Life and Karma

Many people whine, complain and curse. ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ they ask. They don’t realize that it is not possible. as apples cannot grow on mango trees, bad things cannot happen to good people. The Universal Law of Karma governs everything that happens on earth.

Did we decide where we will be born? No! Karma did. Nothing happens by chance, nor is God sitting in some distant heaven, deciding our fate. It is a simple law of action and reaction, ‘As we sow, so must we reap.’

Unfortunately, we don’t realize this. Thus, first we curse what happens. Then, we rehearse. But, we won’t reverse things by beating our ignorance and celebrating. If something bad is happening, our past Karma is being negated. We should rejoice and hope our good Karma will now bear fruit. When we curse and do bad things, we plant new seeds of negativity. These seeds will grow in our future. When will man understand the simple truth of Karma, the

law of the boomerang? What goes around comes around.

Don’t we realize the truth — what we give is what we get? We still feel confused. We know we can’t control our birth. Nor can our parents. But, we don’t attribute it to SIP, the Supreme Immortal Power. It makes it happen through automatic Universal Laws. Everything is automatic. The earth rotates, making day and night. It also revolves, causing seasons. And so does this universe function through the Law of Karma, the law of reaction and action.

We realize we are not this body contemplating our real birthday. We come to terms with the truth that we will have to leave this body. If we don’t overcome the myth and realize the truth, we will be reborn. And this will go on and on. Our task is to understand life and Karma. Then, we must rise above Karma, beyond the body and mind. We find that we are the Divine Soul. Then, we will celebrate all that happens in our lives. We will live in acceptance and surrender, knowing that all in life is fair. Life is just a show. We are actors who come and go. Our role will be decided by Karma. We have the free will to choose our present Karma. But, once we choose our deeds, they become seeds. These seeds will sprout and bear fruit.

The moment there is Enlightenment, and we realize the truth that we are not the body, mind, and ego. We are that spark of energy. We will be freed from all Karma. Then there will be no need to return to earth. As long as we believe our birthday is our birthday, we will cling to this body which we are not. It is only when we realize the secret of Life and Karma that we will be liberated and be united with the Divine. What is the purpose of human life?

Why are we born as you and I? Why are we born as human beings? It’s because as human beings, we have a purpose. We have something unique, we are different from other species. Only human beings are blessed with an intellect that can discriminate. No other living creature can. And therefore, only a human being is capable of Enlightenment. A dog cannot go through the process of Purification. A frog cannot go through the process of Illumination. A butterfly, a bee or a tree cannot experience Self-Realization. Only a human can use his intellect if he wishes to. He can get liberation from ignorance, from earth’s misery, and from rebirth. Only a human being can attain that state of Unification with the Divine, Moksha, Nirvana. However, if we do not discover what our purpose on earth is, then, we will just waste this birth. We will live and we will die and then, we will be reborn, and this will go on and on.

We aim to realize the meaning of life. Who am I really? And why was I lucky to be born as a human, not an animal, insect, or plant? Our purpose is not just to live and die, but rather to find out, who am I. Our purpose is not just to go

through decades to learn, and then spend many years to earn, only to ultimately burn and then return. When will we realize that we must give before we are gone? We must spend before our end because if we don’t, what we earn, others will burn. Our purpose is to understand that we are not here to chase pleasure. It comes from success and achievement. But, these are both brief and temporary. None of this will be ours in our ultimate journey.

Is it difficult to realize the truth that every ‘body’ will die? Is it impossible to enlighten ourselves about the fact that we cannot take anything with us? The truth is that we come with nothing, and we will go with nothing. We come alone and when we depart, nobody can join us in that journey to eternity. Our purpose is to realize that we are not this body that dies. Our birthday is not our birthday. We were conceived, actually born 9 months earlier. If we get this, we will realize who we are. We are that spark of energy, the Soul, the Atman, the Spirit. Our purpose is to realize this. Finally, before death, when the spark departs, we must realize we are not the body we called ‘I’. We are not the mind and ego that kept saying, ‘me’. We are the Divine Soul. This is our ultimate purpose, our ultimate goal.

Only a human being is blessed to have this purpose and to achieve it. It is said that no other living creature can reach the state of Enlightenment. They can only exist till they die. Only humans can pray and know the Supreme Immortal Power (SIP). The world calls SIP God. If we are enlightened, we will realize God is not God, God is SIP. We will experience the Power of SIP everywhere and in everything. This happens every moment that we live. This is the purpose of our life on earth, why we got this human birth. What is happiness?

If you search for the true meaning of happiness, you will find that it is a state of being happy. But what is it to be happy? Is happiness just about getting pleasure, success, name, fame, and wealth? What about love and relationships? Or is it about attaining peace, tranquillity, being content? What is real happiness?

Anything that makes you happy creates happiness. But, what makes one person happy may not make the other person happy. I may love to sit in silence on a beach for hours but you may love to be in a shopping mall. Different things create happiness for different people. Nonetheless, we all know the meaning of happiness. When we are happy, there is a smile on our face. There is a positive aura that vibrates around a happy person. Just as we understand happiness, do we understand what unhappiness is? Yes! When there are tears and fears, instead of cheerfulness, it is a sign of unhappiness. A sad person will cry and their misery will spread around them. We all know what it is to be glad and what it is to be sad. We often relate glad and sad to pleasure and pain. Everybody wants to be happy. Nobody wants to be unhappy, nobody wants pain.

