Impact of Karma
Q. What is moksha?
A. Moksha is liberation from all that binds. That is to say it is the attainment of the ever-existing, ever-stable, ever-pure atma-tatwa [soul principle] and getting rid of the ever-changing, ever -unreal, impure deha-tatwa [body principle].
Q. That attainment is not for all, is it, Swami?
A. Why do you say so? Every one who equips himself can attain it [liberation]. Those who make the effort are attaining it. Every one who is ill is entitled to the medicine; you cannot say that only some among them are [entitled]. Yet, if the drug is costly, only those who can afford it can benefit by it. The Lord’s grace is hard to get, you have to pay a heavy price. Pay the price and earn it by sadhana [spiritual effort], and the grace of the Lord will save you from this disease of worldliness.
Q. Who are the ones that need this sadhana most?
A. All who yearn to be saved from the flood of “birth death” that is now sweeping them along.
Q. Baba! What is the cause of man getting born?
A. The impact of karma.
Q. How many varieties of karma are there?
A. Three! Bad, good, and mixed; some add a fourth, the karma of the jnani [wise person] which is neither good nor bad.
Q. What is bad karma?
A. It is called dush-karma. All acts done without the fear of God or of falling into sin; all acts done while under the influence of the six enemies, kama [desires], krodha [anger], lobha [greed], moha [attachment], mada [pride], and matsarya [envy]; all acts that reveal the beast in man, that do not indicate that he is possessed of viveka [discrimination], vichakshana [reason], and vairagya [detachment]; that are devoid of daya [compassion], dharma [righteous action], satya [truth], shanti [peace], and prema love—these are dush-karmas.
Q. And the sat-karmas?
A. All acts done in the fear of God and of sin; all acts done with sathya, dharma, shanti, and prema; these are the sat-karmas.
Q. What are the mixed ones?
A. They are an interesting lot. Though the acts are good, though apparently they are prompted by fear of God and of sin, still they reveal impulses that are quite the opposite. People start rest houses and water-distributing centers, for example, but they do not pay the servants regularly and well. Their aim is just to win some fame. They give to the poor as alms only useless clothes and worn coins. Whatever they do, their purpose is to get publicity.
Q. You also spoke of jnana-karma, Swami.
A. Yes, jnana-karma is the name used for all acts done to learn from sacred scriptures or elders or teachers the way to escape from the bondage to duality and to the falsity of the world, and to develop faith in the values of sathya, dharma, shanti, and prema; all acts that lead to the merging of the individual in the Universal Absolute.
Q. Swami, it seems even those who proceed along the path of spiritual progress toward the goal of liberation have big obstacles.
A. Yes, the past, the present, and the future obstacles.
Q. What are they? What is the obstacle from the past?
A. Recollecting and remembering the past and getting affected by it.
Q. And the obstacle from the present?
A. They operate in four ways: Vishaya-ashakti (attending more to the peculiarities of textual criticism than to the sense of the teaching), prajnamandyam (dullness of the intellect that prevents one from grasping the words of the elders and of the wise), kutarka (crookedness), and viparyaya-duragraha (justifying one’s own statement as correct, through an exaggerated conceit).
Q. What is the nature of the obstacle from the future?
A. The future creates obstacles since you anticipate troubles and worry about them even before they come.
Source: Prashnottara Vahini
