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Religion & Spirituality24 min read
Karma
by Sadhguru
A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Own Destiny
Published: July 13, 2021
4.6 (238 ratings)
Table of Contents
1
what’s in it for me? a crash course on karma.2
karma is something we generate within ourselves.3
karma isn’t about action alone. it’s about the volition behind the action.4
to understand how karma works, it’s important to understand the role of memory in yogic tradition.5
your goal should be to unload yourself of your karma.6
we can’t choose the karma we already have. but we can choose what we do with it.7
we must work to erase our karma on three levels – the physical, the psychological, and the energetic.8
once you’ve learned how to manage karma in the physical and mental planes, it’s time to attend to the energy plane.9
karma is our attachment to the limiting illusion of our individuality. cleansing ourselves of this notion allows us to live joyfully.10
final summaryBook Summary
This is a comprehensive summary of “Karma” by Sadhguru. The book explores a yogi's guide to crafting your own destiny.
what’s in it for me? a crash course on karma.#
Introduction
sadhguru.
karma.
a yogi's guide to crafting your own destiny.
narrated by marston york and karan kass.
karma is an often misunderstood concept.
many think of it as a judgment mechanism that punishes or rewards you for deeds or misdeeds committed in the past or during past lives.
but there's more to it than that.
these chapters explain the scientific nature of karma and how it is possible to approach the concept in a liberating way that can bring you hope, joy and freedom.
so, get ready to learn what karma is, how it accumulates and how it affects your life, emotions and actions.
by truly understanding these concepts, you can take control of your life with confidence and live in a blissful state.
karma is something we generate within ourselves.#
imagine you exaggerated a qualification on your resume when you applied for a job.
a few months into the job, you learn that you're being fired due to budget cuts.
why do these terrible things happen to me, you lament.
it must be my bad karma.
or maybe things swing the opposite way.
you drop coins into a homeless person's jar and later that day someone you've had your eye on asks you to dinner.
ah, you might say, my good karma is kicking in.
actually, neither assumption is true.
rather than some mechanism of justice imposed from above, karma exists within you and it's 100% within your control.
the key message here is, karma is something we generate within ourselves.
here's what karma is not.
it's not paying a price or reaping rewards for past deeds.
there's no one sitting in judgement with a nice and naughty book deciding who to send to heaven or hell.
instead, think of karma as an internal cycle that we generate ourselves.
all through life we respond to stimuli.
we have a mental reaction which causes a chemical reaction which results in a physical sensation which then reinforces the chemical and mental fluctuations.
these responses form patterns and these patterns form a shape that we refer to as our personality.
in turn, this personality affects the way we see the world.
karmic memory isn't just something that we create with our minds.
it's a cause and effect cycle that operates at multiple levels including the cellular and genetic.
here's another way to look at it.
karma is a sort of software you write for yourself and it runs repetitively.
due to repeated patterns that result from running this software, our karma creates a vasana which roughly translates as scent.
obviously, the vasana you create for yourself can't be detected with the nose but like a good or a bad scent, it can either attract or repel other people or situations.
for example, one person may attract the same type of abusive partner over and over again.
another might attract financial fortune.
but karma isn't in control.
you are.
once you recognise and understand it, you can rewrite the software and reclaim the driver's seat of your own life to live in confidence and joy.
karma isn’t about action alone. it’s about the volition behind the action.#
chapter 2 of 8 let's say you're chopping vegetables when your partner says something that enrages you.
furious, you whip around and stab him with your knife.
does this act earn you some bad karma as well as some legal problems?
definitely.
here's an alternate scenario.
let's say you've been angry with your partner for a few months and have decided to take violent action.
he comes over, he upsets you and you lunge with your knife.
this would earn you even more negative karma than the first scenario since you've compounded the violence with months of resentful and vengeful thoughts.
no surprise there.
but what might come as a surprise is that you can accumulate still more negative karma by committing no violence at all.
the key message here is karma isn't about action alone.
it's about the volition behind the action.
imagine you spend time with your partner pretending all is well while harbouring hatred in your heart and wishing you could kill him.
you don't reach for the knife.
you don't commit physical violence.
but whenever you see him, you wish you could.
