More on Karma
We are going to continue to learn more about Karma.This is a quote attributed to Buddha regarding Karma
who control their tongue
who control their mind
and give up what is before
give up what is behind
give up what is between
so when you go on the other side of existence
if your mind is free
you will not enter again into birth and decay
-- Buddha
From His Holiness the Dalai Lama's book Path to Bliss, Snow Lion:
"Some people misunderstand the concept of karma. They take the Buddha's doctrine of the law of causality to mean that all is predetermined, that there is nothing that the individual can do. This is a total misunderstanding. The very term karma or action is a term of active force, which indicates that future events are within your own hands. Since action is a phenomenon that is committed by a person, a living being, it is within your own hands whether or not you engage in action."
To possess good karma and clear your bad karma you need to have a forgiving and thankful outlook every day. Unconditional love for yourself and others will help to clear your karma. In giving, receiving, and accepting unconditional love we can shift how we feel and change our karma that we believe we were born with and were destined to live with. It is necessary to give and receive unconditional love from the outside world, so that in essence we can begin to see ourselves being reborn again. If we practice this concept every day, with no expectations we can begin to clear our karma. Remember that your life is a process of resolving karmic issues and in doing so you will grow and move on.
Unresolved karma can and will breed negative energy, disease, and unhappiness. It is the reason that many things in life go wrong. Often we get stuck in behavioral and emotional habits, but we continue with them because they are familiar. These are habits are something you probably established a long time ago and were not even aware of creating. Maybe this behavior served a purpose for you, but it has ceased to serve its purpose. You have become comfortable with this pattern over time, despite the fact that it can or does cause you pain and even hold you back from the happiness you so deserve. Moving away from the security of these negative patterns requires consciousness and energy.
Keep in mind the Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is the equivalent to the phrases that people use like, what goes around, comes around and what you sow, you will reap. The thoughts and actions that you send out turn around and come right back to you. Once we have stopped acting in ways that create new negative karma, your life will be motivating enough to focus on ridding yourselves of karmas of the past, mitigating them, and making them to be less difficult, painful or severe.
Please remember that revenge is such a negative force. When we want to get revenge against others, we build up a bank account of negative karma that will come back on us full force when we least expect it. Forget your anger toward those who have offended you, for it will just increase your troubles. Quite often our actions are based upon an emotional reaction to what someone has done or said to us. For example, someone insults you, so you insult them back. If you thought about it, you would see that the consequence of harming someone else with your words now, will only cause you to be harmed again in the future by someone else's words. This behavior creates an endless cycle of being harmed and harming others, which is only stopped by considering the consequences before acting and not harming back. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." So, too, instinctive retaliation ultimately makes the whole world angry.
If we are really honest with ourselves it is not uncommon for us to blame our problems on others, but the truth of the matter is that we often create our own karma. The problem is that we don't want to take the responsibility of our own thoughts, actions and therefore our karma. It's quite common to blame the world around us, but the world outside of us simply reflects what is going on in our inner world. So resolving karma is really a matter of digging deep inside to the level of your soul. Therefore, if we evolve spiritually and really learn about ourselves we can heal out karma. We truly need to learn our own identity and there are two reasons we can have such a difficult time learning what that identity is the ego and the emotions, they are at the root of most of our problems.
Think of it this way, for every experience we have had, that emotion resurfaces during our lifetime and will play it self out in seemingly unrelated situations over and over again. Our negative thought or experience will resurface in the emotions and develop into a behavior pattern. Life is an endless process of learning how to deal with our emotions. Did you ever notice that people who are angry will attract more anger and people who are negative will attract more negativity? Essentially then what you feel is what you attract. People who are spiritually evolved have an easier time and are more at peace with themselves and others.
One way to heal karma is through forgiveness of yourself and your own actions and by learning the lessons you need to learn, by forgiving the actions of other people in your life. In doing this you will create peace within yourself and in the world and in the process you will gain wisdom. Another way that we can heal or clear our karma is with prayer. Prayer that comes from our heart. Prayers will empower the energy system and are truly a way to create a peace within you and to protect yourself from outside negative energy. Prayers are a powerful way to resolve karma. One Buddhist saying is, "The mouth is the front gate to all misfortune." In other words, think twice before you speak. Words are very powerful. The negative words you say, whether out loud or even to yourself have a powerful impact. Prayers will heal your field of energy and purify your karmic thoughts and actions. They create balance and heal and are a powerful way to align your karma with the divine. Pray from your heart, be sincere, be spontaneous, and be grateful for all of the insight you've received for being alive and for feeling connected to the divinity within you. The Universe wants you to be happy and fulfilled and to evolve into the best person you can be. A key to your progress and well-being is expressing thanks and joy as you travel your path in this life.
Just remember, in order to move forward you have to heal your karma and this can only be accomplished if you acknowledge that the quality and the condition of your life is determined by your own actions. This is accomplished through forgiveness of yourself and your actions, by learning the lessons you need to learn, by forgiving others, and by giving and receiving unconditional love. When you do these things, this is how you can create peace within yourself and in the world. If you acknowledge the divine within yourself and tap into it you will realize you become immortal. Just remember that the divine, and that the soul is timeless.
We can observe and or study (meditate) our own mind and encourage positive thoughts that lead to positive actions. With this thought in mind, Zeffi would suggest that you continue with January's meditation:
Below is the meditation that Zeffi suggests you do on a daily basis throughout the month of February. For this affirmation to be the most effective, Zeffi recommends that you say this affirmation 108 times for each year of your age. While you sit in meditation you may want to set the timer on your clock to assist you. Remember to write down the small miracles that make changes in your life. Write down what you have experienced or things that you observed.
Suggested Meditation
- Make yourself comfortable in a place where you will not be disturbed during your meditation.
- Wear comfortable clothes. Place your feet flat on the floor and do not cross your legs or arms.
- You may want to play some soothing music to help you relax during your meditation.
- Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
- Take twenty deep breaths while visualizing above your head a bright white light that goes from the top of your head and runs down through your spine, down through your tail bone and out of your tail bone into the earth beneath you.
- Imagine the light traveling down; down through the earth until it reaches the center where the white light becomes the fire at the center and becomes an anchor, anchoring you to Mother Earth keeping you grounded, safe, and secure within yourself.
Affirmation to clear your karma
"Out of love the Universe unfolds. Love is the inner universe, the cosmic self."