Whether we are a house maid or a mechanic, a CEO or a king, we have all
made the same mistake of losing our true self-awareness (soul-consciousness)
as we come into the process of birth and rebirth. This is why at this
present time when the world is in a state of transformation we all find
ourselves with ‘debts to settle’ and some inner scars to heal, not only from
this lifetime, but also accumulated from previous births. The web of karmic
debt is weighing heavily within our consciousness. This explains why even
those people who have an abundance of material wealth and physical comfort
are often painful and unhappy. The burden of these karmic debts can also
prevent us from finding true freedom, as the ‘sins’ of our past disturb our
peace and our happiness in the present. If someone keeps coming into our
mind, interrupting our concentration, or they trigger feelings of
frustration or depression when we see or even think of them, we can
understand that we are likely to have some outstanding debt with that
person, and often there is a sanskara which we need to heal. Once again,
there is an underlying lesson to be learnt or something that has to be
changed. In these moments, although we may think we are free to think, say
or do what we want, we do not have spiritual freedom. We are tied to our
inner disturbance (sanskara) which has been triggered (not caused) by the
outer event or presence of a person.

Methods Of Settling Our Karmic Debt

There are three methods of settling our karmic debts and setting ourselves free:

1. Practice Of Soul Consciousness
The first method is to increase the awareness of the self as soul and
reduce the illusion (false belief) that we are our body. This ensures that
all actions come from an inner state of peace, generosity and benevolence
(kindness), without any personal gain or conscious desire for any return.
This requires the gentle effort of constantly reminding ourselves who and
what we are — soul not body. Our identification with our body is so strong
that it can be drawn like a curtain across our consciousness in a second.
The path of a soul who is waking up spiritually is therefore one of waking
(awareness of self as soul) and sleeping (under the illusion that we are our
body), waking and sleeping. We tend to fluctuate between the two (like day
and night) until we find stability in soul-consciousness. This is why it
is important to awaken and stay awake, and for that it’s important to give
our mind and intellect good spiritual food (knowledge) and exercise
(meditation) every day to keep them fresh and alert.
Being soul-conscious, and acting from that consciousness, naturally heals
the scars (habits and tendencies) left by past negative actions which were
based on the illusion (false belief) of body-consciousness. The evidence
that our meditation is working is a lightness of the mind and an increasing
easiness in our interactions with others. These are the signs that we are
clearing our karmic debts. It is at this stage when we are gradually
transferring ourselves from body-consciousness to soul consciousness that we
will often find it helpful and supportive to be in the company of those who
are also practicing meditation, learning to be ‘soul-conscious’ and making
the same effort to awaken and to stay awake. It gives us the opportunity to
share experiences and learn from others. We will also be less likely to
find benefit or make progress in the company of those who continue to focus
mainly on the material world and who still see themselves only as physical

2. Self Transformation
The second way in which we can begin to clear our outstanding debts is by
giving back to those souls from whom we have in the past ‘taken’ and with
whom we now have some ‘karmic account’. However, this can take time,
especially if we imagine all the souls we have interacted with during many
births. We are sure to have one or two people in our life right now who
seem to have the capacity to cause feelings of discomfort inside us by
simply being in our presence. If we are serious about clearing our ‘karmic
accounts’, we will not avoid these people, nor will we go looking for them.
Instead, we can use these relationships as teachers and opportunities to
learn about ourselves. We can ask ourselves, “What is it within me that is
reacting to this person in this situation? Why am I creating this
discomfort in their presence?” In this way, we will see and understand what
we need to change within ourselves. We understand which sanskaras need to
be healed and transformed. It will always come down to something connected
with our own ego or attachment. Our inner healing will always begin with
the ‘letting go’ of something. When we identify what that is and when we do
‘let go’, we find it takes the negativity out of our thoughts and actions,
thereby breaking the patterns of negative energy exchange with others.
The moment we are aware that our own discomforts in relationships are due
to us and not due to others, we are halfway to self-change and the clearing
of karmic debts. The next step is to forgive ourselves, for wounding
ourselves with our negative thoughts and actions, and to forget the past. When
we do this work of inner healing, we automatically change our response to
the person or situation previously causing our discomfort. Our new
spiritual response is like a new step sequence in our dance with the other
person and if we change our step they have to change theirs. Or maybe they
are dancing the right steps and we learn to dance the right steps, too.
Whatever the case, the saying, “When we change, the world changes’, holds
true. If they don’t change, we will need to strengthen our own capacity to
be patient and check that we do not want them to change in a certain way as
a result of our own desires and expectations. If we do want them to change,
it means we are trying to control them in a subtle way, which means we still
have a selfish motive. This always results in frustration and failure as it
is not possible to control another human being.

