Good Karma Can Drive Out Bad Karma

Most people believe that as spiritual beings, our souls survive death, and continue their existence in a spiritual realm. Some believe in reincarnation or rebirth on the material plane, and a few believe in transmigration of souls, or rebirth in different forms in accordance with one’s karma. The Baha’is believe that the soul is a distinct spiritual entity. Upon its separation from the physical body at death, it lives eternally, ever progressing towards reunion with its Creator, its status and progress directly dependent upon the purity of life led on earth.

Heaven and hell are also variously described as locations where the virtuous find happiness and sinners languish in suffering. In reality they are not places but states of existence of joy and sorrow, of having attained nearness to God or being distanced from the Divine threshold in accordance with our deeds. The closer the soul to his beloved Lord, the happier it is.

The key to proximity to the Divine threshold is the performance of goodly deeds. Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha'i faith, has enjoined a process of personal audit as a means to monitor our lives. He has called upon all to “Bring thyself to account each day, ere thou are summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall call upon thee, and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds”.

We are required to do all the good possible so that at the end of each day we find ourselves on the credit side, that our good deeds outweigh our shortcomings. We question ourselves each night and answer honestly. “Was I completely sincere today? Was I humble, patient, kind and generous? Was I frank and courageous, obedient and faithful? Or was I dishonest, proud, impatient and quarrelsome, unkind and miserly, deceitful and cowardly, disobedient and disloyal?” The personal audit takes five minutes. You are alone and forthright with yourself. Nobody shames or embarrasses you. You confess to yourself only, and the exercise comes to be a gradual self-purification and spiritually rewarding process. And eventually leads to salvation.

A young boy who had come to take away old newspapers weighed the pile and calculated the value at Rs.76/-. From his purse he took out Rs.75/- and fished around in his pockets for the remaining rupee. The Rs.75/- were accepted and he was told to forget about the rupee. He left. Fifteen minutes later he was back. He had cycled to the nearest market, changed money, and was back to pay his one rupee! “Better to pay debts in this world than to be answerable in the next!” he said by way of explanation.  

Another kind of personal audit was suggested by a wise man to a conscientious seeker. “For every sin you commit, drive a nail into the wall of your room. And for every good deed, draw out a nail. At the end of the month you will know by the number of nails in the wall whether your sins were greater or your good deeds outdid the bad deeds.”  This the man did faithfully. At month end he happily found he had no nails in the wall, but was left with a scarred wall, where the nails had been wrenched out. He went back to the wise man and reported: “I have no nails left but my wall is damaged”. “That” the wise man said “is the scar left on your soul even though your sins and good deeds may seem balanced”.

When the mind accepts impure to be impure,we become pure

Impurity is essentially a perception-distorter. The impurity of addiction to alcohol makes alcoholics think that the alcohol which is the cause of their suffering is the source of irresistible pleasure.

Similarly, when we have the impurity of, say, greed, it makes getting money by any means, ethical or unethical, seem attractive. For the soul capable of relishing pure eternal love for Krishna, obsession with temporary worldly things is an impurity. All such impurities deprive us of the unlimited joy of absorption in Krishna and sentence us to the misery of pursuing petty things – a pursuit that brings a lot of karmic entanglement and misery with at best only a little enjoyment.

As long as the mind is under the spell of greed, it keeps propositioning us to possess and enjoy material things. 

Studying scripture helps us understand intellectually why impurities are impurities. But still the mind doesn’t accept it. As long as it is under the spell of greed, it continues to see worldly things as enjoyable and keeps propositioning us to possess and enjoy them. Of course, we can and should use our intelligence to say no to the mind’s schemes. But as long as the mind keeps making such proposals, we can understand that we are still impure.

Nonetheless, if we keep practicing bhakti-yoga steadily and sincerely, the repeated exposure to Krishna and the deep spiritual fulfillment thereof will gradually persuade the mind that real happiness lies in him alone – and that impure indulgences bring not enjoyment but entanglement and misery.

When the mind thus accepts the impure to be impure and gives up the desire to enjoy, it becomes peaceful. And we become joyful in our practice of devotion, for we no longer have to undergo the inner struggle with temptation that interferes with the joy of devotion. The Bhagavad-gita (06.27) declares that those with such a peaceful and pure mind relish the supreme bliss.

10 Wisdom quotes to change your Life!

Listing down the 10 quotes that have the power to change anyone’s life-

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
—Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

“Why do they always teach us that it’s easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world–to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want.”
—Ayn Rand

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
—Oscar Wilde

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
—Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
—Marianne Williamson

“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded.”
—Bessie Anderson Stanley (frequently misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

Our past explains our inclination,but it doesn't excuse our actions

Imagine a computer used by a child primarily for playing games. From the moment it is turned on, it repeatedly gives prompts for playing. Such prompts continue even when the child grows up and wants to use the computer for studying. The past usage of the computer explains why those prompts come, but that prompting doesn’t justify the student’s playing now, for he has the power to say no.

