Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is an escalating global challenge having serious impact on the quality of life, productivity in workplace etc. Our approach to wellbeing fundamentally depends on our perspective of ourselves. Are we just human beings, not much different from animals or something more? Over thousands of years the Vedic spiritual seekers dived deep within themselves to explore the inner space and they repeatedly verified that we all, without exception, are in essence really spiritual beings having human experiences. Their discoveries form Vedanta philosophy - the 'science of human excellences" - which explain in detail and with much clarity how we have multidimensional physical, mental, emotional and ethical layers of personality covering the fundamental Pure and eternal spiritual being. Along with this, the Vedic seekers developed systematic Yoga techniques to purify our minds and "dis-cover" our true Self.
The Vedantic conception of ourselves and Yogic mind-management techniques offer an alternative approach to address the mental wellbeing challenges. Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Auckland has taken up a project to make available these Vedanta-Yoga teachings to empower individuals with the knowledge and skill-sets to better manage their minds, emotions, values etc. to live meaningful, peaceful and productive lives.
Ritam is the Vedic principle responsible for maintaining order, harmony and rhythm both in the macrocosm and the microcosm. Stress, tension, dis-ease etc arise when we lose this balance at different levels of our being and around us. We have limited capacity to influence change outside us but we can definitely integrate our mind to our inner Self to gain greater poise, balance and rhythm in life. Meditation is the art of turning the mind inwards and anchoring it to our eternal, omniscient, blissful and pure Self. The more we are integrated with our inner Self, the greater will be the influence we can cast around us. This is the spiritual way to freedom from the slavery to the eternal world and internal body, senses and mind.
Ritam - Being in Balance is our series of conversations with Swami Tadananda wherein we explore the Vedanta-Yoga teachings and practices to promote our wellbeing.
Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
33.Wellbeing - Karma
What if your every action carried the weight of shaping your destiny? Join Swamiji and Sunil on a crisp Auckland morning as they unravel the profound concept of karma. From its Sanskrit roots meaning "to do" or "to work," to the intricate ways it impacts our lives. Listen as Swamiji shares vivid examples, like the journey of a student becoming a doctor, to illustrate the unique human faculties of discrimination and planning that drive us to shape our experiences and outcomes.
Drawing on insights from Swami Vivekananda, we explore how past actions set the stage for our present circumstances, whether they bring fortune or adversity. Swamiji explains the interconnectedness of actions across lifetimes, emphasizing acceptance and understanding as key to working through life's challenges. The discussion also delves into the psychological relief found in acknowledging past wrongdoings and the desire for liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. This episode offers a comprehensive understanding of how accumulated karma influences our destinies and how we can navigate the journey towards liberation. Tune in for an enlightening conversation that bridges ancient wisdom with contemporary life.
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Welcome to RUTAM, namaste to all the listeners and Namaste Swamiji, namaste Sunil, how are you? I'm good Swamiji. Another cold morning in.
Speaker 2:Auckland yes, very cold in the last two weeks.
Speaker 1:How have you been?
Speaker 2:Good, I've been busy, busy with getting things ready at our new retreat property.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right. Where is it up to Swamiji?
Speaker 2:Well, we have been able to get it to a stage. Get some accommodation ready for 10-15 people. That's good. This is in service of trying to get a retreat sorted, yeah, so the next stage would be to have a retreat of devotees, to come and stay a weekend and we do our usual thing, which we're doing at other places now at our own venue.
Speaker 1:Excellent, looking forward to it. Is it sometime closer to?
Speaker 2:summer. I will do it earlier than that, hopefully next month, oh, next month, september, oh, that'd be good. August, september, around there?
Speaker 1:Excellent. Looking forward to that, Swamiji. There's a proverb as you sow, so shall you reap. This is one of the fundamental quotes that is quoted oftenly when people talk about karma. What is this all about, Swamiji?
Speaker 2:Sir, karma, yes, we hear that comment, the word karma. Sometimes you see somebody did something wrong. Immediately there was a counter, something wrong happened to that person and people said, oh, karma, that means, as you saw, immediately something came back to you. So it's used probably in that way. You hear that comment, just like that.
