What karma should we avoid so that we won’t have to suffer?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, the question is how do I change my karma so that I don’t suffer? The principle of karma is primarily that to the extent we cause suffering to others, we get suffering.
So, if we minimise or stop causing hurt to others, then we too will minimise the hurt that we get. Now, in general, specifically in this present age called as Kali Yuga, there are four broad activities by which we hurt ourselves and we hurt others. So, one of them is intoxication, when people become intoxicated, we can see the result even in this life.
People get intoxicated, sometimes people drive and intoxicate people and they sometimes have accidents where people get pain. So, intoxication is an area which we harm ourselves. Similarly, killing animals for food, eating meat, that is also harmful for our spiritual progression.
And because we cause pain to the animals, so we get reaction patterns. And then there is again, similarly, gambling and spandering money in the hope of quick gains without any effort. The principle of karma is that action will produce reaction.
But in gambling, what happens is people want gains without any efforts. So, that fuels the greed within us, that causes great anxiety and eventually that harms us. And then there is political sex.
And there is sex outside marriage, often that leads to abortion, which is actually killing of an innocent child. It leads to a whole lot of complications. So, there are activities like this where we hurt others and then we will get hurt.
So, to the extent we avoid that, to that extent, we can minimize something. But along with minimizing whatever wrong we do now, along with that, it’s also important that we cultivate a taste for the good. Because more often than not, it’s not just a matter of knowing what is right and what is wrong.
Duryodhana, in the Mahabharata, he says that, he does. Sanskrit literature says in general that, जानामि भद्रम् नचमे प्रवृत्ति. जानामि अभद्रम् नचमे निरुत्ति.
So, जानामि भद्रम्, I know what is good, but I don’t feel inspired to do it. जानामि अभद्रम्, I know what is bad, but I don’t feel like giving it up. So, that is a more fundamental problem.
So, how do we deal with that? That we can deal with, if we can get a taste for higher yoga activities. So, one of the easiest ways by which we can get a taste for higher yoga activities is by practicing Bhakti Yoga. When we devote ourselves to God, when we say, chant the names of God, when we worship God, when we pray to Him, when we sing majlis to Him, this gives us a higher happiness.
And this higher happiness frees us gradually from the cravings for lower pleasures, which make us do wrong things. So, one thing is to know what is right, what is wrong. Second thing is to have this inner strength to do right and avoid the wrong.
And this strength, it just cannot be a matter of this willpower. No, I am not doing this, I will do that. We can’t sustain that for too long.
We have to actually change our, we have to change our tastes. And this change of taste happens through purification. So, God is all pure.
So, when we connect with God, when we become devoted to God, we become purified and our tastes change. And then it will become much easier to avoid the wrong things and to do the good things. And moreover, when you become devoted to God, He also wants you to be literally nice.
Krishna said, So, He says that, I will free you from whatever sinful reaction that might come because of your past actions. That means there are three things now, what I said here. First is, if I am at this point, now, I want to stop doing wrong things so that I won’t get any reactions.
So, I get the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. But along with that, I need to purify myself so that I am not attracted or impelled towards anything. So, we get from scripture, from Bhagavad Gita, we get knowledge.
But when we practice bhakti, we will become purified and our taste will change. But then what about whatever wrong we may have done in the past? That reaction is still going to come. But then, as I said, the point of karma is not judgment.
The point of karma is education. Just as even in this life, we see that even in the world, and say if a person is punished for sentence for some crime, but that person behaves well in prison, then the sentence is cut. Sometimes the president even has the power of forgiving in that.
So, like that, God is above karma. And normally, he doesn’t intervene, he lets action put his reactions. But when we see that somebody is becoming devoted, somebody is consistently making right choices, then the past reactions can also be minimized by his merciful intervention.
And in that way, we can become, misery, suffering cannot be entirely eliminated in this world. Because the nature of this world is things are temporary and our bodies will grow old, they will get diseased, we will die. This is inevitable.
But our miseries don’t have to become more than what they are avoided in this world. And that can happen if we learn to live