The Absolute Law of Karma

Whatever happens in the course of life of an individual, it is in accordance with the balance sheet of his karmas. If one faces problems in his life, or suffers from some ailment, then it is due to the fructification of one’s deeds done in this birth or in previous births.

Once, an individual went to a dairy to get some milk. After buying milk he returned home happily. His wife boiled the milk and gave it to him for drinking. Sometime after having the milk her husband died. The wife began to wail. The neighbors assembled at the house. On knowing the cause of death, they all reached the dairy and bashed the dairy-owner repeatedly. On the other hand, the messengers of Yama reached to him with the soul of the husband and asked the Lord of Death, “O’ Lord! Who is responsible for the death of this individual? Is it that dairy-owner who supplied the poisonous milk?”

Yama: What’s the fault of that poor man? He did not know at all that the milk contained poison. That poison spilled from the mouth of the snake.

Messenger: Then the snake is responsible for the death of this individual.

Yama: No. The vulture had clasped the snake in its claws; the snake did not spill the poison intentionally.

Messenger: Is the vulture responsible then?

Yama: No. The vulture carried the snake in the normal course of acquiring its food for sustenance. It had no concern with milk or poison.

Messenger: Who is the culprit then?

Yama: That individual’s own karmas! The cumulative effect of his karmas framed this platform for his death. The dairy-owner, the snake, the vulture etc. were just the medium.

Similarly, the sorrows and calamities that befall us are due to the cumulative effect of our karmas. Unless those karmas are destroyed, it is not possible to get rid of the sorrows. It is because the root cause of one’s sorrows is his karmas, which need to be destroyed in order to wipe out sorrows. But then, how to destroy these karmas? The revelations in our sacred scriptures are on the basis of the inner experiences of the revered sages. All scriptures, in this context proclaim in unison –

Gyanagnihi sarvakarmaani

Bhasmasaatkurute tathaa

Meaning, only in the fire of Brahm Gyan can the seeds of karmas be destroyed.

Elsewhere it is revealed-

Yasya sarve samaarambhaha

kaamasankalpavarjitaha,

Gyanagnidagdhakarmaanam

tamaahuhu panditam budhaaha.

Meaning, those who are blessed with Brahm Gyan, the ones in whose heart that supreme principle remains established after they have experienced it, with the fire of that knowledge kindling in their hearts, their karmas begin to burn. They alone are pundits in the true sense.