KARMA’s GAME PLAN - Why Bad Things Happen To Good People Sometimes | Guru Sakala Maa

0:00 I have so many questions about karma today. So what is karma? Karma is something that is man-made which we carry for many lives. I assume that when you take up deeper practices, karmmas get neutralized quicker. You cannot say neutralized while trying to complete those kmas. We are creating more kmas. So would you say that the core skill to be upgraded here is to control your desires on a very deep level? So many people around me trying to accumulate wealth thinking that when I have all that wealth it's going to be the perfect wealth and then you become that wealthy and maybe you lose all your health. Sometimes property money they come to you as bad karmmas. Really? Yeah. I met a diamond merchant which had gone through earthquakes overnight. All

0:48 his property invested in diamonds and the shop and just when he woke up he was a beggar on the street. [Music] I know that the spiritual episodes of TRS have their own audience. So the intention from here on is to bring you specific topics related to the realms of spirituality with our subject experts. Guru Sakalama returns on TRS. It was one of the most loved episodes from last year. I hope that through the course of this particular episode you gain a deeper understanding about karma about your own life and about the practical

1:34 way to live a spiritual life. This is Guru Sakalama on TRS. [Music] Ma, welcome back to TRS. So nice to be sitting with you. Yeah, I am also feeling quite excited to come back again. Yeah, congratulations on the upcoming book. It's ready almost. Yeah. Um there's a lot of energy in your books. There's a lot of power in your books. That's what I'll say because I do feel that uh there are higher

2:20 masters writing them through you. Uh correct me if I'm wrong. 100%. It's true. Even in the podcast, there is something there's a higher force that speaks through uh some people sitting on that seat. How are you? I'm good. Going on? Yeah. Uh I have so many questions about karma today. Wow. That I was thinking about what to speak to you for the last week. Um yeah, I have so many questions about the hastening of karma once you begin sad because effectively you're pulling the divine to yourself. Therefore, uh I don't think uh you gain good karma by praying. I think you neutralize your own karma. If if you

3:07 think I'm saying something wrong, please correct me. But uh I would love to know one how do you explain karma to a beginner and two to an advanced knowledge seeker. It's two very sharp but important questions. This is one of my favorite topics and I have explored this at my personal life level for the last 354 years. So karma theory as such plays a very vital role in our spiritual path. If we don't pay attention to it or if we don't have interest to explore that realm of existence that it's inside of you. Our spiritual path

3:54 is always a digression. So what is karma? I take the name of uh Swami Rama. He has written a beautiful book on karma. It includes everything that is possible to think about on karma. It's called freedom from the bondage of karma. Karma is something that is man-made and we are not spiritual and we are more towards the worldly life then we are clueless about what this karma is all about and what kind of a role it plays in our life past present and future also karma is something which

4:40 we carry from many lives past lives and in all our past lives we We have written so many things and in every new life we carry more desires, more kmas and we write it, overwrite it and we overrite it and we overwrite it. So with the multiplicity of rebirth all our desires which are written down and all the kmas that we have performed they all get jumbled up and we are clueless how this life is led by us. This is the state of karma of every human individual

5:27 in the sense what is this present life? Spirituality says your present life is nothing but your past desiresdriven life. So what we experience as karma in this life could be an outcome of what you've done three or four lives ago as well. So many lives, all the lives, not necessarily immediate previous life. And you're just living out all those desires as well as for lack of better words results or punishments even in some cases punishment is a harsh word. kmas you're living out those kmas like in this life uh I assume that when you take up deeper practices and uh you're

6:14 allowing mantra energy to build up inside you all these desires as well as karmmas get neutralized quicker not necessarily you cannot say neutralized see what is the nature of the karma if you look at it karma is created by our own making. So there is no other way that it can be removed or neutralized. We have to take charge of our life and complete those kmas in this life. If it's not enough come back again again and again and complete. But the thing is while trying to complete those kmas you

7:01 have to notice that we are creating more kmas. What is karma? Karma means performing actions and in brackets both both good and bad. For a normal individual's life, it's a mixture of both because we are not perfect dietes or gods and goddesses that we don't make any mistakes. out of ignorance, sometimes out of desires, temptations and in the name of fulfilling certain desires. We don't even know what kmas we are creating which are sometimes good, sometimes bad for us and they're all like a fixer deposits. You perform a bad action today and it's going to be the result tomorrow