Speaker 2:But the word karma originates from the root kri in Sanskrit, which means to do, to work, any activity. And so we, as human beings, are always doing something. You know, no one sits still like a tree, you know, or even the tree does something, but they're very slowly. But as human beings, we have this faculty of organs of action hands and feet and mouth and five organs of action. Are they constantly engaged in something? Uh, our, we're different from animals because we have plans, we have desires, we have projects. We try to direct our resources to achieve those goals that will give us sense of fulfillment, happiness, success and all those type of things. Okay, so we are not just like a cow who is just happy to graze and sleep and drink and that's it. You know, they don't have much more in life to earn. So man has been given this additional capacity to be guided by a faculty called buddhi power of discrimination how we utilize that faculty. So everyone is working.
Speaker 2:Karma means any work. Normally people will say, oh, that person is working when that particular person is physically doing something. Yes, okay, doing some gardening, building this and that, but if he's physically keeping quiet then he's not working. Because they identify physical work with karma. But thinking is also a karma, right, mental activity, not seen sitting down, thinking, contemplating, planning a lot of churning of mental activities there. Meditating is also a karma at a higher, subtle level. So anything thought, word or deed is karma, is karma All right. And karma involves some form of energy. Without any, you know, petrol in the tank, the car doesn't move. Without some energy, the human being doesn't move Physically, we don't move Mentally. Also, we can be very lethargic, you know, sometimes you just want to sleep.
Speaker 2:Don't want to think it hurts. The head is hurting, they say. You listen to an intense Vedanta lecture. After some time, oh, it's too much, you know. It's just like your mental energy is not there to absorb, process that information type of thing. And meditation, though it might seem simple, somebody sitting quietly, physically, not moving, not trying to think many things also, but he's trying to channelize that energy in another level, more intense. It is easier to go and plough an acre field in the hot sun than to meditate for 10 minutes. Physically you can do it To control the mind and keep it on a focus. It's harder work. They're all karma, okay. So all these activities leave some impression, some result. There's something called karma phala, the result of work. Work cannot be just running aimlessly. It must culminate in some output, result, you know, and that's what drives people to work. So they have a result they're aiming for and therefore they engage in series of work that will bring that desirable result type of thing so work could be.
Speaker 1:You know, we're building something, building something or providing a service, service studying a student wants to become a doctor.
Speaker 2:So all that goes year in, year out, our whole is karma that will transform that newcomer, first year MBBS student into a graduate doctor. Yes, so all that attending the lectures, reading the books, doing the practicals they are leaving some impressions on the mind. Through each one of those activities, incrementally, that person's mind is getting taking some shape. Knowledge is acquired, skills are acquired, until a time comes where somebody says all that sum total of knowledge and skill is enough to give this person a label called a doctor. Okay, and likewise everything. So you see, from the moment we are born, karma starts. We're learning. Maybe it's not a deliberate thing. A child is learning faster than anyone else you might think. You know he's soaking information, he's processing, he's storing and before, before you know, he's learned a whole language. You try to learn a language, new language, in older, at older age. You see how difficult it is. But a child is, doesn't, it's not seen to be working, yet he's intensely working, learning, processing. Everything is happening mentally. So we are all doing karma. Being born means being in the field of action. That's why they call this world is karma bhumi, a plane of action. Everyone comes here to act. Different roles, different duties, different plays are allocated, and some succeed, some fail, but we are all in the game, so to say. We are out in the field. So karma phala is there, result is there and the results are something that are stored. So when you say as one sows, so one shall reap, there are consequences of that karma. It's not just like I did this, I got a result and that's the end of the story. You see, there are consequences. So when you say as you sow, so you shall reap, that means at some stage the karma that you have done has to be, has to be counteracted to neutralize it. Then only you'll become free, all right.
Speaker 2:So it's like let's use an example there. There's a wheel, okay, which has got an operation that it can turn, and you supply some energy into it and it spins faster and faster in a clockwise direction. And suppose it reaches a speed of 100 RPM. Now, to stop that and bring it back to that rest motion. To stop that and bring it back to that rest motion, it has to a negative opposite energy has to be applied to it to slow it down and bring it back. You see, so karma is Both ways. It's a two-edged sword type of thing. You know Certain things you'll do. It will build a momentum and it will bind you, get you, take you for the ride. Now you are spinning with that.
