will to act on our spiritual desire.
With deep meditation, we are cultivating the natural presence of inner silence within ourselves, an abiding stillness that penetrates all of our thoughts, feelings and actions. This innate stillness, also referred to as pure bliss consciousness, is beyond the ups and downs of life. Life goes on as it did before, but stillness resides in us as a silent witness that we recognize as our own self. As we come to know our Self beyond the many influences in our life, it has a profound effect on the way we view events. We see life occurring as change on the ocean of our stillness. Even catastrophic events will be unable to touch us in our deepest realm of Self-awareness.
This is the transcendence of karma. It is not the elimination of karma. Karma will go on, but our relationship with it will change, and it’s role in our life will change also.
Once we have begun daily deep meditation, we will be on the road to becoming the master of karma, rather than its servant. When we act from the perspective of inner silence, our actions will be capable of transforming the influences of karma in ways that are evolutionary and joyfully liberating, rather than in ways that are darkly limiting. For one who is awakening in the fullness of expanding inner silence, the mechanics of karma become a vehicle for spiritual development. Likewise, the expansion of inner silence through daily deep meditation provides for constant expansion of bhakti. It is a cycle of desire, action and consequences leading to a life of ever-expanding peace, creativity, and joyous service.
This shift is a gradual one, occurring over years of daily deep meditation, increasing bhakti and the normal course of our life’s activities. Steadily, our actions in daily life rise to the level of divine relationship. While, before, we may have spent significant energy attempting to either reclaim or change the past, we now spend our time in the present, enjoying what is, and engaging in conduct that is both immediately fulfilling and sowing the seeds for a better future. Both our past and future can be made better by living increasingly in the now.
We do not do this by trying to. It cannot be done that way. We can’t will an immediate shift in our quality of life, because the life we are living has been structured in us for a long time. But we can gradually unwind the structures within us through the power of bhakti and yoga practices. And, in doing so, we can transform our relationship with karma. Karma will not be eliminated. It will be transformed. There is the idea that karma can be erased, made to go away. This is not so. As long as we have action, we will have consequences, the process of karma. But we can transform karma’s influence to be uplifting and divine – this is just as true for so-called negative karma as it is for so-called positive karma. The fact that consequences are coming to us from past actions does not mean any particular coloring comes with it. It is we in the present who do the coloring. All karma can be seen as being for good or ill. As our inner silence grows and matures, all karma will become a positive springboard to new openings in spirit.
This is not a passive experience. It is not the killing off of desires. It is the transformation of desire to divine purpose. Then we find that our ever-seeking desire has been the guru in us all along, carrying us steadily forward into fullness. Then all events become opportunities.
The blend of bhakti, spiritual practices like deep meditation, and our actions in ordinary life, leads to a harmonizing of influences sown in the past, and the fulfillment of openings in the future. It is all happening in the now. While it has been said that we should “Be here now,” this can be expanded to say, “Be and do here now.”
Our active devotion to our chosen ideal is what makes the difference. Once we have realized our abiding inner silence, we can make good use of karma, no matter what it is bringing us in life.
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emc
2072 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2008 : 2:03:03 PM
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| Wow, thanks Yogani! Seems like a book I'll be reading quickly when it comes to my hands! |
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NagoyaSea
424 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2008 : 01:21:51 AM
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Ditto what EMC said. Thank you Yogani for the preview into the book. I'll be adding to my little library.
light and love,
Kathy |
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VIL
USA
586 Posts |
Posted - Jun 06 2008 : 11:57:00 AM
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I loved the excerpt from your book, yogani. It sounds excellent.
Namaste:
VIL |
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yogani
USA
5201 Posts |
Posted - Jun 06 2008 : 12:35:02 PM
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Hi emc, Kathy and VIL:
Thank you. Glad to hear you find it interesting.
Even though the Bhakti and Karma Yoga book is not quite out yet, I am finishing up the draft for the Eight Limbs of Yoga book here, which will have us all caught up with the scheduled Enlightenment Series books this summer.
Then it is back to online lesson posting, leading eventually to AYP Easy Lessons Volume 2.
Keeping busy here. Not sure where all this is coming from.
Karma transforming? 
All the best!
The guru is in you.
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2008 : 9:26:38 PM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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Karma & Spiritual Progress
