The Joy of Karma

The Joy of Karma

The Practice of Enjoying our Karma as a Path to Freedom.

An open heart is not only a more enjoyable way to live, it’s the only way to burn your karma, to become free. Shiva Sutra 3.25 teaches that “karma cannot be overcome unless it is enjoyed”— but does that mean if you’re not having fun you’re not burning karma? Yes and no. In the beginning, learning to enjoy our karma is a practice of simply staying present, not rejecting or attaching to the situation in front of you. And this kind of work is actually what eventually burns your karma, and when that loads starts to lighten, you actually begin to find more joy in the everyday tasks of your daily life. As Sri Shambhavananda teaches, “you know you are progressing in your practice when you are getting happier for no [external] reason.” We can open the door to this kind of joy with a slight smile, but the real opening we are seeking is inside our heart. This is a unique work that only you can do— all the Sutras and lineage teachers can merely point the way, but actually walking your awareness inside, actually breathing into your heart in a natural and sustainable way, is the journey. And it begins with this simple teaching— “karma cannot be overcome unless it is enjoyed”. The rest is up to us.

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Shiva Sutra 3.25
śivatulyo jāyate

[When a yogī has attained the supreme intensity of God consciousnes] They become just like Śiva.

An open heart is not only a more enjoyable way to live, it’s the only way to burn your karma, to become free. Shiva Sutra 3.25 teaches that “karma cannot be overcome unless it is enjoyed”— but does that mean if you’re not having fun you’re not burning karma? Yes and no. In the beginning, learning to enjoy our karma is a practice of simply staying present, not rejecting or attaching to the situation in front of you. And this kind of work is actually what eventually burns your karma, and when that loads starts to lighten, you actually begin to find more joy in the everyday tasks of your daily life. As Sri Shambhavananda teaches, “you know you are progressing in your practice when you are getting happier for no [external] reason.” We can open the door to this kind of joy with a slight smile, but the real opening we are seeking is inside our heart. This is a unique work that only you can do— all the Sutras and lineage teachers can merely point the way, but actually walking your awareness inside, actually breathing into your heart in a natural and sustainable way, is the journey. And it begins with this simple teaching— “karma cannot be overcome unless it is enjoyed”. The rest is up to us.

“Through the intensity of meditating on turya…The Yogi becomes like Lord Śiva. Why is it said that the yogi becomes like Lord Śiva? Why not say that he becomes one with Śiva? It cannot be said they become one with Śiva because they have a body, a physical frame. As long as the physical frame is existing, the yogi is just like Śiva, they are not one with Śiva. Their having a physical frame will divert them toward inferior states…When he casts off this physical frame composed of the five elements, then he becomes one with Śiva.”

This physical frame is more than just our body, it is the circumstances of our entire life— the arena, or physical frame, of our life. This arena or frame of our life is no coincidence, it is our karma. Specifically our Prarabdha Karma. Praradbhda Karma is like an arrow shot up in to the sky, it has to land somewhere sometime, but where and when it lands us unknown to us. 

As Babaji teaches, “If you find yourself in a particular arena of life, in this or that situation, that is where your karma has taken you, and you have to work it out. If you just run away from it all the time and don’t deal with it, then you have to come back again. So you might as well confront your issues now. Then you can avoid wasting about twenty years to get focused enough to begin to meditate again.) 42, SP. 

Our work in yoga is the practice of burning up our Karma. This can be done directly, by applying our practice while we encounter our karma, or indirectly, through a steady daily meditation practice on our cushion, and mantra practice in our daily life. 

In this Sutra, and in our lineage, we are given a very specific pathway through our karma— “Prārabdha karma cannot be overcome unless it is enjoyed. For an embodied being, prārabdha karma is unavoidable. He may be just like Śiva or he may be an ordinary person; prarabdha karma must be overcome by being enjoyed. It cannot be cast aside or abandoned.”

What does ‘enjoyed’ mean? This is a powerful question— don’t answer it from your head, answer from your practice. How can you enjoy this moment of your karma? To do so, you will notice yourself getting very present— this is the foundation of joy. What we find, little by little as we open to the idea, is that being present itself might just be the key to our joy— that is, opening our heart to our karma, to the circumstances of our life, opens the door to joy in those very circumstances. Does a slight smile help you actually feel happier?  If done only from a superficial space, not so much, but when done from a place of inner awareness, absolutely.

So how does this process also help you overcome your karma? As Paul Reps once wrote, “Until its Fun, Better Left Undone,” which means that until you can move through your life with this slight smile of inner awareness, you tend to make more drama than dissolve it. And I think this is something we can all attest to— when you are upset in a conversation, it rarely concludes— instead, it just goes on and on, in circles. But when you have had time to digest a situation, and then talk about it, it tends to be a much simpler ordeal. Can we enjoy every challenging talk in order to ensure we aren’t making more karma— not necessarily— but can we enjoy every walk on the way to a challenging talk in order to lessen the blows that may occur? Yes we can. 

So start small on the path to enjoying your karma. Start with the moment you are in, and apply your practice to it as thought it were an important moment. Get really present right now, feel your state of being, and simply open up to this moment in a very simple and general way. Allow yourself to open inwardly though, to feel your inner experience of the room you are in, as well as noticing the outer manifestation. It can help to simply intone the Om sound to yourself while you do it— feeling the hum inside while you notice the light outside. This is the practice of holding the present, and is really the only thing we are required to do in order to experience the Joy of our Karma. You might not feel like singing yet, but if you can hold this space of awareness for a little longer, you might feel your shoulders and jaw line soften, your breath get a little deeper, and your mind’s chatter slow down. This is the path to joy, there is no doubt. And through our daily practice, we walk this path, until eventually we reside closer and closer to the source of Joy within us.