Speaker 2:You might enjoy the fun, all right, but after some time you said, hey, this is too much, I don't enjoy this. I want my peace, I want my rest, I want my calmness, but you can't find that you have, but you can't find that you have to find a way to cancel that effect out. So whatever you do, then you have to. Reaping means you have to do the opposite of it.
Speaker 2:Normally it is used in the sense of a moral term that if you do harm to somebody then it will come back to you, type of thing. If you do good to somebody, then it will come to you to be good, to do good, and all that is there. So life is a mixture of things. We are engaged for survival in so many activities. No work is perfect in itself. Sri krishna says in the bhagavad gita that no work is attended by some defect. An example he gives us every fire has got some smoke. Yes, okay, some has got a lot more smoke and some hardly noticeable smoke. But there's no perfect karma in there. So for very survival, you might say I'm a good person. You know, I just do my work. I end my living. I work on a farm, I plant my vegetables and I eat and I don't do any harm to anyone out there and therefore you know, my work is.
Speaker 2:Survival doesn't bring any misery, suffering to anyone. But is it so simple? You know, you might be spraying pesticides and you're killing so many insects and you're plowing the land and within that there are so many earthworms and other things that are there. They will die. Do you take notice of that? Those type of things, you know, uh, you might deprive. You say I might. You know, I've got a few cows and goats, you know, but you're, by taking the milk, you're depriving the calf of its milk.
Speaker 1:So every time you do an action, while it might benefit you, at the same time probably is not benefiting others or taking away their benefit or cause some suffering. Cause some suffering for others? Yeah, potentially.
Speaker 2:Not that intentionally you do, but your very survival depends on that. If you say, hey, if I say I'm going to practice absolute ahimsa, non-violence, non-injury to any being deliberately, then you would not be able to survive, then you'd be locked away in a room Even there. So suppose you know you say, hey, I don't hurt anything like that. But suppose there's an infestation of ants or cockroaches in the room and you say either you choose to live with them all or you say I have to get some spray. Sooner or later you'll find your own survival will overtake all those other things and you'll end up spraying those cockroaches. That's the reality of things.
Speaker 2:Out there, within our own system, there's so many viruses and bacteria and all those things living there within the body, and when they're having a good time they're flourishing and all those things. But you're not very happy because you're falling sick. You take a lot of antibiotics to wipe them out, you see. So it's a very complex world. So I mean we can say this world is a wheel within a wheel within a wheel. They're like multiple layers of things and we are sort of down the line, a cog that is turning. We think we are having some degree of control, but we are being turned by something and somebody is turning that and somebody is turning that.
Speaker 2:Like in an organization, the man on the on the factory floor is doing certain things. He's got a certain amount of freedom operating a particular machine, but he has to do what his supervisor asks him to do.
Speaker 2:Okay, the supervisor is being turned to his boss and ultimately somebody sitting out the top office, at the top level management, decides we are going to shut down this factory, you know so, because it's not making profit, or do this, some lost jobs should be lost, or this, and that because that's the top level wheel. So it's a wheel within a wheel within a wheel and we are all caught in it. Somehow we'd have a sense of freedom that we want to do, but ultimately we are all bound in it type of thing. And so you know, it doesn't matter at which level you're operating top level, general manager or guy on the factory floor, all are doing the work. So there's another subject, that's which is better work. You know, like, if I have to choose, you know some people say I should sit on the top there.
Speaker 2:With that more power comes more responsibility. If you're not ready for it, you can misuse that power and bring more harm to many people along. That that's another topic too. Discuss freedom and responsibility. A degree of freedom comes with a degree of responsibility everywhere. But coming back to this karma, basically it means any action, any work in thought, in word, in deed, which is bringing a change where the maximum people are benefited. That's what we should aim for, but cannot have a situation where absolutely everyone is benefited. This is the world is like a transaction. Are you given, take, you know? So if you are doing good business, okay, making profit, well, somebody's paying more. Yes, oh, your customers are paying more and maybe they're struggling financially, the cost of living is high and they're deprived of the basics and things, but the the business is saying we are thriving, you know?
Speaker 1:yes, they're very happy. Yeah, employees are happy, everyone's happy, but but the customer is not happy, yeah, yeah, because they're suffering.
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, now, if you want to make them happy customers happy then your profit margin goes down and your investors are not happy and your employees is not getting an increment.