7:50 because when you perform a action not just you are involved in that there are so many other factors environment your relationships with hundreds and thousands of people this is a web of karma it is called it's not very easy to understand its connections only a guru knows what it is so if you're engaging with the real world even if you're trying to do good, you're still accumulating further karmmas. Yeah. Because when you say good, it means it's a good karma. The secret of life is connected to these kmas. What is that secret? We come back to life only to reap and enjoy the fruits of the past kmas which

8:38 are both good and bad. If you look at mantra, I'm not going to explain that. You are requesting the deity to burn off. Ba means all the karma should be put in a frying pan and then fried in such a way that the seeds of karma will not sprout. Wow. That is the meaning of the mantra. I hardly find anyone explaining this part.

9:23 They give lot of you know esoteric meaninghooa and all those things. They're all true. But what is important for you as a practitioner as a saddaka is to focus on this word. What is bha? Just now you said that while performing actions also we are creating more kmas. This is a very relevant question. That means it shows that you have contemplated a lot on the nature of the karma whether it is good or bad. Karma is karma that you have to come back and experience. But for the human mind, bad karmmas are miserable to experience. Good karmmas are very pleasant to experience. But

10:10 from the point of view of the universe, which is an eyewitness to all that is going on. For them, it is one and the same. Whether it is a good karma or bad karma, whether you are miserable or you know pleasant about it, it is just in quotes a process. So spirituality says in fact Swami Rama said such beautiful words on these things. He defines karma. Karma is a rope which binds you. And how that rope is made up of three strands. Three strands you take and then make a design out of it to make it a beautiful rope and that rope is binding you as a individual ja.

10:56 Why? What are those three threads? One is your thought process. Behind that is your karmas samscaraas. Karmaas mean there are desires in different forms influencing your thoughts and emotions. And these thoughts and emotions supported by karma samscara wasas of the desires trigger off your actions. So action only is visible. So when you perform an action and some disaster happens for example then we say oh my god why did I do this or why did it happen? First of all I am clueless. I am not the type to do this. Why did it happen? I'm not able to find an answer for this.

11:42 And the soul goes through such terrible suffering because there's no rationale behind certain actions that we perform. Your logical mind cannot give any explanation. But what the world wants you is your logical explanation and it goes by evidences. Right? But that is not your true self. That's not what you are. So we are at a loss to understand the connection between the action that I have performed and the result that it is giving and you said punishment. Yeah. Reward and punishment are the two faces of this all these actions. So these three strands are binding us not just one and binding us so tight that we are not able

12:28 to shake it off. So we talk big big words about freedom in life. The question is when you understand karma, the secret, the mystery behind karma, you know that you are a bound soul. And this bound soul in Shvida is called pashu. And one who takes care of this pashu towards evolution or expansion is called pashupati, the lord of the pashu. So we are humans but we are pushu deep within. What is the meaning of pushu? Animal means we are filled with instincts, impulses,

13:14 rational is very less. Wisdom is very less and the way we perform actions in our life is also like blindfold. The average person only associates kmas with actions. But there's a deeper layer of thoughts and emotions which is then also influenced by a deeper layer of desires on a soul level. So you don't even actually know what your desires are. But on some level which I think people call the subconscious mind. It may be affecting all your emotions and thoughts and then your thoughts and emotions take over your actions. That's what can lead to both good and bad actions. So would you say that the core skill to be upgraded here is to somewhat control your desires on a very deep

13:59 level? I'm not very happy with the word control. I told you human beings are bound. We don't have any freedom at all. When you look at the mystery of the karma, then where is the question of controlling? It is to understand, understand and go through those phases. Even the greatest of the greatest souls have gone through terrible kmas. If it's a very bad karma, very painful karma is a great karma, wonderful karma from the spiritual evolution of the soul. So I congratulate. Thank you. Thank you. And if there is a damage to your personality, it means

14:45 that you're clearing some karma. So you should be happy about it. Yeah. Um, you know, all in all in retrospect, um, I feel more still after everything that's happened, which is a nicer feeling, and I feel free. Somewhat some kind of a burden had accumulated over the years. Now when you see that burden drop, shoulders feel a little relaxed. [Music] Life goes on like this and there will come a stage where you are neutral to whether you are passing through good phase or bad phase and that is the phase of in astrology shi period

