Friedrich Schiller
The following scene of my past was imprinted on my memory: my drunk father is in the kitchen insistently and angrily demanding a cup of tea. Offended mother deliberately ignores him while brother and grandmother sit silent with fear in the darkness. A thought comes to my mind of a child: “It is not tea what he wants, but it is attention and care he is asking for”. I remember as I came out of to the light of the kitchen, smiled, poured a cup of tea, put sugar and began talking to father about simple things in a relaxed and calm voice. Soon father was falling asleep. I came up to him and stroked his head. Since that moment I realized that we always have a choice and there is no need to strike back because only mercy and forgiveness give us an opportunity to build real spiritual relationship with another person.
Modern society teaches us to defend ourselves: “He, who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”. An individual is gradually putting on heavy armor, builds protective walls so as nobody dares wounding him, prying into his feelings. The separation of “I (me)” from billiards of other “I(s)” results in our being inclined to justify oneself, to put the blame for failures on others, to shift responsibility for our life on other people, on circumstances, on God and the Universe. While ascribing good merits to ourselves, all the negative events we justify by the outer imperfection of this world. However, as you sow you shall mow…
May be that is why the theory of karma and reincarnation provoke rejection among modern people. It brings much pain to open your eyes one day and realize that the present “I” is the result of my past actions and deeds. It seems impossible to accept that we get what we deserve, and it is what we get that will do us good. Deep understanding of the essence of karma and reincarnation lets an individual gradually clean his soul of the layers of Ego and learn to take responsibility for the deeds committed by the past “I” during previous lives, without blaming the seeming injustice of the world or the Creator.
A new outlook on life, based on the awareness of the single law of the cause and consequence, teaches a person to make choices here and now, being guided by universal moral and ethical laws, and at the same time it helps to see God as fair neutral and all-loving energy.
We tend to understand “karma” as something inviolable, as in the clutches of time and circumstance that are impossible to get away from. However, karma is not a predetermination and a determined previously path, it is neither duty nor punishment. One’s destiny and his actions are not a straight line; any turns are possible here according to the individual’s choice. The free will of a person is the most important and determining factor in living a specific period of time which is known as life. Karma serves as potential energy and force which is realized by our intentions, thoughts, actions and words. Karma is memory, a collection of subconscious patterns and inclinations acquired by our negative and positive experience; a bunch of internal impulses that we can either develop or slow down in this or that situation, thus choosing between degradation and spiritual growth. To be aware of karma is like remembering school years when you were taught different subjects, and now you learn to apply them in everyday life for the good or the bad of the world.
Another reincarnation of a soul in the physical body is one’s opportunity to meet yourself real, your experience and once again make a choice whether to move ahead or to fall down. A person comes to this world not by chance: family, appearance, diseases, health, place, inclinations, character – all these are just the necessary conditions to learn a lesson, to continue personal growth and development. And the fact that these lessons are learned in the given conditions and during this reincarnation depends only on the person’s free will.
The most important thing that one has to understand is that there is no good or bad life as the eternal spiritual laws place people in the very conditions, circumstances and situations in the material world which are now the most necessary ones for a soul’s perfection. Whether you were born in a dirty cellar among the homeless or into a sophisticated family of aristocrats; whether you have loving parents or you grow up in an orphanage; whether you are lucky to meet the love of your life or you live to be alone; whether you have good health or you are disabled – all these factors is the best soul’s reincarnation for today which will allow it to realize all the mistakes of the previous reincarnations and try to correct them, thus getting closer to the primordial level of God. And if you happen not to learn the lesson today, the absolute justice laid in every creature of the Universe will give more and more lessons until you change for the better the accumulated negative karma.
To be aware of karma and the meaning of today’s incarnation, it is enough to look at yourself, recollect the sequence of relationships with parents, husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, friends and enemies. All the people we meet in this world are our kindred souls and we have already been connected with them in our previous lives. All the circle of personalities which you manage to embrace during this short human existence is, in fact, your single large family. An individual finds himself in this family and gets the experience which helps him to learn, to grow and to comprehend the rules of spiritual perfection. The mutual experience of relationship from the previous life of a couple can be filled with negative of positive feelings. But what these people will do with this experience in the present depends on their will and aspirations for spiritual development. All the creatures of the world meet for various reasons. But whether this meeting will lead to growth or decline solely depends on the chosen spiritual ideal.
The most difficult question in this fast-changing boiling world cloaked with darkness and sins is as follows: “What should I choose as the spiritual ideal? How to apply it in everyday life?” In all the religions and philosophical schools the spiritual ideal and criterion of self-perfection have always been absolute love and unconditional forgiveness. The very love which “is long-suffering, shows mercy; neither envies nor praises itself, nor takes pride in itself, nor outrages, nor gets annoyed, nor thinks of evil, nor gets sad with lies but is happy to see the truth; covers everything, believes everything, hopes and endures everything ” (footnote 1). It is not necessary to be a saint to gradually and steadily move towards these eternal ideals. One should start with himself, with applying the spiritual truths in everyday life. Your guide for action can be Christian commandments, pillars of Islam, the truths of Buddhism or the stages of Yoga - all these are particulars. You just should not sit and wait till another person gives you everything he can and forgives you for everything. It is necessary to try to create harmony and integrity within and around yourself, to set the goal and make it your mission to be an addition to other person and to help him overcome passions and ignorance. Spiritual laws should not be a part of life but its unshakeable basis and the ever-burning lighthouse towards which you always turn your eyes when in hazy wanderings in the darkness. Every day and every hour should a person strive to be kind, noble, ready to sacrifice, to become the hands of a blind man and the legs of a lame man – this is the shortest path of spiritual development. Only the ability to forgive oneself and others here and now can reveal a person’s soul, saving it from egoistic impulses and deeds.
We incarnate over and over again and continue working through our karma with a single objective – to move ahead, otherwise you fall down. As Edgar Cayce once said: “Having found out that you lived, died and then were buried by a cherry tree in your grandmother’s garden, you will not become a good neighbor, citizen, mother or father! But on finding out that you were doing evil and suffering from it and that now you can correct and improve it by committing just and fair deeds, you will really find out something of great value!” (footnote 2)
OM!
Footnote 1. The First Epistle of Saint Peter the Apostle to Corinthians
Footnote 2. Edgar Cayce “Reincarnation and family karma”
The article was written by Anastasia Kaurova