What happens after our Bad Karma phase passes? Will we easily get anything we want or life is again just the same as when we are in Bad Karma phase? Any difference we can feel between Bad and Good Karma phases? By surrendering and following a SathGuru and his teachings, what are the things we can achieve after passing thru the Bad Karma phase in terms of both physical and spiritual life? Is there any guarantee that we will not face hardships in our lives?
—Farida, India
Dear Farida,
The good news for you is: yes, a true Satguru has the power to take karma from you, and he does so, as Yogananda has shown many times. He explains in his Autobiography: “Great gurus are able to assume the karma of disciples.” But to do so, he needs our cooperation. In difficult times we need to put out positive and life-affirming energy, to the best of our ability, so that he can help us. The more we just sit and wait for it to pass, the more it be difficult for him to help us.
The less happy news is: no, there is no guarantee that we will not face any hardships anymore, once the current karmic storm is over. To the contrary, there is a guarantee that other hardships will come to us.
There is a good reason for it:
First of all, God tries to teach us that happiness will never be found in this world, where everyone is seeking it. Again from the Autobiography: “It appears that misery, starvation, and disease are whips of our karma which ultimately drive us to seek the true meaning of life.” Stable happiness can only be found in God. The outer world, if we don’t turn to Him, will always inflict on us threefold suffering: in body, mind, soul. The outer world caresses us on one cheek, but on the other it slaps us badly; today is a fortunate and sunny day, tomorrow disaster and thunder strikes… and so on: forever.
Secondly, these tough times which we call “bad” karma are in reality our good karma: they are our teacher, our transformer, our healer. Each tough situation wants to teach us something, we need it, and if we don’t learn it we shall have to face that same situation again. So Swami Kriyananda teaches, “Say YES to life, also to these situations.”
Therefore it would be wise to think: “What is the positive side for me, in this difficult situation? Am I turning more to God? What am I supposed to learn from it? What quality am I supposed to develop here?”
A “good” karma phase is no doubt more comfortable for us all. And you can be assured, if your present moment is difficult, a more easy phase one will certainly come, sooner or later. The wave goes up and down, and up and down… unceasingly. This is why Yogananda writes: “This cyclic pattern assumes a certain anguishing monotony.” Finally we cry out, “Lord I want You!“
God bless you.
May the hard seed of your current situation grow into a strong positive tree, with its branches reaching up to Heaven,
jayadev
