The Law of Karma is Invincible

In the following discourse, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba explains how not only humans, but Gods, too, have to go through the consequences of karma [past actions]. He spoke to students during a workshop on the epic Ramayana held at Brindavan, Whitefield, in 1977. 

If you plant the seeds of a lemon tree, you cannot expect to grow mangoes; and if you  sow the seeds of a mango tree, you cannot expect to get lemons. Similarly, by doing a bad action, you cannot expect to get a good result; and if you do a good deed, you cannot get a bad reaction from it. The kind of seeds you sow will determine the nature of their crop.

Do not simply imagine that you will achieve various things and tire yourself out during your lifetime. You cannot plant seeds in one place and expect the tree to grow in a different place. Whatever the level of your intelligence, you must keep on doing work with your thoughts on the Lord. The result of all good work will only be good. The Creator will put all your past, both good and bad, as a garland around your neck when you are born.

Premaswarupas [embodiments of love], our own actions are responsible for all the good and bad in this world. The cause of your birth is your own karma. Whether you do good or bad, all that makes you take birth again and again and experience the consequences of your own karma. Of all the faiths in the world, the Hindu dharma [code of conduct] alone accepts all the three doctrines of karma, rebirth, and the characteristics of an avatar [descent of God on earth].

God’s Karma

In the context of one’s karma being responsible for one’s rebirth, you might wonder what God might have done to be born as a human being. There is a reason for every avatar. But note an important distinction here. If man has done good or bad, the consequences will apply only to him. The aspect of avatar is not exactly like that. The bad work done by bad people and the good work done by good people are both causes for an avatar. This will become very evident to us in the story of Narasimha [form of half lion-half man] Avatar. The good actions of Prahlada [the son] and the bad actions of Hiranyakasipu [the father] are both responsible for Narayana’s [the Lord] appearing in the form of Narasimha Avatar. Out of His own free will, the Lord takes a human form for the good and bad karma that others have done.

For the Avatar of Rama, there are several reasons. When the war between the devas [demi-gods] and rakshasas [demons] was going on, the latter sought refuge with the great sage Bhrigu’s wife. She willingly helped them, and the demons were saved. When Lord Narayana learned of this, He cut off her head in anger. Sage Bhrigu, suffering without his wife, cursed Narayana that he should be born as a human being and suffer separation from His wife in that birth. Even for Narayana, the all-powerful God, the results of His own karmas will inevitably follow when He comes in human form. The inner significance of this story is that every action will have a reaction and a reflection. However, because of maya [illusion], instead of drawing this sacred lesson from this incident, we question the divinity of the Lord and are not able to firmly believe that the human form is that of Narayana Himself.

The mind as illusion

In the epic Mahabharata, if we examine closely the times when Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana were walking in forest, we find that they were going forward in single file. Let us take our three fingers to be the three members of the party. The first, the forefinger, represents Ramachandra. As He moves forward, Sita walks behind Him. Behind her, walks Lakshmana. Here Rama is the Paramatma [the Supreme Being], Sita represents maya [illusion], and Lakshmana is typical of the jiva [man]. When Lakshmana, the individual soul, wants to look at Rama, the Lord, Sita in the form of illusion is between them. What should Lakshmana do? Should he be arrogant and ask Sita to move away? That cannot be, for Rama [her husband] would not tolerate it. Lakshmana should pray to Sita, “Oh mother, I want to have a vision of the Divine. Please step aside.” If, on the other hand, he begins to argue with and command maya, then the result will be that he will not be able to look at Ramachandra or have a vision of the Divine. The Supreme Soul is always surrounded by illusion; the latter is part and parcel of Him. No one will agree to cut away a part of His own body. By praying to Sita, one will be able to get a vision of Rama.

In this context, Sita is responsible for our inability to realize the true form of God. Sita will also be the reason that we do understand Him. Here, the aspect of maya is similar to the aspect of mind, which alone is responsible for man’s liberation and bondage. It is our own illusion that takes the form of our mind.

Here is a piece of cloth. In reality it is not cloth but a bundle of threads. If you look more closely at it, it is not even a bundle of threads, but just cotton. If we pull away these threads one by one, the form of cloth will disappear and we will not see it any more. In the same manner, mind is simply a conglomeration of desires. These desires, like threads, come together and constitute what may be called the cloth, which is the mind. Just as the cloth disappears if you pull away the threads, there will be no mind left if you pull away all the desires. The mind has no form of its own. The result is called mukthi or liberation. This process is also referred to as diminishing and removing our own responsibilities and desires. Our life is a long journey. If we carry only a small amount of luggage with us, then that journey will become pleasant. Many who travel in trains will have seen the motto, “Less luggage and more comfort makes travel a pleasure.” Desires constitute the luggage. To minimize luggage, we should minimize desires. The latter cause bondage, which causes difficulties and sorrow.

