In 1974 as the Watergate trap began to close on him, President Nixon must have asked himself ruefully, "Why did I ever make those recordings? How could I have conceived the idea of preserving on electronic tape what went on in my office?" for it was, ultimately, the President's own words, transmuting themselves from magnetized particles back into voice, which testified against him and made his departure from office unavoidable.

The undoing of the President was a spectacle played out for all the world to see. The Vedantist can view it as a clear case of the planting of karmic cause and the reaping of karmic result. In general, the relation between actions and consequences, whether good or bad, is characterized by a considerable time lag. The working out of a karmic equation is usually obscure because the process may lap over into several lifetimes. Unpleasant events in one phase are explained as having been created by unworthy acts in previous existences. But in the affair in Washington, the cycle required but two years. What was sown in June of 1972 came to fruition in August of 1974.

And the rest of us? Are we not also busy recording every thought, every act? Is not each word and attitude registered on the tape of the subtle body, garnered up with a fidelity equal to that of the best cassette recorder? What is thus recorded will, as inevitably as in the Watergate affair, assert itself, to ensnare us, or as the case may be, to deliver us, later on.

The theory of karma is sometimes criticized as fatalist. On the contrary, it can be the strongest support to moral behaviour, for it gives a pragmatic reason to act and think well. What we ourselves amass "there" remains "there", to come forth later on in terms of forces harmful or helpful to us, ourselves. Vivekananda said it well: "You must always remember that each word, thought, and deed lays up a store for you, and that as bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon you like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of a hundred thousand angels to defend you always and forever."

We all of us are proprietors of a White House basement storage room, and we are constantly adding to the hoard locked up there. For our own good, if for no other reason, let us resolve to act and think in such a fashion that we shall have no cause for regret when all is played back to us and our contemporaries later on.

Source:Leaves of an Ashrama(Swami Vidyatmananda)

Location: U.K.

Though not well understood by most, I always liked John Lennon's "Instant Karma" and there really is such a thing, when you start to notice...

A good analogy for me, is like when you step on a the blade of a shovel laying in the grass and the handle instantly flips up to knock you in the head. I believe that sometimes I personally am working out past karma and at the same time trying to create some good karma. Perhaps when the two meet in the middle, I will finally be free..here's hoping...

RE: "The Vedantist can view it as a clear case of the planting of karmic cause and the reaping of karmic result. In general, the relation between actions and consequences........"

-and-

"I personally am working out past karma and at the same time trying
to create some good karma."

Comment: I believe that we must strive to go
'beyond the laws of karma'.

Sri Ramakrishna said it so well:

"After my vision of the Divine Mother, I prayed to Her,
taking a flower in my hand:

'Mother, here is Thy knowledge and here is Thy ignorance.
Take them both and give me only pure love.
Here is Thy holiness and here is Thy unholiness.
Take them both, Mother, and give me pure love.
Here is Thy good and here is Thy evil.
Take them both, Mother, and give me pure love.
Here is Thy righteousness and here is Thy unrighteousness.
Take them both, Mother, and give me pure love'.
I mentioned all these, but I could not say:
'Mother, here is Thy truth and here is Thy falsehood. Take them both'.

I gave up everything at Her Feet,
but could not bring myself to give up truth".

-again-

"You know I am a fool. I know nothing.
Then who is it that says all these things?
I say to the Divine Mother:
'O Mother, I am the machine and Thou art the Operator.
I am the house and Thou art the indweller.
I am the chariot and Thou art the Charioteer.
I do as Thou makest me do. I speak as Thou makest me speak;
I move as Thou makest me move. It is not I !
It is all Thou ! It is all Thou !'
Hers is the glory; we are only Her instruments."

Om Shanthi Om

Nahabat Web Admin

Going Beyond Karma
by Ven. Thubten Chodron

You said we can go beyond karma. What do you mean?

This refers to getting out of our cyclic existence and attaining liberation. The second of the Four Noble Truths is the origin of suffering. This refers to being under the control of ignorance, anger, and attachment and the karma we create under their influence. So going beyond karma involves going beyond the three poisonous attitudes of ignorance, anger and attachment. To do this, we must realize emptiness (selflessness), for this wisdom understanding the actual mode of existence cuts the misconception of ignorance. When ignorance has been overcome, attachment, anger, and other afflictions, which arise in dependence upon ignorance no longer exist in our mind. Thus we are free from creating the karma that keeps us bound in cyclic existence. Going beyond karma involves developing the determination to attain nirvana or enlightenment and the energy to practice and bring that about.

Can we do it within one lifetime?

If we practice consistently and diligently, nirvana is possible to attain within this lifetime. It may also take many lifetimes. Aim to attain enlightenment in this lifetime, but don't expect to! This means we aspire for enlightenment in one lifetime and generate the joyous effort to create the causes for that. But we aren't selfishly fixated on that goal. That is, we don't impatiently ask, "How come I'm not enlightened yet?" or "How close am I to enlightenment?" Instead, we take joy in the process of going towards enlightenment.

FROM: www.thubtenchodron.org

Once I was out in the country riding in my car. There was an empty looking house with a cute angel statuette on the porch, seemingly abandoned.

I am not prone to stealing, but I combed my conscious
and decided that I needed that angel on my porch as a symbol of protection, so I took it. It perched on my porch for about 2 days before it fell to the sidewalk in shatters. Soon after, I noticed that my well loved cat statuette which for long had been guarding my step, had been stolen.. How can I grieve or be angry about it?

Mother indeed taught me a lesson.