15:32 like a shani mahadasha shani mahadasha antja mahadasha sad sati anything you call well the planets are outside and their expressions are inside of you. So if you look at the movement of the planetary positions in anybody's life which is called kundali or horoscope, it's all about the phases of kmas that it speaks about. So the Saturn element in someone's chart eventually teaches them to be neutral about life because Saturn would bring reward and punishment in such frequently in that seven seven and a half years whatever that period everybody goes through

16:17 that initially you feel suffocated. You want to resist these things I don't want unhappiness. I want to I always want happiness. That's what everybody's definition of life is. Then he starts teaching you no you have to taste this also if you want the other one because they are the two faces of the same coin sorrow and joy. Then once you start tasting it and then it's it's fair to say that this happens in everyone's life. Right? It happens in everybody's life. Right? If you if you're in a human body you have to go through greatest of the greatest mahatmas. Nobody is spared only when you have the guru proper guidance. Then

17:02 I have a friend of mine uh she's from an a very affluent family and uh she like I've because of the show I've learned a tiny amount of astrology. So I was trying to just see her chart and and we're good friends so she was okay with it and there was clearly some tiny tiny problem something in marriage something you know in like health uh and when I told her all the good stuff it didn't matter to her at all but she sat on the bad stuff and anyone looking at her life from the outside would think she has a perfect life but in her eyes she's got a not so perfect life and so many people around me you know spend so much of the time energy effort trying to accumulate wealth thinking that when I have all that

17:48 wealth it's going to be the perfect life and then you become that wealthy maybe you lose all your health and then you realize that this is the story of every individual yeah um then tell me what is perfection can you define what is perfection of life I'm I'm saying it based on what I have learned in this last year I I think perfection is to just stay still as life happens around you. Is it so easy to stay still especially to a Gemini like you? Yeah, I mean I'll tell you if I if I don't spend my mornings in prayer um or if I don't begin my day somewhat with a prayer element then I lose my stillness. But as long as it begins with prayer I

18:36 find that I'm softer towards the world and myself. That's a good beginning. Then your whole day should be a prayer. There there is nothing a slot like where you sit for prayer and then you are fine about it. Then it gets extended and then you don't see a slot where you have to sit for prayers. Then your whole personality your actions being performed you stay in that state. That is the evolution everybody goes through. But unless we are focused about it, you know the danger of this mind is it gets accustomed to doing prayer as a checklist. Prayer I'm fine for the day.

19:21 But that's not the truth. It is just following the discipline. Anything that everything that you do around you, you have to check again and again. Are you able to carry that prayerful mood, prayerful mind? Then the real sadena begins when it becomes a part of your breath. For that what level of awareness one should develop. But how do you develop that? Just consciously pulling yourself back that is also there. That's also there. But against doing sadena more just increasing your sadha and depends on what sadena we do. Hundreds and thousands of sadas are available

20:06 especially on YouTube to can confuse the human mind and especially the younger minds right each sadena every sadena maybe may not be good for me for a particular individual. That is the reason why guru has to choose which sadena should be given. Otherwise sometimes when we do the sadhana just on our own. We are clueless where we are heading towards and when certain experiences happen spiritual or otherwise then we are clueless about our own sadena. And then there is fear, apprehensions,

20:54 worries, so on so forth. Choosing a sadhana is also very important in life. Would you say it's gut feel driven? Yeah, that's how everybody moves because all my initiates who come to me and take the mantra and then we make a WhatsApp group because I don't want to be disconnected after giving the mantra. But normal fashion around is they take the mantra and the guru also gives the mantra and they don't know what is happening to the disciple because there is no connection. They come back with so many experiences which they are not able to decode and most of the time they drop the sadhana cuz out of fear not able to understand why this is happening in my

21:40 life as in outcomes of the outcomes because every mantra is an energy that you are going to recreate in your body and it's going to stay lodged in your body right I really wonder how people just take the mantra on YouTube and and then they practice and then they don't know what they are doing, how they are going about it's high risk. I think we definitely began this whole phase of spiritual podcast and now it's a movement now it's on YouTube throughout but I I'll tell you like um now I have the luxury of meeting all of you souls you know and every time there's a spiritual soul that walks into my podcast I look at it as a blessing it's a a lot of light towards me uh but I