well, this gets you the most negative karma of all.
we often think of karma as something beyond our control, something that results in either our suffering or our bliss.
but the truth is that we can create suffering and bliss through our volition alone.
unlike animals, who are directed solely by instinct, humans have the freedom of not having a fixed nature and of having almost unlimited options in thought and behaviour.
every thought we have has a consequence, even in situations that we think of as influenced by destiny or fate.
but no situation is destined to be.
nothing is fated to transpire.
we create our own destiny each day and in this way add to our karmic load.
most of us do this unknowingly, but if we become conscious of our thoughts and adjust our volition, we can affect our destiny and reduce our load.
for example, someone afflicted with a painful disease may lament their fate.
but while the pain of their condition is unavoidable, suffering is a self-manufactured choice with little use.
yet many of us suffer needlessly because we don't realise that we can opt not to do so.
to understand how karma works, it’s important to understand the role of memory in yogic tradition.#
chapter 3 of 8 in 2013, emory university researchers released the fragrance of cherry blossoms into a cage of mice.
right as the smell was released, the researchers administered a mild electric shock to the mice.
over time, the terrified mice learnt to associate the smell with the pain of the shock.
they soon began to run as soon as they smelled cherry blossoms, even after the scientists stopped administering the shock.
but here's the interesting thing.
those mice had babies.
and even though the second generation was never electrocuted, they were just as afraid of the smell of cherry blossoms.
this fear persisted into the third generation.
like the memory of cherry blossoms that crossed generations, karma can be described as a persistent memory, not just of our lifetime, but of millions of years.
the key message here is, to understand how karma works, it's important to understand the role of memory in yogic tradition.
everything we've ever experienced through our five senses is stored.
we respond to all of it, even memories we're not conscious of, because of how deeply they're stored within us.
yogic tradition recognises eight dimensions of memory.
the first four refer to our collective karma, the way we've been shaped by the elements and the genetics of our species.
these dimensions are elemental, atomic, evolutionary and genetic.
the remaining four dimensions are the ones in which our personal volition comes into play.
karmic, sensory, articulate and inarticulate.
each person has a unique collection of memories, ranging from genetic to sensory, that makes them an individual.
all these memories exist in a sort of warehouse of karmic memory called sanchita.
although we carry the entirety of this warehouse around with us throughout multiple lifetimes, we're not fully aware of its enormity.
think of it as your computer cloud subscription.
all your information is stored in a cloud that you can access, but you don't keep all of it stored on the laptop you carry around with you.
no one has access to the entirety of their karmic memory during a single lifetime.
rather, each person has access to a portion of their sanchita.
this portion is called allotted karma.
think of it as the karmic equivalent of a hard drive.
what are you supposed to do with this portion while you're alive?
the goal is to unload it, to erase it, to wipe the hard drive clean.
your goal should be to unload yourself of your karma.#
chapter 4 of 8 each culture has its own origin myth.
the origin myth of yogis is that everything started from pure intelligence.
to merge back into that intelligence, or god, vibrations, energy, whatever you want to call it, is the ultimate destination for every human.
what stops us from attaining this goal?
according to the author, sadhguru, it's merely the notion that we're individuals and our very strenuous efforts to maintain that myth, all of which adds to our karmic load.
the key message here is, your goal should be to unload yourself of your karma.
according to yogic beliefs, we have five types of bodies.
physical, mental, energy, etheric and bliss.
karma operates primarily on the first three levels, to our physical bodies, our minds and our energy bodies.
even when our bodies become frail and our minds fail us in old age, our karmic memory persists in our energy bodies.
in the previous chapter we talked about the karmic equivalent of your hard drive, which is called allotted karma.
this is the portion of karma that you need to attend to in your specific lifetime.
the goal is to empty it out, which is hard.
it's hard because almost any feeling you have or action you take creates more karma, which is called actionable karma.
if you become entangled in your actions and thoughts, you create actionable karma in the future, which you will have to attend to later, either in this lifetime or in the next.
it's important to pause here and note that although we frequently equate memory with karma, the goal of emptying the karma warehouse doesn't mean that all memories are bad.