Speaker 2:so where do we? You know one. What is the ideal? Can we keep everyone happy? A lot of karma says no. Yet we are caught into it and we get according to our desire.
Speaker 2:So there's two meanings of karma. One is this karma like we say, as you saw, or the result of your work. Actions leave a result. But there's another, deeper meaning of karma which I would like to discuss. So, swami Vivekananda, and for those listeners who would like to know where these ideas are coming from, I would like to refer them to this beautiful, very small book called Karma Yoga by Swami Vivekananda. You can get this in any of our mission centers, publications or online. It's available there. It's not very long, but the way it has been presented is beautiful. Small bits of information there, or knowledge there that can help us do our work better, working, but working in the light than in the darkness. So what Swamiji says is that Swami Vivekananda says that karma decides what we deserve in our life.
Speaker 2:What we deserve what we deserve. So, for example, he says look, you might be born in a rich family, don't have to work. Millions of dollars you inherit but you're not going to use those millions of dollars. You'll use only that which you deserve to work. Millions of dollars inherit, but you are not going to use those millions of dollars. You will use only that which you deserve to use, and that would be decided by your karma, previous karma. The rest, it will be there. You'll never use it. You buy so many clothes and you put in your wardrobe which ones are you going to use, as happens in many people? You know only that which you deserve. The deserving is decided by your previous karma.
Speaker 2:So people will say so. You know it's in his karma. He got it. Okay, he didn't have to work for it, maybe in this lifetime, but definitely he worked for it in his previous lifetime. So a person who was very kind and charitable and giving and this and that you'll find in this life, all those things will come to him. It could be born in a rich family, getting lucky, as you might say. There's no lucky in the sense that something just happened without a cause. No, all of a sudden, when we say lucky, you could not identify the cause. You just saw a good result and said, hey, he's so lucky. No, he worked for it. And, on the other hand, when something other than unpleasant happens without a cause, it happens, you know. You can have an accident and say where did that come from? Well, that was also happening because of her previous karma.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so karma. It's still in line with that same proverb, then?
Speaker 2:Yes, as we saw, so, but here it's important to understand that everything, it's all pervasive. Law of karma controls so many things. It's not like a small activity I'm doing now. The law is operational all the time and it's across lifetimes, right.
Speaker 2:Across lifetimes and across dimensions, you know, across the physical activity, mental activity and spiritual activity and things that will happen to us in different situations. And when we don't understand that law, then sometimes we fight, we grumble, we whinge, we complain why did this happen to me? Why me, as they say. People say a lot of times why me? Yeah, well, they say, complain about that only when something unpleasant happens to them. You know, when they win a lottery they don't say why me? So it's like that. So this deserving is there?
Speaker 2:Vedanta tries to teach us is this about the laws that operate in the non-physical, the subtle laws that govern our life, our existence, our coming, events that happen in our life. And if we have the deep faith and understanding that this is a complex thing, it's not a simple. You know, one plus one is equal to type of thing. Many layers are there and even if you don't understand, there's nothing, no injustice in this world. We are the creators of our destiny. What we want, what we will be in the future, depends on what we do now, and what we are now depends on our past. We are a result of our past and we are the creators of our own destiny. So when difficult times come. Then somebody who has this Vedanta perspective says, okay, I am just working out some past karma. I might not know, I don't have access to my actions of my previous lifetime. Sometimes you see them in your own lifetime, these early days you did something and say, oh, I can see the correlation, but it's good to get it out of the way.
Speaker 1:So what do they do?
Speaker 2:They don't complain, they don't whinge, they patiently forbear it and say let's get it over with you. Yeah, don't fight it, let it work itself out, type of thing.
Speaker 1:And so you'll find that you know there's also a lot of people that probably you know when they commit a crime there's a sense of guilt that remains with them and while they might not declare that crime, criminal activity, early on over time, it just hangs in with them, you know, and they can't live with themselves pretty much until they go out and declare it. You know a lot of people come back and give themselves up to the police or whatever. It is right, they say sorry to their family member after a very long time or whatever. It is Not all of them, but there is definitely some.
Speaker 2:It's like they're loaded and sitting on the chest and they say I want to get it off my chest, as they say.