22:25 know my own practice and I've I've I've jumped across my practices in my 20ies not too much but a little bit And only over the last three years I feel my practice has like stabilized fully and I feel very nice like I feel like my personality matches my practice exactly. Um now I represent someone who has happened to find that right gut feel pract gut feelor oriented practice but there's a lot of people who are not able to stick to one thing the window shopping still going on basically I'm trying to say that does the podcast industry enhance the spiritual window shopping opportunities there are there freedom is there to choose they keep doing that but one thing we should not forget whatever little bit we do towards

23:11 spirituality is a big step taken and the universe is watching you. As in you're saying the uh practitioner if you do anything it's still a good thing. Don't think so much. Yeah. See there are unforeseen impact of certain mantras on them. Even the greatest of the mantra can also affect in a different way. Not because there is a fault in the mantra but because the confluence of sar karma samscaravakas and the phase of karma that person is but at that point of time he's going through and then it collides with the mantra he or she is not able to take it mantra is perfect mantra is fine this is what I wanted people to understand that

23:56 mantra is mantra because it's it's not the human mind that has made the mantra But it has come from the universe. So how can it be otherwise? For some people it's good, for some people it's bad. But it's coming into a combination with that individual soul with karma that is carrying on his back. He or she has to go through certain things. But the point is here comes the strength of the tradition, the strength strength of the guru who can guide them and make them go through it because all the karmmas cannot be neutralized. That's an answer for your question. All the kmas cannot be controlled. Some of

24:41 them have to be suffered or some of the good ones have to be enjoyed. Have to be enjoyed. Sometimes property, money, big money, they are all good things. No, they come to you as bad karmmas. Really? Yeah. I met a person long ago about 20 30 years ago in Karnataka. What dress he was wearing was one set of dress that's all he had and no penny in his pocket. But he was a karodati. He gave a big list of his properties [Music] Malik. Now because of the legal issues in his life at that phase of life, he

25:27 cannot claim even one single property even to eat. He has no food. He has to beg in the street. That's how I met him near a restaurant. Doesn't mean that if you have money you are you have a very happy life. Not necessarily. Anything everything can be can happen. And I also met a a diamond merchant from Gwal area somewhere which had gone through a a very bad phase of uh you know earthquakes overnight. All his property invested in diamonds and the shop because of the earthquakes. Earthquake gone. M and just when he woke up

26:13 he was a beggar on the street. And this kind of fate and karma is expressed in a beautiful way in astrology as Rahu Ketu and Shani when they are very strong in your uh you know horoscopes with so many I mean clauses I'm saying it's just a general observation I'm not an astrologer but when you compare your personal life to that those phases you can very clearly see the indication and they teach you a lot of wisdom how to handle your karmas that phase of life. So these two examples that I gave are a

27:00 beautiful explanation of what the phase of Rahu in your life can do if if he's afflicted. Why did he come Rahu at that phase of your life? Because certain KMAS are going to sprout now that needs to be handled, answered, suffered or enjoyed. So he comes there to show how it is done. So karma is something that needs to be understood properly. Otherwise what happens? People get into depression. People start thinking nothing is in our hands. Everything is predestined my whole life till this year. Um I've been a sports fan and what I've

27:45 learned from sports is if you have positive energy as a person, if you're kind, if you love your teammates and obviously if you work hard and stay disciplined, everything else takes care of itself. And then at age 32, life rettaught me that uh I think working hard and being disciplined plus kindness and trying to do what's right like integrity. It is a deposit for your future life or maybe next life. Yeah. I I think that's how human life should be and that that these are the two things that should govern your choices. Yeah. They are all eternal values. You see, but it doesn't mean it'll protect you from what is anyway meant to happen. Because I remember when all this chaos was happening in my life, the personal life lesson was that even

28:30 beyond discipline and integrity, uh you need to be able to chase the ability to be still coming. I think that is so key. My god, be be still can be kind of a misgiving to the listener. Because when so much of it is happening the mind cannot be still it is receiving so many inputs from outside and know it's making cooking up its own analysis and then you know conclusions about each response you are receiving from the external world and every time it's graph is moving up and down in the mind. I know being still what you mean is not to respond to it one little deeper

