FEATURE STORY

The Best Way to Burn Your Karma and Why Beginning Early Is Rewarding

Sadhguru examines the different types of Karma, how Samyama meditation reduces your karmic load, and why the power of true perception and awareness is way more valuable than accumulations of any kind.

The Burden of Accumulations

Sadhguru: The ability to distinguish between knowledge and knowing is the greatest opening that can happen in one’s life. Knowledge always makes you appear smart. If you have a memory of something that people around you do not possess, you will appear to be much smarter than them. By making memory far more valuable than perception and attention, we have in a way committed a crime against humanity.

Right from kindergarten, you were only rewarded for your memory. No one gave you marks because you perceived what was wrong with the teacher. So over time, you came to believe that memory is the most valuable thing. Knowledge is an accumulation; and whatever you may accumulate, however valuable it may seem, it is only socially relevant. Existentially, knowledge means nothing for a seeker because it does not enhance you in any way. It only enhances you among other people.

Knowledge is an accumulation; and whatever you may accumulate, however valuable it may seem, it is only socially relevant.

From the physical body to everything else that you accumulate, you will have to carry all of it with you. For example, if we put a 25 kg crown on your head, it does not matter if it is gold or stone – the burden is the same. Still, if you are wearing such a heavy crown, people around you will think, “Wow, a queen!” The same goes for knowledge; it may be useful for survival purposes and for doing things around you, but it has no value in the inner dimensions of who you are. There, what you know, you know; and what you do not know, you do not know – that is all it is.

Why Emptying Your Cup Is Essential

This happened. Shankaran Pillai underwent psychotherapy. After six months of grueling and expensive therapy, the psychiatrist announced one day, “You are really well now. You do not have to continue this therapy any longer.” Shankaran Pillai looked very sad. The psychiatrist asked, “What is the problem? Your manic hallucination is gone. Why are you so sad?” Shankaran Pillai replied, “Six months ago, I was God; now I am nothing.” Knowledge is like this.

We can tell you that you are God, and you can strut around for some time, but life has its own ways. You cannot distinguish between knowledge and knowing by logical dissection, “What is knowledge? What is knowing?” There is a story in which a scholar goes to a Zen master, who starts pouring tea, which is part of their culture, and even when the cup is overflowing, he continues pouring. The scholar asks the master, “What is wrong with you? Why do you keep pouring when it is already overflowing?” The master replied, “If you come with a full cup, what can I put in? It will only go to waste.”

This is a well-known story that is now more relevant than ever. If you are stuck or identified with knowledge, you cannot get it experientially. This is true on one level, but the mechanics of the cup being empty or full is that there are different kinds of storehouses within you where memory is stored. There are many things that are of physiological nature, such as genetic memory and evolutionary memory. The physiological memory within you is necessary for you to function on this planet.

Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling of Karma

Then there is karmic memory within you that determines or sets boundaries as to what you can and cannot be. If you have made some attempts to improve yourself, you may find that you try hard; it may work for a couple of days, but then you are falling back into the same situation again. This is because Karma decides what you can and cannot be.

Unless you deal with it consciously, your karmic memory will create boundaries that you cannot cross. These boundaries are not physical, so you cannot see them; they are like an invisible sheet of glass. Many times, birds or insects are flying against a window because they do not understand what glass is, and end up killing themselves. Human beings are no different. They are endlessly going against their invisible walls, and eventually killing themselves. But you do not have to kill yourself because you anyway will die.

Unless you deal with it consciously, your karmic memory will create boundaries that you cannot cross.

If you do not clear these barriers within yourself, no matter how hard you try, it will not happen. There are many ways to look at Karma. We can break down Karma into two aspects: Sanchita is like a warehouse of Karma, and Prarabdha is like the transactional Karma that is going on. You can think of Karma like a shop – you have to expend the stock that is currently in your shop; otherwise, it will become cluttered. When you say that you are on the spiritual path, it is important to ensure that more stock is coming from the warehouse.

So, if you have more stock in the shop, and you are not selling it on a daily basis, then you will feel terribly cluttered and mismanaged. To prevent this, you can reduce the retail stock and live peacefully, without burning. If we open up the floodgates of the warehouse, huge stocks will come in. Then you have to really market your business. You must be selling non-stop, 24 hours a day, without taking a break. Generally, retail shops are small; so if there is too much stock, it will sit all over your head.