Our body is akin to a machine for us souls – a machine that we have in our past used largely for worldly indulgences. When we fortunately come in contact with Gita wisdom, we recognize that life has the higher purpose of spiritual realization that brings everlasting happiness. Understanding this is akin to growing up spiritually.

However, even when we strive to focus on life’s spiritual purpose, our body keeps prompting us towards worldly indulgences. Our past explains our inclinations, which are the prompts coming from the body. But we have the power to say no to them. If we still indulge, then pointing to our inclinations won’t excuse us of the consequences – at the very least we will fail to realize our spiritual potential and will perpetuate our miserable material existence.

Just as saying no to the game becomes easier for students if they develop interest in studies, similarly saying no to the bodily prompts becomes easier for us if we develop interest in devotional activities. And bhakti-yoga accommodatingly enables us to serve Krishna according to our psychophysical nature, which refers to the things that naturally interest us. In bhakti, rather than rejecting all bodily prompts, we reject those that are anti-devotional and dovetail those that are devotionally harmonizable. The Bhagavad-gita (18.56) assures us that even while working according to our nature, we can still take shelter of Krishna and thereby attain life’s supreme perfection.

10 Bible Verses of Wisdom and Knowledge Throughout the Bible

In the Bible there are many different passages of wisdom and knowledge. It is very important that we use our knowledge and experience to make decisions. But, most of all, we use the Bible as guidance. Who knows better than the Lord when it comes to guiding us in the right direction?

Always remember that no one can lead us in a better direction than God. Our own understanding and experience can help make a better decision and the Lord plays a major role in that.

Below are 10 scripture passages on wisdom:

Psalm 111:10 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever."

Job 12:12 - "With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding."

Proverbs 3:7 - "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil."

Job 28:28 - "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."

Proverbs 9:10 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."

Ecclesiastes 7:12 - "For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it."

James 1:5 , 6 - "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

Proverbs 14:8 - "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit."

James 3:17 - "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

Proverbs 29:15 - "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

The encouraging, more encouraging and most encouraging messages of the Gita

“I am my worst enemy.” Some of us may have felt like this when we came under the grip of sudden, irrational impulses, and spoke and acted in ways that hurt others or ourselves or both. We make plans and efforts to change our illogical, uncongenial behavior, yet the heat of the moment often overpowers us. When we repeatedly succumb to the same self-defeating behavior, we may become possessed by the gloomy thought: “Maybe this is just the way I am; maybe this is my unchangeable nature.”

In such disheartening situations, Gita wisdom inspires us with three increasingly encouraging messages.

The encouraging message of the Gita is that our nature is changeable. In fact, the Gita states that what we consider our nature is not actually our nature; it is just the programming of the body-mind apparatus that we are presently situated in. We are souls who have a pure nature that is transcendental to any physical or mental programming. We come under the impulses of the body and the mind only because we misidentify with them. By cultivating awareness of our spiritual identity, we become free from the control of material impulses.

The more encouraging message of the Gita is that becoming aware of our spiritual identity doesn’t have to be a dry, onerous, hyper-intellectual austerity. By the process of bhakti-yoga, we can experience spiritual happiness even when we are still misidentifying with the body or the mind. Bhakti yoga centers on rendering service to Krishna externally and cultivating his remembrance internally. When we engage in these dual aspects of bhakti to the best of our capacity, we relish a deep fulfillment that is entirely different from, distinctly richer than, any pleasure offered by the body or the mind. This fulfillment provides us experiential evidence that we are indeed souls, beyond our bodies and minds.  Convinced by this evidence, we become inspired to gain greater realization of our identity and thereby experience more of that higher happiness.  Thus, the process of bhakti-yoga utilizes our subjective experiences to complement our objective knowledge in the process for realizing our spiritual identity. This makes the journey much easier than if it had involved only intellectual analysis.

The most encouraging message of the Gita is that Krishna is willing and waiting to help us in realizing our spiritual identity. He can engage his omnipotence in demolishing all the illusions and misconceptions that make us forget our spiritual identity. If we just show Krishna by our actions that we want to come out of material misidentification, then he will happily and mercifully clear the way for us. By his mercy, the same self-transformation that had seemed impossible becomes possible – easily and joyfully possible.

Thus, the Gita informs us that in our attempts at self-transformation we can avail of three increasingly powerful resources: knowledge, experience and mercy. No wonder then that after hearing the Gita Arjuna felt so encouraged that he declared (18.73) his readiness to do whatever it took to successfully navigate the journey to self-mastery.

Purpose of this Blog

Purpose of this blog is to dwell into ancient wisdom ,to attain enlightenment ,contentment and lead a better life.

Keep visiting and keep contributing so that all of us benefit from the pearls of ancient wisdom!