29:18 layer um you know when I meet people like you I actually feel like it's the divine talking to me through people like you like you're just channelizing the divine now similarly when your own body and mind go through situations like that I still look at it as the divine talking to you there's something happening what can you do other than sit and observe So everything is maya leela at the end of the day. But when that phase the mind starts ask telling then what is the purpose of this life then how do I perform actions so that any karma doesn't bind me spirituality says most people don't pay attention to this part of the solution they don't even talk about it every

30:05 action let it be performed in the realm of surrender Let every action be performed as an offering to the divine. This is the key line in this whole broadcast. That is it's not me. Yeah, it's not me. So when something bad also happens, defame phase, you are not there, then how can it affect you? It's not easy to stay in that phase or that state of mind. But there is a way. So this is where it is. Yeah.

30:50 This is what got me through. We perform our actions because we have to. So our actions are performed according to the desire deep within subtle and it is pushing you to do it right. Well, when you are forced to do perform certain actions, might as well do it with the state that I am not the doer. I think we've already covered 95%. The 5% that's remaining in our conversation is probably the most important aspect of uh going through a bad phase, which is that when you're at rock bottom, how do you handle yourself? Um I'm I'm going to begin by just giving

31:37 some practical input of things that help me. First of all, the three four people around you matter a lot. I think they need to be very positive and ideally spiritual to guide you through it. Second, there has to be some kind of element of prayer or surrender to the divine. Uh now third, I'll hand it over to you again. Coming back to the first uh one then the second one you mentioned your closest people have to be very positive. My question is they are your closest people because of the past life connections that you made with these relationships these jas only these souls they have come back to you and joined you in a different phase of life. So your bad face of karma

32:27 has to fight with in a good way or in a bad way connected to those people also but it need not be always positive. Most probably it will not be positive. That's why it's called bad phase that you have to fight it alone. Any tools to fight it alone? The easiest but again the toughest is surrender. flow with it. It's like a big wave is coming. If you try to jump over the wave, it's not possible. What you do? Spend. Let the storm pass by. So some great soul has said his whole life is a training, a

33:12 learning how to die. It's not about how to live. That's beautiful. That means how to die. How do you learn that? Yoga says yoga. Yoga is skillful action in life. Of life. Yoga is skillful action of life. Wow. And in life both. Why? A yogi knows the map of karma. It never comes to him by surprise. It doesn't give him surprises. Wow. And there are karmmas. Karmmas are three in category. One which have already happened. One are happening in this phase and which is going to happen in the future. Sanchita

34:00 and agami both bother you. But a yogi is aware of all the three. So what he does is the only solution for this is to handle these kmas is means you perform your actions in such a an efficient way skillful way that it doesn't affect you. It doesn't touch you means whole life is a learning to perform action which is not going to touch me. So when it doesn't touch, you're free. When it doesn't touch, there is no reason why you have to come back. Come back to life again, which is the

34:45 goal. That's the actual goal. Actual goal, the real purpose of your life. Yeah. There's a beautiful word I learned through the show. It's called providence. It means uh the helpful nature of God throughout life, you know, and it's a word often used in Bible. Yeah. Yeah. Um I think it's also called favor. Same thing. Same when you say okay uh God brings me favor. Uh you know um I remember in the last 10 years things were always going upward but of course I wanted it to go upward faster and that's where I would look for providence to help me like come on God help me out you know and he would still come and help. Uh but the real skill of providence is

35:31 to find it in difficult phases. You shouldn't forget that providence is there for you even in the worst phase. Uh see I will tell you this good phases and bad phases. Again it is connected to the karma. Yeah. It's like you perform a good action. It's like a deposit. So you have a deposit of money say about 10,000 rupees. I always give this example. and you you feel that it should be deposited not spend so you go and deposit in the bank and in those days FD means uh they would give a certificate you can keep that certificate with you most of the time what happens is we keep the certificate and we don't know where it has gone 10 years

36:18 you don't even know where you have kept that certificate so all our actions are like that that we perform and we forget about it but the banker does not forget it when it is matures 10 years he will call you madam your FD is matured you have to come and take it we cannot say that I am not interested in that matured FD either good or bad then he then I am not able to come I cannot come and take it then he'll say no no you cannot do that you have to come and take it because in bank we don't have any place to handle it right that's how it is when You deposit good actions and when it matures whatever you touch becomes gold that you call good face that is actually the definition the