In the Ramayana, Rama became close to Sita because she had sacrificed everything thinking that Rama was all she wanted. But in the forest, because she began to desire the golden deer, Rama became distant from her. Thus we say that when there is kama or desire, there cannot be Rama [God]. Where there is Rama, there cannot be kama. Light and darkness cannot coexist. For every human being, the results of his own past karma either give him happiness or sorrow.

When Rama followed the golden deer, the deceptive cries of “Ah Sita! Ah Lakshmana!” were heard. Lakshmana knew very well that these sounds had emanated from the demon Maricha, so he did not pay any attention. He was doing his duty in looking after Sita. When Sita heard the sounds, she was confused. She brought undue pressure on Lakshmana, saying that Rama was in danger and urging him to go immediately and protect Rama. Lakshmana knew the tricks and deceits of the demons. So he told Sita, “No, you must not believe those things; they are only tricks. No harm can ever come to my brother, Rama.” But it looked like Sita was not thinking clearly at all. She started uttering very harsh words that exceeded all reason.  Unable to  bear this, Lakshmana unwillingly left the place. He was innocent and did not deserve the words that Sita uttered. She was not an ordinary woman, but the consort of Narayana Himself. She was the incarnation of Lakshmi Devi. In spite of all that, the inevitable law by which one has to experience the results of one’s own karma was to be demonstrated here.

After Ravana’s death, when Sita was asked to go through the ordeal of walking into fire to prove her purity, Rama uttered harsh words. He wanted to test her and set an example to the world. Sita had been waiting for a vision of Rama for ten months. When He appeared, He showed no compassion, and even used very harsh words. Sita was in tears. But he said, “Sita, I will not show any grace to you. You can choose to remain here and live with Lakshmana or Bharatha.” Not being an ordinary person, Sita realized that this was the result of her harsh words to Lakshmana. The result of one’s own karma is so invincible that one can never escape it. This situation in the Ramayana illustrates the law of karma very well and sets an example to human beings.

The importance of right action

The Ramayana thus teaches human beings always to be good, to do good, and see good. Another important illustration [of right action] is when Sita was advanced in her pregnancy. Rama was the ruler and gave great importance to His subjects. One time He had a conflict between His duty as a husband and His duty as a king. He came to the conclusion that His duty as a king was more important. The husband’s duty is that of an individual. But the king’s duty has to do with the community as a whole. After coming to this conclusion, Rama sent Sita away to the forest. Although people thought that this was harsh, Rama never deviated from the path of dharma even under the most trying circumstances.

Here is yet another event in the story. Once, when Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana were going to the forest in a chariot, Dasaratha [Rama’s father] came running behind the chariot and shouted, “Stop, stop.” Samantha, who was driving the chariot, looked at Ramachandra as though asking Him if he should stop the chariot. Ramachandra said, “Go on, go on.” After some distance, Samantha turned to Ramachandra and said, “It would have been very good if I, too, could stay with you in the forest for years. But when I go back to the city, Dasaratha will ask me, ‘Why did you not stop the chariot?’ What shall I say?” Ramachandra said, “Oh, say that you could not hear his words.” Is that an untruth? No.

There are many reasons for this. Ramachandra had to go to the forest, and the quicker he did the better. If He delayed going, He would be causing great sorrow to His parents. There is another reason. In his capacity as king, Dasaratha had given a boon to Kaikeyi. To fulfill that boon, he had banished Ramachandra to the forest [against his paternal inclinations]. But on the day when Dasaratha was asking the chariot to stop, he wanted to have another look at Ramachandra. He was acting in the capacity of a father, not a king. This order was connected to the relationship that exists between a father and a son; it had nothing to do with a king. So Ramachandra told Samantha, “You have obeyed the orders of your king. You did not obey the orders given by my father.” We should observe the important distinction that Rama made between king and father.

Intelligence given for inner inquiry

It is not right for you to think that these are just stories, somebody’s creation, and that they have no relation to your life. These are incidents narrated by a great sage and offer you an ideal to follow at all stages of your life, whatever situation you may face, whatever position you occupy, whatever your circumstances. But today, you are not making an attempting to keep your thoughts on the correct path. You have been given intelligence to understand who you are; this is being used, instead, to understand the rest of the world.

