How to Clear Karma: The Meditative Way

How to clear karma? There are many types of karma – individual karma, collective karma, family karma, country karma, society karma, organizational karma and also time has its own karma. If any individual or group violate the law of nature today they will have to experience the consequences. If you do a good work, the result will be good. If you do a bad deed, the result will be bad, This is the basic of karma theory. Your thoughts and intentions are more important than your physical actions. The vector sum of all the good and bad thoughts, actions and deeds is the resultant karma. Your current position is the resultant of all karmas of this life and the past lives.

Good KarmaIf you do a good thought, the incremental good karma (dx) will be added to your account. Your position will be improved by dx amount. But the resultant karma is not always linear. If you get some support from other sources, say from your parent or spouse, your position will be improved by multiple amount. Helping others and loving people increases the balance of good karma. With family support and social networking karma improves in a non-linear fashion.

Karma and Buddha:

According to Buddhism, intention behind all thoughts, actions and deeds are the fundamentals of karma. Present situation is the result of the past actions and the present doings. Everyone is responsible for their happiness and misery. Buddha said wholesome actions, result in happiness, and unwholesome actions, result in unhappiness. Buddha mentioned that karmas are the deciding factor of the realm of one’s subsequent rebirth. There are two types of wholesome karmas. There is worldly good karma, which leads to worldly happiness, and there is liberating karma, which is supremely good, as it ends suffering forever. In the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, it is believed that the effects of negative past karma can be “purified” through meditation practices. Meditation is the way to reduce the burden of krama. In my earlier post I discussed about, how to meditate, friends of meditation and the obstacles of meditation. If meditation is done properly the load of karma will be reduced. The Buddha said:

“All formations are impermanent. When you perceive this with true insight, then you become detached from suffering; this is the path of purification.

“Karmas are not part of your soul. They are inert material  like dust or subtle energies. Therefore, you can clean it, clear it or transform it with proper techniques.” – Amit Ray

 Classification of Karma:

According to the Hindu scriptures, there are three different types of karma. These are Sanchita karma, Parabdha karma and the Agami Karma.

1. Sanchita Karma: The capital or balance karma.
2. Parabdha Karma:The current working capital karma which are yielding fruits right now.
3. Agami Karma. The carry forward karma that give results in the future.

 Karma ClearingWe exhaust the current working capital of karma (parabdha karma) of this life but collect more karmas which get deposited into our already huge account of sanchita karmas. The next set of parabdha karmas give rise to another body and thus the wheel of karmas keeps rolling on. Bhagavad Gita says “Unfathomable are the ways of karma.” You can not pin down which karma brings what effect at the deep level. It is almost impossible to trace the effect because relationships are enormous and complex.

 Releasing the Burden of Karma:

How can we put a brake and unload the entire karma in one go? The locus of all actions is ego. It is the doer and the enjoyer of karmas. When the ego is destroyed the three kinds of karmas end simultaneously. In your dream, you may be married to a problematic spouse and may worry about that. When you wake up you will notice that there is no such problem. Similarly, when the ego wakes up to its true nature, all ignorance born by actions and the bondage of the results end. There is one thing that can erase the karma: That is Self knowledge and Self Awareness. In this regard Mundaka Upnishad says:

“Bhidyate Hridya-granthi Chidyante Sarva-samsaya
Ksiyante Chasya Karmani Tasmin Drste Paravare.”

It means “The knot of the heart is cut, all the doubts are resolved and all the karmas get exhausted when the vision of the Self takes place.” [Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.8]. Self-Knowledge removes ignorance. With the destruction of ignorance, desires and consequent actions also end. There are three knots. Identification with the body is the first knot. Identification with thoughts, desires and memories is the second knot. Identification with the result of good actions is the third knot. When these three knots are removed all karmas are removed.

Krama clearing works in conscious and unconscious level. 114 chakra meditations. Pranayama, Kundalini yoga and  Kriya yoga are the direct ways of clearing past karmas. Om chanting and Om meditation clear all the karmas.  Krama clearing is also the account balance of giving and receiving. How much have you received in terms of good-will and intentions from others? Are you giving at least that much to others? If you have compassion and love, your good karma will increase.

 Read more about Karma Theory