3. Connecting With The Supreme Source
The third and most effective way to heal and clear the burden of our karmic
debt, both inside and outside, is through the process of meditation. In
meditation, we establish a direct link with the Supreme Soul, the Source of
spiritual love, light and power. When we are directly connected to the Sun
of spiritual energy, we can allow that energy to heal the negative sanskaras
(habits and tendencies) within our own consciousness. As our energy changes,
through our power of thought, we are able to send out that positive energy
towards those with whom we have some difficulty (karmic account). In
meditation, we open to the warmth of pure love and the spiritual light of
eternal truth from the Source, healing our own self and liberating ourselves
from the illusions (false beliefs) which made us create wrong-thoughts and
perform wrong actions in the first place. The illusion was simply in seeing
ourselves as limited, physical beings. This led us to believe that love,
happiness and peace were physical and to be found externally, which in turn
made us use others to get what we wanted. Healing has taken place when we
experience ourselves as souls, unlimited, spiritual beings and children of
the Supreme. Healing has become a reality when we rediscover our own
internal resource of love, happiness and peace. Only then will we begin to
see and perceive others in the same way. This spiritual vision transforms
the quality of energy we give to others which then heals and transforms
those relationships. Once we have fully healed our self-awareness, we can
act as instruments or mediums to bring that spiritual light from the Supreme
Source into the lives of others.

The target organ in a physical body is the organ, which is most prone todisease. It is determined by a mixture of genetic, background andenvironment factors (internal & external), which in turn are decided by goodor bad actions in past births. Bad actions consume the spiritual energy &good actions increase the spiritual energy. Bad actions performed by aparticular organ system in a particular birth leads to decrease innourishing spiritual energy from the soul to that particular organ system,which in turn leads to development of disease in the organ system over aperiod of time.

Mind acts as a sieve between the soul & physical body. Negative mentalenergy blocks the sieve of mind thereby blocking the flow of spiritualenergy (peace, love etc.,) from the soul to the target organ. It alsoattracts microbes e.g.: bacteria, viruses, etc., oxidants, toxins towardscells of the target organ in the physical body, which damages the immunesystem thereby leading to disease over a period of time & diseaseconsciousness. Positive mental energy opens the sieve of mind therebyincreasing the flow of spiritual energy (peace, love etc.) from the soul tothe target organ. It protects the cells of the target organ in the physicalbody from microbes e.g. bacteria, viruses, oxidants, toxins etc. It attractshealing proteins, molecules and anti-oxidants and boosts the immune systemthereby leading to rapid recovery from disease and health-consciousness.

We are not individuals acting alone in this world drama; we act in this extraordinary drama or play of life with other actors or souls who (along with us) play their different roles with different physical costumes at different times in the drama. During the process of interaction with other actors (souls) and according to the type of interaction with them, we create accounts of debit or credit that become the basis of our connections with others. The reasons for which a specific relationship goes well or not are in the so called ‘karmic account’ that I have accumulated with the other person in the past. The past could be in this birth alone or in one or many previous births. The souls that play the parts of parents, children, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends, office colleagues and others whom I know form a network for the giving and receiving of happiness and sorrow from accounts established in the past or being created in the present.

The strongest relationships that I have now were established previously. We knew each other in other lives and but in different roles. The daughter of some births ago returns now as the father, the best friend comes back as the sister etc. As long as the account exists, the interchange of actions between two souls continues. When there is nothing more to give or receive, the paths between the two souls separate by death, a break-up, a divorce or simply by the loss of contact. An e.g. of this is our school friends. Many of our friends whom we were close to in our school days, we are not in touch with today. Another e.g. is when we change jobs; we might lose complete contact with our old colleagues.

Raja Yoga

“Yoga” in a general sense means a mental connection or union, achieved through remembrance. Whenever someone or something is remembered, then the soul is having yoga with that person or thing. At any moment, we are remembering people, places and things of the past or present, or we are imagining future events. We are continually using this power within, trying to find and maintain peace and happiness. We like to remember pleasant experiences and to entertain them as thoughts. We become “lost” in thought, detached from our immediate surroundings and problems. It is a natural ability of the soul to withdraw into itself in the face of external difficulties.

The same ability is used in Rajyoga meditation. The intellect, full of knowledge, is that which understands and remembers also. As long as the intellect remains fixed on the person or thing, the soul experiences its qualities. For example, when we remember a beautiful summer experience of relative peace and quiet, we re-experience the scenes, forget our problems and drift away. If we remember something painful or unpleasant, or someone’s faults, the mind is disturbed. The mind experiences different states according to the type of thoughts that arise. The thoughts depend on where the intellect is focused. In short, as is the consciousness so is the experience.

Raja Yoga, the highest yoga, or remembrance, works entirely on the level of mind, intellect and “sanskaras”, rather than focusing on bodily forms, postures or rituals. The first stage in Raja Yoga is to stabilize the self in the pure experience of the inner tranquility of the soul. At first, distracting thoughts may come to the mind. To be free from these, do not become involved in a struggle to contain or eradicate these wasteful thoughts, but merely step away from them. The next step is to stabilize the self on the form and qualities of the Supreme Being (God).

Learn to meditate in a Raja Yoga center near you: http://www.bkwsu.org