If the intelligence given to you for introspection and soul-searching is used to search for food, there is no meaning in your life. Even birds and animals search for and procure food. It is a shame to be born as a human being just for this. If a mirror given to you to look at your own face is used to see the faces of others, how are you going to know your own face? God has gifted this intelligence to you for understanding yourself and realizing your own true nature.

Make an attempt, first, to find out who you are. It is this enquiry that will automatically become the enquiry of Self and lead to questions like: Who am I? Am I this body? Am I this mind? Am I this intelligence? and so on. You will realize that you are none of these. For example, when you say, “It is my body,” you imply that you are separate from the body, so you are not the body. You must understand this truth. This is my kerchief that can be thrown away anytime, and I can become quite separate from it. When you say that this is my body, my mind, my intelligence and so on, it simply means that you are different from these. You are in the body, you are in the mind, but they are not in you. They belong to you, but they are not the same as you.

We should make an enquiry here. When you say that you are those things, it is correct. And when you say that you are not those things, that is also right. How is this possible? When you look into a tub of water, you find your image reflected in the water. Then you say that is you. What you see is an image that is you. Then I say, “No, that is not you.” If I beat the image with a stick, you are not going to feel the pain. How do you then claim that the image is you? That is the image. That is not you. But you are that. If I abuse that image, then you will become angry. If I beat the image, you do not feel the pain. This means that you are in it, but are not identical with it. In the same manner, you are present everywhere. You are present in the image, you are omnipresent and you are divine. In this context, I say that you are not one person, but three. The one you think you are, the one others think you are and the one you really are. The body, the mind, and the atma [soul] represent these three different aspects.

The feminine aspect

One of the speakers very cleverly decided that the letter ‘W’ stands for woman. Women, alone, are responsible for the prosperity as well as the decline in the world. Women determine whether to improve the world and make it a happy place to live in. It is said in the Bhagavad Gita [scriptures] that women have a very distinctive quality, and that they should get the first place in everything. Our country is called the mother [land]. Nature, creation, is compared with a mother. If we fall down and experience pain, we cry out “Amma” [mother], we do not cry out “Appa” [father]. In our symbolising the mother in all these situations, we give a very distinctive and special position to the woman. A woman can take a person to heights of glory and drag him to the deepest depths of degradation.

There are three sacred words: work, worship and wisdom. In all three, “W” is common and is the first letter. There are also three other words beginning with “W” that take you to the very depths of destruction: wine, woman, and wealth. In the world, there are persons of authority such as a general, who commands thousands of soldiers, a Supreme Court judge, who has the power to punish in any manner he chooses, or the principal of a big college with thousands of students. The college principal will have such power that even the mention of his name frightens the students. Can such a general, Supreme Court judge, or principal of a college wield a fraction of such authority over their wives? We conclude that in women there is divine strength. It is because of this strength that Sita could secure Rama, who is not easily available to everyone.

Control weaknesses

Divyatmaswarupas [embodiments of Divine atma], to be able to get a vision of the Lord, we should throw away these human weaknesses like being short-tempered, hungry, and angry. You young people, particularly, should be able to control your anger, hatred, jealousy, and lust. If you cannot attempt and succeed in controlling them when you are young, it will become impossible to control them when you grow older. This is the right age to be able to control your senses. It is these sensuous urges that destroy you and your equanimity.

When you are able to control your desires, it will be possible for you to have the entire world in your palm. If you become subservient, a slave to your desires and ambitions, then you will become a slave to the entire world. But if you control and conquer your desires, you can conquer the whole world. Controlling desires only superficially will not be right. If you beat the surface of an anthill with a stick, will the snake inside the anthill die? The bad ideas and thoughts that come within your body have to be controlled. Mind is like the anthill. Out of the anthill of your mind, poisonous thoughts pour out like poisonous snakes. By using sacred, quiet, and calm thoughts of God, you should be able to put the snakes to sleep. Yours is a sacred age. To waste it and not get good results from this age is deplorable. You should not desire to imitate or copy others in all your actions. If, from today, you are able to get rid of such qualities and control your thoughts, in the future you will be able to acquire the strength to get close to God.

What is the use of these talks if good results do not flow from attending them? If a car that is out of order goes into a workshop for repairs and comes back to you still out of order, what is the use of taking it for repair. Many damaged cars, without nuts and bolts, in the form of young students, have been sent to this Ramayana workshop from all over the country. When these cars return to their places, they will have some value only if they are repaired and in good condition. Otherwise, there is no use of coming to this workshop. Students should transform themselves into ideal men and ideal women. I am hoping that you will thus be able to set an example to others who may follow you in the coming years.

Source: Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1977