Does bhakti practice free us from past bad karma?
Okay. So, can we become free from our past karma by the practice of bhakti? Yes, one of the characteristics of bhakti is that klesha agni, that klesha, the stresses that are there, they go away by the practice of bhakti.
Now, how exactly they go away? If you see our reactions come in various ways. One is, we already got some reactions in terms of the body that we have got, the situation that we are already born in. You consider life to be like a car ride.
At the start of our life, we get a particular kind of car. So, particular family, particular complexion, some set of abilities. So, that is called the prarabdha karma.
That is already got. That's one installment of karmic reactions. Second is that when you are going on a ride, sometimes we meet stormy weather, sometimes there is a big traffic jam.
So, sometimes there is another drunk driver driving from the opposite side. There are some things which we meet along the way. So, like that, second karmic reaction is the circumstances we meet along the way in our life.
The third level of karmic reactions is internal, in terms of the kind of desires that pop up within us. All of us have our own unique psychologies, distinctive psychologies, you could say. So, some of us may be more calm, some of us may be more short-tempered, some of us may be more introvert, some of us may be more extrovert.
This also is a result of our past karma. Related with this itself, the fourth is we have certain inclinations which make us pro-spiritual, non-spiritual, anti-spiritual. So, now, the first reaction which is there, that is the body that we have got, that is more or less not changeable.
It's already come upon us. This is the vehicle we will have. But to a large extent, our distress or our pleasure is determined by how attached we are to things.
So, by the practice of bhakti, as we understand more and more our spiritual identity, so the attachment to the body decreases. And then we don't worry that much. I don't know, oh, I am like this or I am not like this.
I am too tall, I am too short, I am too thin, I am too fat. Whatever these things are there, they are changeable to some extent. Oh, I was born in this family, I was not born in that family.
People have so many different kinds of regrets. But they go down substantially if we are practicing bhakti because we don't identify so much with the body. And the second is, as far as the circumstances that come in our life, Krishna can deal with them in different ways.
Sometimes Krishna can just remove the circumstances from our life. Sometimes He may just give some token reaction. Sometimes the reaction may come upon us.
But Krishna from within our heart inspires us to take shelter of Him more and more. By which we won't suffer that much. So, Prabhuji, the circumstances which we are going in the current, we meet certain circumstances, it can be good or bad.
So, is it also the past karma's reaction? Yeah, definitely. So, what happens to us is due to our past karma. So, how we respond to it is our present karma.
So, we definitely have the capacity to choose our present actions. So, for example, if somebody is driving drunk, then I can get angry with that person. I can start shouting at that person.
That person shouts back. Unnecessary fight happens. Somebody is driving drunk and I just leave my car on the side.
The person just veers off, but goes on. So, often by our reactions to the situations that we face, we may complicate our situation or we may simplify our situation. So, both the circumstances that come upon us, Krishna may change them and Krishna may change also our capacity to deal with them.
So that we don't aggravate, but we minimize. And also, of course, our desires and our intonations Krishna changes substantially. Many of the desires which would make us do further karma, which would entangle us further, we become purified of those desires.
So that way Krishna does save us from substantial misery by our practice of bhakti. So definitely, we can move towards happiness by the practice of bhakti, irrespective of whatever karma we had in the past.