Can our past-life karma force us to do sins in this life?
Yeah.
The mind can impel. It can't compel. Impel means it can push us to do certain things.
But we have the capacity to counter-push. The mind can't force us to do something. Although it may appear that it is forcing us, the mind can impel it.
Do this, do this, do this. But it can't literally force us. To give an example to illustrate this, suppose, say, you are driving a car.
Now, you are focusing ahead on the road and moving along the road. But suppose, there is a very naughty, pesky child next to you. Hey, look at that.
Look at that. Go there. Go there.
See that. See this nice picture. See this toy.
See this. See this. Now, the child's presence will be irritating, will be distracting, and it can be dangerous also.
But no matter what the child does, the child is not knocking you off the driver's seat. We are still in the driver's seat, and it is we who drive the car. So, the mind is like the child sitting next to the driver.
If the driver is not very discerning, the child says, hey, look at that. Let's go and see that. Let's go and see that.
Now, go on. So, if, so the mind cannot, the mind is not, the child is not taking the car wheels and pushing and taking the car that way. The mind is persuading or insisting or bolding, begging, whatever, the driver to go in that direction.
So, like that, it is we who take the decision. By our past life karma, our mind may be very troublesome. Some people's mind may be less troublesome.
Some people's mind may be more troublesome. And of course, all our minds, all our minds trouble us, but our minds may trouble us in different directions. Some people may trouble more by lust.
Some people may trouble more by anger. Some people may trouble more by greed. Some people may trouble more by pride, whatever.
But all other minds trouble us in different ways. Still, the mind cannot force us to do anything. It is we who choose.
But, if we are not introspective, if we do not understand the dynamics of the inner world, in terms of there being a mind which is not me, the mind is different from me, if we do not understand this, the voice comes from within, and we accept it and we act on it. So, it may appear as if we are forced to do things. Arjuna also talks about this subjective perception in 3.36 when he says, अतकेन प्रयुक्तोयं पापं चलती पूरुषयः अनिः चन्नपिवादश्नेयः बलादिवनियोजितः He says, अतकेन, by what? प्रयुक्तोयं, am I engaged? पापं चलती पूरुषयः, by what is a person engaged and said? अनिः चन्नपिवादश्नेयः, as if I don't want to do it, but बलादिवनियोजितः, as if by force I am engaged.
So, what is it that seems to force me against my desire to act simply? And Krishna says, it is कामा. So, कामा normally refers to lust, कामा refers basically to selfish desire, any kind of selfish desire. So, the point is that when we are pushed by our desires, at that time it appears as if we are helpless.
It appears as if we are forced. But, we do have free will. So, now, because we have said yes to the mind so many times in the past, because of that, the mind is very strong.
And we are very weak already. Suppose, you know, there is a big thief who is going to come inside his house, in his room to steal whatever wealth he has. And inside his house, there is a small child.
That child may try to close the door, but the thief is just too powerful. If the child keeps the door locked itself, then the thief can't come in. If somehow the child leaves the door open, and the thief starts pushing, then the child may find it very difficult to close it.
So, like that, even we with our conditioning, if we keep the door locked, that means we keep ourselves focused and absorbed in Krishna, then Maya can't come in. But sometimes we may just leave the door open. That means, we let ourselves be distracted, we let ourselves think of this, think of that.
As they say, if we let the mind fill in the blanks, then the mind doesn't just fill in the blanks, the mind overwrites the sentence. Mind changes the whole story. We give the mind a little time, the mind doesn't take that much time only.
It takes that time and it takes the future time also. It makes us do this, do that, do that, do that. And so much time goes away after this.
So, we try to focus on Krishna, not necessarily Krishna and all that, just chanting and chanting Krishna, but focus on Krishna means doing constructive activities in the service of Krishna, in various ways, in our job, our family, all these are ways in which we can serve Krishna. So, if we keep ourselves busy, the mind's influence will be lesser. And sometimes we will, all by our being in this world, be exposed to temptation, sometimes we relax, and a thief may just come in.
So, even if it happens that a thief comes in and steals something, after that the thief goes away, we don't have to keep the door wide open. We can again latch the door. That means, sometimes in our initial stages, it may appear as the force, the conditioning of the past is so forceful that I just can't resist it.
It may appear like that. And if it appears like that, fine. Whatever happens, afterward we should get up and start practicing bhakti again.
And by practicing bhakti, then the child gets strength, the child grows up. The child that is inside, the child becomes strong, hefty, muscular. So, then, even if that thief comes in, even if the thief is very strong, we can resist him.
So, our capacity to resist the mind increases in two ways. First is, first we recognize this mind is different from me, and I should resist it. That comes by studying scripture.
That comes by analysis, introspection. This is not me speaking, this is the mind speaking. This is not my desire, this is the mind's desire.
So, we start catching the mind. And then secondly, so first we have to develop that scriptural study and introspection, and then secondly, by remembrance of Krishna, by chanting Hare Krishna, by connecting with Krishna, we develop spiritual strength. So, first we should get the intelligence to know that I have to fight.
And second is, we have to get the strength to fight. So, by scriptural study, we get the intelligence, and by the purification coming from bhakti, we get the strength. As it becomes stronger, then, whatever had seemed irresistible earlier will become more and more manageable, resistible, and we will be able to fight it back.
And eventually, it will not trouble us much. And we can also see that. Some of us, before we were introduced to bhakti, we might have been eating meat.
And some of us might have found meat very difficult to eat. We could not even think of giving up meat. Or maybe some of us, tea or coffee.
So, we might have felt it is very difficult to give up. But now, even if somebody had been eating meat earlier, most devotees, almost all devotees, if they see meat, practically nobody is attracted to meat. Prasadam has literally higher taste.
So, now what has happened? The desire was there earlier, but the desire has gone. Not only was the desire there, the desire was like a forceful craving earlier. It has gone.
How has that happened? That is the purificatory potency of bhakti. So, we can all, when we feel that the past karma is pushing me to do things, and I am just not able to resist it, and I am feeling discouraged because of that, we can remember, in our own life, how some of the conditionings which were very forceful in the past, for us, they have decreased. They have gone away in fact.
And by remembering that, we can know that the process of bhakti does work. But, for some conditionings, because those conditionings are very deep-rooted, it may take more time to work. So, just keep practicing more.
Another problem comes up, with respect to meat-eating, most of the time, we say, no meat-eating, and we just give it up. So, it's like, I understand this is a rash. If I scratch it, it will become worse.
So, I stop scratching it, and I take the medicine. Apply the medicine. The rash gets cured.
But, for many other desires, for example, lust, or for pride, we apply the medicine, but we also privately, secretly scratch the rash. And because of scratching the rash, it stays, and it keeps its shape. So, the desires will keep seeming forceful if you also indulge in it.
The medicine applying is always good. But, if along with applying the medicine, I stop scratching the rash, then it will heal faster. If I keep giving in the desire to itch, then the itch will keep coming again and again.
It will not go away so easily. So, anyway, whether I can stop the itch, stop scratching the rash or not, I should always keep taking the medicine. And if scratching the rash seems, if the urge to itch seems to be irresistible, then you should know that actually it's not irresistible.
And even if it seems irresistible, okay, sometimes I just give in to that. I may be forced to do that. It might seem like that to me.
But still, let me apply the medicine as much as possible. So, don't worry too much if by past karma, it appears as if it's impossible to give up something. Focus on practicing bhakti.
And then what seems irresistible, will become irresistible in due course of time by the purificatory potential of bhakti. Does it answer the question?