But what is the real meaning of happiness? Is happiness just a temporary pleasure that comes and goes? Or is it a bliss that eternally flows? You may love to eat pizza. You may be happy as you finish a few slices. But, when the waiter brings another pizza, you say, ‘Oh! I don’t want another pizza!’ You would have had enough of it. So, how come the pizza that made you so excited earlier, doesn’t give you joy in the later rounds? It made you happy because it was just pleasure. Happiness is beyond pleasure.

Have you noticed how a little child gets excited in a toy shop? The child runs around, screams and shouts in joy, but we adults have outgrown our childhood toys. That is the difference between men and boys. Men want to buy their own car or even a private jet. They are no longer interested in toy cars, jets, and trains. But, is all this true happiness?

Imagine, if you had all the things money could buy but you lost your eyesight. Would you be happy? Would you be ready to sell your eyes for a million dollars? Not at all! What use are a million dollars if you can’t see?

So, what is happiness? Real happiness is beyond pleasures and possessions. We can have everything and be unhappy or we can have nothing and still be happy. Things can never make us happy. Happiness is not a state of ‘becoming’ happy. Happiness is a state of ‘being’ happy. We just have to be happy, moment by moment.

There are certain attributes that can help us feel happy. Faith in God is a source of strength and joy. Forgiveness brings closure and peace and it makes us happy. When we give or help others, it also makes us happy. We can feel happy if we are grateful for what we have. ‘Count your blessings’, as they say. Contentment and fulfilment in fact bring more enduring happiness. From achievement which gives us pleasure, we must move on to fulfilment which gives us peace. We can be happy using the ABC formula. A — Accept without protest. B — Do your Best. C — In Consciousness, surrender the rest. Consciousness is the way to peace. Peace is the basis of joy. It is found by going beyond thought and being thoughtless. Happiness, thus, is a state of being that peace and tranquillity bring. In the absence of peace, there can be no bliss or joy.

Can you be happy without love? Love is a fountain of joy. Happiness, therefore, is also love. How can we live in peace, joy and love all the time? This is the challenge. If we can learn this art, we can be happy all the time! We must discover a way to enjoy pleasure and not lose our peace while living with love. Then our life would be filled with joys. We will have smiles and cheers and we would do away with tears and fears.

Of course, beyond pleasure and peace is the highest happiness. It comes from realizing the purpose of human life. We must walk the path of spirituality. It leads to eternal bliss and uninterrupted happiness. We must learn the truth. Realization of the truth about who we are, life, God liberates us from all suffering and misery. We experience a state called Satchitananda. Living in the truth brings true bliss. This is how we can be truly happy. Peace is the foundation of happiness

Few people realize that peace is the foundation of happiness. Everybody wants to be happy but there can be no happiness if we lose our peace of mind. Think about it. When there is no peace of mind, can we experience joy?

Imagine, you are celebrating and having fun in a big party, you hear some tragic news that steals your peace. It may be the death of a near one, a fire in your premises or an accident of a family member. Can you continue to enjoy the party once you lose your peace? No! The mind is a rascal. It makes us get caught in thoughts and once our thought get toxic, there is no chance of happiness. Even the best of pleasures seem frivolous in the moment when our tranquillity is lost. So, what is the connection between peace and happiness?

We all seek happiness. But, we don’t realize that peace is its foundation. Many things make us happy. These may be sensory pleasures, relationships, love, or success. But, they are just pleasures. They manifest as joy because the base of our life is peaceful. A man had a flourishing business. He could be flying in his private jet with his beautiful wife and children. But, when he gets an email with his lab reports, he learns he has cancer. He is in the final stage. Nothing changes except that he loses his peace. He now feels that he is going to die and all the bliss and joy that made him so happy disappears in a flash. What was the reason? Simple! He lost his peace. When the foundation of

peace crashes, all the happiness that we enjoyed falls like a stack of cards. If only we realize that peace is the foundation of happiness, we will be able to live far more fulfilling lives. We will enjoy life. We will avoid its pleasure and pain.

Does this mean that we should give up all pleasures? No, indeed not. We can enjoy pleasure. But, we must focus on living with contentment and fulfilment over achievement. We must let peace be the base of our bliss and not let pleasure control our happiness. In the state of peace, we will be able to enjoy Consciousness, in which we are not slaves of our mind. Instead, our peace activates our intellect. It lifts us to Eternal Bliss. This bliss is in Truth Consciousness, SatChitAnanda, which is greater than any happiness.

Anybody can become happy on hearing a joke or watching a comedy. But, only the one who lives in peace can enjoy seamless bliss. In it, he doesn’t need pleasure to be happy. He can enjoy being in stillness and silence. There’s no sensory pleasure, person, or possession to make him happy. Such a person has discovered Bliss, which is True Happiness. Such a person doesn’t become happy or unhappy in cycles. Such a person remains happy, unperturbed by the vagaries of life.