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Thread: How to get rid of Karma

  1. #1

    How to get rid of Karma

    Namasthe,

    This is my first post here, I feel I have been facing some problems or the other like health, or relationships or career for the past few years, before that I was very happy. I am sure this is happening because of bad karma, so how to get rid of this? I pray daily and try not to hurt anybody and try to help people who are in need. Also do wome charity whenever I can, infact our whole family is good in doing charity, what else need to be done to get rid of these problems, has anybody gone through this, if so could you please guide me, Thank you and Regards

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    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    Quote Originally Posted by gaby58 View Post
    Namasthe,

    This is my first post here, I feel I have been facing some problems or the other like health, or relationships or career for the past few years, before that I was very happy. I am sure this is happening because of bad karma, so how to get rid of this? I pray daily and try not to hurt anybody and try to help people who are in need. Also do wome charity whenever I can, infact our whole family is good in doing charity, what else need to be done to get rid of these problems, has anybody gone through this, if so could you please guide me, Thank you and Regards
    Vannakkam gaby: Welcome to these forums.

    Karma is a law, not a thing. We have effects on is as a result of the law, but we don't really have karma per se. And no, you can't just wave a magic wand and get rid of actions that are coming to you as a result of your own previous actions. But what you can do is take them in stride, and not react in such a way as to create more. We can try to see through it from the light of understanding, what caused it, etc.

    Sometimes penance will alleviate or lessen karma's impact. Here's an example that used to work for me. I was fearful of trouble (bad karma) at the beginning of each school year that I taught. I'd sense (perhaps incorrectly) that I'd have to deal with some crazy parent. So I'd go to the temple and do 108 prostrations in front of Ganesha all the time being mindful or Him removing obstacles for that school year. I have no proof that it helped, of course, but it certainly felt like it helped, which is perhaps the important thing.

    But just keep doing what you're doing, by the sounds of things. I hope this is of some assistance.

    Aum Namasivaya
    Last edited by Eastern Mind; 07 February 2014 at 05:37 PM.

  3. #3

    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    Quote Originally Posted by gaby58 View Post
    Namasthe,

    This is my first post here, I feel I have been facing some problems or the other like health, or relationships or career for the past few years, before that I was very happy. I am sure this is happening because of bad karma, so how to get rid of this? I pray daily and try not to hurt anybody and try to help people who are in need. Also do wome charity whenever I can, infact our whole family is good in doing charity, what else need to be done to get rid of these problems, has anybody gone through this, if so could you please guide me, Thank you and Regards
    Namaste Gaby,

    As I see it, you can not get rid off Karma, other then by undergoing it. Undergoing it is getting rid of karma, it is like paying off your debt. It is not productive to worry about karma. Karma one simply has to accept. Accepting it also reduces the suffering. Accepting however does not mean we should stop trying to improve our lives. If a problem is karma, so is its solution. Our free will is not diminished in any way by Karma. Karma rather is the product of free will.

    Our focus should be on our actions because they determine what Karma we are producing now. Only that will improve things. As you are already doing that, I would not worry about Karma at all. Karma is only a problem if we use it as an excuse for wrongful action. Some people do that. They reason: my bike was stolen, so I steal one back. Whenever people take revenge they perpetuate negative karma. Think about it this way: undergoing my karma I finally get rid of it. You want to undergo it rather sooner than later, because its shadow is always hanging over you, we feel that in the back of our minds. People that try to outwit it only extend their suffering. And surely we do not want to take negative results to next lives.

    No one is ever spared from losses. For instance as time passes by we all lose our dear ones creating big sorrow. And even if we do not fall ill, our loved ones may. Whatever we take possession off we will lose again. That is build in in life. The inevitable has to be accepted.

    A wonderful saying is: You need not worry about the problems you can solve. Even less you need worry about the problems you can not solve.

    Happiness is a state of mind. Some people stay happy and optimistic even if they had great setbacks, other fall in despair over minor setbacks. Why is that? And what kind of person do we want to be? For the wise adversity is like a dark cloud drifting by, and prosperity is like a white cloud going by. Sure, we feel the emotions when uneventful things happen, and we want to allow that, that is natural, it is part of life. But the trick is not to wallow in it before and after, only when it happens, then is the natural time to feel it and express it. If we can do that life becomes both bearable and generally enjoyable. That is why we should neither deny what we feel when negative things happen nor wallow to much in why things have befallen on us.

    Thinking is mostly bringing us somewhere else, away from the here and now. But action is always in the here and now. Thinking is easily held hostage by strong feeling both physical and mental, and then it enhances them. Even if we are in pain, we do not want think about the pain. That is bringing it to the surface and makes us suffer more. We should not enhance our own suffering. Bringing suffering to ourselves is negative action too. It is a strange idea that we become better by bringing suffering to ourselves.

    But it almost seems to me that people have a tendency to increase their suffering. For instance by holding on to emotions like feelings of guilt (different from shame). And others are already suffering when they see the possibility of something going wrong. People worry, worry and worry. But what good has this worrying ever done? Maybe people unconsciously have a need to punish themselves. Maybe they do not allow themselves happiness, because unconsciously they think they do not deserve it. Sometimes this is formed by overprotective parents criticizing children for stepping out of line. Then children unconsciously learn: I am bad, I will never be good, etc. Also religion has created the damaging idea that suffering is a way to salvation. Some religions have created a very negative picture of life and Man. A despicable figure that must crawl back to the God he betrayed. In some circles it is even a sin to show happiness.