Sanchita Karma: Opening Up the Warehouse of Karma

When you are below 33 years of age, it is much easier to open up the Sanchita Karma, and bring on heavy stocks because the body is programmed in a certain way, and its clock is ticking. For those who are below 33 years of age, it has not yet reached a point where time is warning, but it is going downhill in many ways. Today, neurologists are saying that after 33 years of age, the brain capacity usually starts declining. However, the University of California, Indiana University, University of Florida, and Harvard Medical School, where our Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet is situated, have conducted studies to show that those who practice Shambhavi Mahamudra or Shakti Chalana Kriya, instead of a decline, show an enhancement of neuronal cells.

When you are physically well, and have an urge to go in this direction, you should not postpone it.

There is also a comprehensive study with participants who went through the Samyama program, which is about Karma Samyama. After three months of practice, they measured various aspects such as BDNFs, and they found that on an average, the participants were 6 1/2 years younger on the cellular level. Being younger means that you can carry more burden, and we can open up more from the warehouse of Karma. If you keep the stock as it is, all you are doing is postponing the sales. When you are physically well, and have an urge to go in this direction, you should not postpone it.

We do not know if this opportunity will ever come again. For most people, the only spirituality that happens is when they are dead, “Ram Naam Satya Hai[1].” They believe it comes only at the end of life. If it has come early, then it is best that you open it up. If it looks like life is getting more complicated and troublesome, it is okay because we have tools to handle the trouble. The important thing is that you do not avoid whatever is within you; let it all come now. When you are healthy, well and capable, let it all come to you.

[1] “The name of Lord Ram is the truth” – commonly chanted when carrying dead bodies to the cremation.

Burning to Become a Star

If you postpone it, then there are other issues. You may be living what people call a “wonderful life”; however, this means you will be dying of boredom. Generally, this means you obtained your Bachelor’s degree in India, followed by a Master’s degree in the United States. You then may work for three years in the United States before returning home and getting married. You have two children who can be a real pain. Every day, you are busy with work and taking care of the children.

If you burn, you can become a star, and that is good. Once you are a star, there is light and clarity in life.

Still, everyone believes you are having a wonderful life. It is not that you should not do these things, but it is a “wonderful life” in which everything happens except you. The whole drama happens, but you do not blossom. If you want to have a “wonderful life,” it is good for the economy. Having a “wonderful life” means that you are constantly buying something, taking more loans, and the economy is prospering.

It is good for the economy if you have a “wonderful life,” as it means you are buying more items, and the Amazon delivery person is visiting your house more often than your neighbor’s. To make the economy blossom, you must burn as much as possible. Burning is not a comfortable thing, but only what burns can become a star. You may not be having a “wonderful life,” but if you burn, you can become a star, and that is good. Once you are a star, there is light and clarity in life.

The Benefits of Reducing Karma

You know things as they are and do not have to depend on accumulated knowledge, which is only valuable for survival in comparison with others; if you are alone, it means nothing. There is an old parable in India about a scholar who wanted to take a boat across the Ganges. The boatman was a poor man who would row the boat across for a few rupees. The scholar asked him if he had read Kalidasa, but the boatman did not know who he was. In those times, boats were stitched together with rope, and not put together with nuts and bolts.

If you reduce the load of your Sanchita Karma, the first thing that will happen to you is that you will be conscious of all the apparent things, such as your breath, heartbeat, and other sensations in your body.

They were only halfway across when the boat started taking on water. The boatman asked, “Sir, do you know how to swim?” The scholar replied, “No, I do not know how to swim.” The boatman then said, “Sir, perhaps you should consult with Kalidasa about how to swim? I am sure he must have written something about it.” The man then jumped into the water and swam. So, even for survival, your perception is far more important than knowledge. Knowledge is useful, but it will not fulfill you.

If you look at the world, are educated or uneducated people carrying more miserable, tense, and distraught faces? Educated people are carrying those kinds of faces because of the barren lands of knowledge. They think they know everything, but they do not even know if they are currently breathing or not. Unfortunately, most people do not know whether they are breathing or not most of the time in their lives. The only time they are aware of it is when they have asthma or COVID.

So, if you reduce the load of your Sanchita Karma, the first thing that will happen to you is that you will be conscious of all the apparent things, such as your breath, heartbeat, and other sensations in your body, simply because you have reduced the stock of your Karma. When you sit here, you should at least know that you are breathing.