Speaker 1:you know, it gives them some relief.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean that they have, you know, spoken to somebody and now they are absolved of it. No, but it is so oppressive that they need to, just, you know, find a way to start the process of taking ownership, facing the truth, talking about it, not hiding it, and being ready for the punishment that might come. Yes, so you declare to the police I did something and said okay, now we found the criminal. Therefore, my friend, you have to go to the prison. That could be a situation like that. He's lucky because he will work that out here in this lifetime, but suppose he is not. Does he escape the punishment? No, oh, the next lifetime. Okay, he is born in a situation, in a uh, where he is working that out himself. It's very, very complicated. That reminds me of a incident that somebody told me. It's a let me tell.
Speaker 2:So I know of a person who who told me this, his he's a doctor and he said one day a very old patient of his came to him, a regular patient, and one day he said, doctor, I want to talk to you and I need to get something off my chest. I said nothing to do with the physical treatment, but I just need to talk to somebody and I find you a good guy who listens in, you know. So what is it he said? He said and this is a little bit of history he said as a young man in Australia, in New South Wales, somewhere, I learned how to use a gun. I ended up in Queensland and up in Bundaberg or somewhere harvesting cane. Then I was offered a job to come and use my shooting skills, and guess what was that? We would go in a helicopter into the outback and we were shooting the Aboriginal people.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Back in the day. This is back in the days.
Speaker 2:And as a young man, I went and did that because I was getting paid for it. Yes, okay, Just like people would shoot kangaroos and other things.
Speaker 2:Wow. So he said that was what I did until it hit me that this is not right and I pulled out and I stopped doing that and no one knew. And I stopped doing that and no one knew. But I have been carrying this with me, that guilt that you talked about in my heart, for so long that I have gone out and killed people in this way and I have escaped any punishment and all those things. And I'm an old man, I want to die anytime and I can die without anyone knowing. But he, it is sitting too heavily on my chest. I need to get it off, unload it.
Speaker 1:So you know, yeah, wow, that's amazing, you see.
Speaker 2:So maybe he felt a little relieved. I shared with somebody. I feel better, but is that the end of it? No, because his karma hasn't come back to him yes. So normally you would be born in a situation where you are at the receiving end of things. As it was done to somebody else, so it shall be done unto you, type of thing, and so that's how things are decided. It's very, very complex and sometimes yeah, so just feel like Swamiji that how would you ever work that out?
Speaker 1:Because it seems that you know for that Aboriginal person that was killed. He does not deserve it, but in his prior lifetime possibly would have done something.
Speaker 2:Therefore, now, this time, that's what I'm saying. It's very so. It's a very complex. You know which is the cause of which, which?
Speaker 1:is the cause. The cause is like there's no real end to this. Was this the settlement of thing?
Speaker 2:yes, in the sense that finally, that's who was. Yeah, or if this is a start of a new cycle that will need to be settled in the next one. And so this is how it works.
Speaker 2:That's why Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says you know, intricate are the ways of karma, gahana, karma no gati. It's like a long chain and we have access to only one link and in that link we are trying to see you know where things are, finding and cause and effect type of thing. But it could be things that we've done a few lifetimes back that are being worked out now. And what we are doing now could be creating are all seeds for the previous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when we say we are being born, recycle Bhavasagar cycle of rebirths and things. These laws are in operation.
Speaker 1:So is someone keeping a ledger Swamiji? Is that Davidson Criddle?
Speaker 2:Well, the mind itself is the ledger. There's no Kuber or somebody who is writing it down that at St Peter's gate he opens the book and says hey, you know, you go to heaven or you go to hell. That is another very interesting topic as to how, what? How karma is stored, when does it begin to become operational in this lifetime and the new actions that we are doing? How these are getting again stored, because the physical body doesn't continue to the next life and yet karma is going to the next life.
Speaker 2:So the question is what is the vehicle in which all these are carried through and in what form are they stored and can we get a grasp of it? Because it's happening to me and if I want to escape this cycle of coming and going which is binding me into this series, of being born again in different bodies, in different situations and going through these ups and downs, at some point the Jiva feels a tremendous desire to be free from this. But it's not just like wishing. I want to be free, therefore I am free. All this karma has to be worked out. So maybe we can take that as a discussion for another episode. Yes, definitely.
Speaker 1:Swamiji. Thank you, swamiji, and we carry on the discussions again. Yes, sure, sunil, thank you, thank you.