37:04 unseen invisible power of that anything you touch then you start feeling I have not put much efforts even if I put efforts also there is the desired result doesn't come right many times that means you are going through a bad phase of your life because your bad actions has started giving fruits of life. But there are certain phases where you find that if for the amount of um efforts you have put the results are much more magnanimous. You can see that. You can see that. That's why it's called in samska adrashta, fortune, luck, a dashta,

37:50 dashta that is visible. Adrusta that is invisible. So certain actions we are not able to understand why and how of it because it is adrusha unseen. Unseen means it's directly connected to our past actions of this life. Maybe past lives. Some give immediate fruits, actions performed and immediately you get the result. But there are certain karmmas which take a very long time to get nourished and strengthen and then sprout and then start giving the cause effect of that cause which is why live life with skill. I'm going to end this particular episode with uh a quote by Bruce Lee. Uh and it's not a quote that fully fits this

38:36 episode, but it will protect you from the tough phases. Uh because this is the quote that protected me. Bruce Lee said that when you're praying to God, ask not for an easy life but for the strength to endure a difficult one. Uh I think the nature of life is not easy and no one tells you that in school or college. Everyone just preps you for a family life and for career success. No one tells you that life is going to be difficult. You're going to lose your parents, loved ones. You're going to be alone. People don't know. One aspect of what I know about you, ma, which I've not touched upon at all in this whole conversation, is about your books. You've seen a very different life. You've seen a lot of divine experiences unfold in front of you. If anyone's read

39:22 any of your books, they'd be blown away by some of the things you've written about. My understanding is that you're documenting your life and experiences for future generations as well. Exactly. That's what's happening. Frankly speaking, I didn't even know that I one day, you know, would come where I would be asked to document these things. I was taken through so many such what you call supernatural experiences and uh I really didn't bother to document them at that point of time when it happened I didn't have any support or memory of all those things then when the day came when my guru both the guru said that you are going to document you are going to write then I was at a loss I don't have any

40:09 material when it happened how it happened and all those But when I really made a salpa resolution that I am going to do it because my gurus want me to do it the whole channel opened up and I was left with the awe that am I capable of doing all these things. So I thought I would just write one book but it did not end. Last year Gurup purim day we released the first book messages from the Himalayan sages timely and timeless that name was also given by the sages. So with all these experiences I understood one truth that it's not I who is going to write the book but they are going to handle and lead me to write

40:56 these books. So it has to be an offering to them back to them. Then again so many pro I mean experiences and newer experiences many have added very recent ones it all started gathering in increased in number 100 300 400 thousand and all that. So I said okay then I think they want me to write the second book. This is I was inspired to write this message just from the Himalayan sage. I wanted to keep the same uh title with just the addition as instead of timely and timeless visible and invisible because how can you serve the guru only by sharing the knowledge that guru

41:42 has invested in me sharing the knowledge with others guru will be happy. So we are going to offer a kind of a practice for 9 days and people from all walks of life I want them to join in a big way come and seek the blessings of these ages who are the gurus for the coming generations. um whenever I'm sitting with you for me it's very very wholesome to just sit in front of your human form but uh it's always uh an angle of me also being a part of the long-term hav that you're

42:27 doing uh just want to you know move forward the energy that began with your guru image uh that's how I look at these podcasts if I see your name on my you uh it's a big blessing to just be a small part of your work. That's all I want to say. So thank you ma uh just time spent with you is a blessing. That's all I want for me also. It was a pleasure. Moreover, I very badly wanted to meet you. That was the thing and you know just a pretext. Thank thanks so much. That was the episode for today ladies and gentlemen. Send in your feedback about what you thought about our karma special on DRS. We'll also link Ma's books down below. Uh, make sure you check them out. Make sure you go check out her latest book. And she will be

43:13 back on the show very soon. So, send in your feedback about this episode. Send in what you'd like for us to cover the next time around. These spiritual episodes of TRS are therapeutic for me and I genuinely hope that they're therapeutic for you as well. So, send in your inputs, send in your feedback, and we'll keep delivering. Thank you so much. Lots of love. Stay in peace. [Music]