a memory of a great vacation, the ability to swim well, the stories of your tribe or clan – all these have value.
but when memories create boundaries, that's when karma begins to accumulate and weigh down on you.
the goal is to consciously distance yourself as much as possible from your karma.
now, distancing yourself from your karma is not the same as being detached from life.
according to sadguru, detachment is a lifeless, joyless philosophy.
he thinks it's best to be involved with people and the world around us, but not entangled.
we can’t choose the karma we already have. but we can choose what we do with it.#
sadguru tells the story of an aspiring yogi who spends hours meditating under a tree until hunger pangs compel him to go home.
he returns the next day, vowing to be stronger, but notices a crippled fox sitting by the tree.
how did this fox survive in the jungle?
the mystery is solved a few hours later when a lion enters the clearing.
the yogi is terrified, but the lion walks over to the fox and drops meat at its feet.
aha, the yogi thinks, it's a message from god.
trust and i will be provided for.
a passing guru finds the yogi a few days later, starving.
when the guru hears the story of the fox and lion, he says to the yogi, you received a divine message, but why did you choose the example of the crippled fox instead of the brave lion?
the key message here is, we can't choose the karma we already have, but we can choose what to do with it.
you've learned that you were born with a karmic load, but by distancing yourself from your karma and refusing to be bound by it, you can begin the process of shedding it in order to exit the cycle of rebirth.
this process is entirely within your control, but there are some rules.
remember the importance of volition.
if you donate to a cause or volunteer out of a self-conscious desire to be seen as good or charitable, you won't dissolve any karma.
if you care for others only out of a sense of duty, you just accumulate more karma.
think of the pride and self-righteousness in those acts as golden threads that tighten around you, binding you closer to more acts that will do the same.
the key is to act with either total awareness or complete abandon.
any job, performance, act of service, even a simple errand, should be embraced and done with total absorption.
if these acts are performed with joy and love, they become an offering.
in other words, by fostering a conscious desire to live in bliss here on earth, you can create heaven within yourself.
when lived this way, life becomes an expression of happiness rather than the pursuit of it.
we must work to erase our karma on three levels – the physical, the psychological, and the energetic.#
sadhguru believes that about 40 to 48 days after a child is conceived, its karmic fibers begin to tighten.
imagine karma as a coil that gets thicker and denser.
at death, this karma slips out of the body in the form of energy.
in between, between that first tightening and that final release, is that individual's entire life.
how that person chooses to expend their karma in that lifetime will determine how much is left to work on in the next.
we can act upon our karma on three planes – physical, mental and energetic.
here's the key message – we must work to erase our karma on three levels – the physical, the psychological and the energetic.
physical touch can create karmic energy which can leave a karmic imprint, even if that touch is as simple and fleeting as a handshake.
this may be why sadhguru prefers to greet people with a folded hand's namaste.
the desire to avoid karmic imprints also explains practices like choosing a single romantic partner, or even not accepting food or drink in a stranger's house.
when it comes to dislodging karmic energy, the stretching and movement that yoga involves can be useful.
in general, vigorous physical work is a good place to start if you're seeking to shed karmic energy.
certain physical spaces can also have an effect on karma shedding.
places where mystics have spent a great deal of time often exude a cleansing energy.
parts of the northern hemisphere have a similar effect in july, january and december.
on a psychological level, the most important thing to accept is the importance of the present.
the past is a memory – a fun vacation, a happy childhood.
the future is imagination – a dream job, a perfect vacation.
both are mental constructs.
understanding deeply that the present moment – right now, listening to this – is the only reality is crucial in allowing you to stay focused and mindful.
once you accept this truth, you'll be able to harmonise with everything around you.
this isn't to say that memory and imagination are undesirable – they can be positive sources of happiness.
they only become a problem if they lead to victimhood or passivity.
for example, thoughts like, my father cheated, so i probably will too.
in the next chapter, we'll learn about ridding our energy body of its allotted karma.
once you’ve learned how to manage karma in the physical and mental planes, it’s time to attend to the energy plane.#
chapter 7 of 8 sadguru once visited a monastery carved into rock that was used by jain monks 1,900 years ago.
he worked hard all day cleaning the place.