    I do not think negative thinking serves anyone. People that are unhappy, neither spread much happiness around either. From negative thinking never comes positive results. Just accept what happens and still try to make the best of it. Allow yourself to express your negative feelings (important), but do no hold on to them too long. Rather put attention to living harmoniously and the results will not stay out. Health too is a state of harmony, improved by living harmoniously with the body. Living in harmony gives us resilience. But no matter, we will always be confronted with limitations, that is inevitable in life. That is why we should never waste a moment to be happy. That truly is sin.

    A person that was ravaged by karma was Bhishma in the Mahabharata. I wrote a post about it here

    Good luck!
    Last edited by Avyaydya; 07 February 2014 at 07:07 PM.

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    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    hari o
    ~~~~~~
    namasté


    karma ( properly spelled karman) is act , action , performance, doing.
    What most wish to do away with is kṛtá. It means cultivated, done, result, accomplished, made; hence karma leads to kṛtá.

    If you try to get rid of karman it too is an action which, by definition, produces more karma / kṛtá.

    So how to think about this whole thing ? An HDF post on this subject ( Revisiting karma) may be of interest and can be found here: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=8360&highlight=karman

    iti śiva
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    Namaste Gaby,

    Quote Originally Posted by gaby58 View Post
    This is my first post here, I feel I have been facing some problems or the other like health, or relationships or career for the past few years, before that I was very happy. I am sure this is happening because of bad karma, so how to get rid of this? I pray daily and try not to hurt anybody and try to help people who are in need. Also do wome charity whenever I can, infact our whole family is good in doing charity, what else need to be done to get rid of these problems, has anybody gone through this, if so could you please guide me, Thank you and Regards
    Karma consists of impressions stored from your past actions (including thoughts) and also your present actions (including thoughts). The Karmas are within the realm of Prakriti or Nature. The laws of Karmas are like Laws of Nature. As long as you are within Nature, there is no escape from Karma.

    However, there are a few things which can help you :

    a) Your present Karma can lessen the intensity of past Karma as both of these affect you.

    b) There is nothing like helping a needy fellow being. That not only accrues good Karma but strongly helps in alleviating the suffering due to past bad Karmas.

    c) Your thoughts are very important. The effects of Karma can be made blunt by cultivating habits of positive thoughts. Your powerful thoughts can also get you over Karma easily. It is important what happens to you but it is more important how you take it. By the power of thoughts the same event can make you happy or miserable ... finally you have to decide what you want. Let's understand that seeds of karma are stored in our own sub-consciousness i.e. if we cultivate proper thinking, these stored impressions can be erased or blunted.

    If you make yourself stronger by using your thoughts, you can negate the effects of karmas to a great extent. By surrendering fully to God also, you can lessen the effects of karma.

    See, whatever is happening to us or around us is a very temporary phenomena. It is not as important as we think it is. All happenings are like writings on water surface ... it would leave no trace with passage of time. This life, your existence as the person in this life and people around you have a very temporary existence. Why worry for something which is going to fade away without a trace anyway ? Instead, go and help someone, make someone happy.

    d) Grace of Guru, God or Siddhas may help you get over the effects of Karma easily.

    e) All Karmas can be burnt without a trace with the arise of JnAna/Self-realisation.

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

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    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    hari o
    ~~~~~~
    namasté

    I am sure this is happening because of bad karma, so how to get rid of this?


    karma is considered one of the 3 mala-s (blemishes) of the human condition.
    • aṇu and we write it as āṇava-mala
    • māyā and we write it as māyīya-mala
    • karma and we write it as kārma-mala
    Without getting too long winded aṇu is defined as minute, atomic, minutely. This ~smallness~ is another name for ego or for the individual. It is the notion
    that this ego has (apparently ) found a way to make the infinite Self, small, minute, atomic and now individual ( or jīva¹).

    Well it just so happens that the other two blemishes (māyā and karma) rely on this āṇava-mala to subsist. If one rids themselves of āṇava-mala then by default māyīya-mala and kārma-mala are unsupported and cannnot exist.

    It is like a triangle - take away the base and the other two legs no longer have support.

    Now, one needs to be aware by ridding themselves of this āṇava-mala all karma blemishes no longer have any support i.e. both ~good~ and ~bad~.
    So, of those this wish to get rid of ~bad~ karma and leave only the good, this is a bit tricky. It is like removing the direction of 'up' while keeping the direction of 'down' in place. If that occurs, what then is the reference point of 'down' without 'up' ? What reference is there of 'big' if there is no 'small' ?

    So one asks if this āṇava-mala is removed and so māyīya-mala and kārma-mala no longer have any support , what then is left ? The contented and wholeness of being. Why so? Because āṇava-mala is considered apūrṇatā or non-wholeness, non-fullness.
    If you take away the limitation (aṇu) what remains is wholeness. If I wish to 'take away' the darkness in a room, I just open the curtains and light floods in. I did not have to collect and bag the darkness, I only needed to open the curtains and let the light in. How to do this as a person ? Via one's pursuit of sādhana¹.

    iti śiva

    words
    • jīva - some take as soul yet it is the principle of life , vital breath and therefore the soul as individual via the breath
    • sādhana - bringing about , carrying out , accomplishment ; the re-recognition (via practice) of one's own Self (ātman)
    Last edited by yajvan; 09 February 2014 at 09:46 AM.
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  7. #7

    Re: How to get rid of Karma

    I must say that I disagree with the person who says that karma is a Law. Most Hindus do not understand Hindus, Hindu Dharma, Sanatana Dharma, Indian Politics etc.

    What Karma actually is, is Action that binds you. I can explain this further if you intend me to.

    What I would like to mention here though is, you don't want to get rid of your Karma you know? Because when you get rid of all your Karma. You can't stay with your body xD. That is the point of self-realization. Where one escapes the material world for good! xD

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