at one point, he sat down on a rock bench upon which a jain monk had lain nearly 2,000 years prior to that day.
immediately, sadguru began to feel powerful vibrations.
the monk had left behind a significant amount of his energy, so much that sadguru could make out a physical outline based on the energetic vibrations.
he could tell that the monk's left leg had been amputated at the knee.
the jain monk may have died long ago, but his energy which he'd shed during his lifetime remained.
the key message here is, once you've learned how to manage karma in the physical and mental planes, it's time to attend to the energy plane.
you already know about the physical and the mental body.
both of these cease to exist after one lifetime.
but the energy body lives on, along with all the karma it's accumulated.
whatever we have accumulated as karma moves on in our energy body.
energy is only transformed, not created or destroyed.
advanced mystics like that jain monk from long ago are able to discard their energy body's karma through yoga, meditation and other practices.
those who are truly enlightened are able to completely rid their energy body of its karma.
and, if they time this correctly, shedding that last bit of karma right as they pass away, they merge with the divine.
imagine a pond of water.
you draw out a bucket full of water and then another.
there's no difference between the contents of the two buckets.
just as there's no substantive difference between you and another person.
we're all one pond.
the bucket is an illusion.
mystics, by cleansing the energy body of all its karma, are like a bucket being poured back into that pond.
during their lifetime, these mystics see absolutely no distinction or separation between themselves and the world around them.
and upon their death, they're able to slip out of their bodies and escape the wheel, the cycle of life, death and rebirth.
if you haven't worked out your allotted karma but your body is destroyed, you become a disembodied person, an intense energy body with no physical body, what we describe as a ghost.
it's harder to work out karma this way because all extremes of karma are intensified in this situation.
that's why it's better to attend to karma while you're still in your body.
in the final chapter, we'll learn what sadhguru has to say about karma and death.
karma is our attachment to the limiting illusion of our individuality. cleansing ourselves of this notion allows us to live joyfully.#
chapter 8 of 8 you've learned what karma is and isn't, and how to manage your karmic load in the best possible way.
but there are still questions.
do you need to understand rebirth in order to buy into the concept of karma?
should you explore regression into previous lives to work out issues?
the key message here is, karma is your attachment to the limiting illusion of your individuality.
cleansing yourself of this notion will allow you to live joyfully.
the buddha remembered every lifetime he'd experienced, starting from his first one as a single-celled organism all the way to his present as the enlightened one.
like the buddha, we all begin life as a single-celled organism.
from there, we work our way along the evolutionary spectrum and through multiple lives with the ultimate goal of becoming divine.
along the way, every thought and action has a consequence, often creating repeating patterns.
but we don't suffer because of happenings in a previous life.
what we view as suffering is just the consequence of being in a particular place at a particular time.
it's what we choose to do in that situation that defines our karma going forward.
you can burn up karma through intense action and separate yourself from it through meditation.
but for spiritual freedom from karma, sadhguru likes to use the analogy of an intricate piece of jewellery that courtesans wore in ancient india.
it covered their bodies but was impossible to remove.
suitors often gave up trying to find a way to unlock it.
but the secret was simple.
in one spot on the jewellery was one small pin.
pull that one pin and the whole piece unraveled.
the spiritual pin to understanding karma is easy to find.
it's simply this.
don't ask the question, what about me?
shedding your karma, progressing toward the divine, is a process of divesting yourself of your attachments and emptying out everything that makes you, you.
if you're asking about yourself, then you've missed the point of seeking an answer.
final summary#
Conclusion
the key message in these chapters is that karma is an unavoidable part of existence, but it doesn't have to control or dictate your life.
by understanding its mechanisms and goals, it's possible to live with love and shed your karmic load, allowing you to merge with the divine.
and here's some more actionable advice.
set aside your entanglements.
every night, sit cross-legged on your bed, eyes closed.
imagine you're on your deathbed.
now, list every aspect of yourself, all your loves and hates, relationships and attachments.
remind yourself that they're all accumulations, including your body.
set aside each entanglement lovingly, one by one.
keeping your eyes closed, lie back and sleep.
this exercise will help you move from compulsiveness to consciousness, and also help you work out some karma.
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