Sickness

The practice of honest and sincere Brahmacharya & yoga (all those activities carried out with the intention of self-realization) with absolute devotion and love towards the Brahman (Almighty) starts unwinding and burning past karma. How does this happen? The enormous amount of Prana (vital energy) that is being conserved within and being transmuted into Ojas produces a special kind of heat within the body whose nature is akin to a kind of electricity. It is called as 'Yogaagni' (the fire of Yoga). This Yogaagni is a very special kind of fire, but it cannot be termed fire, for that would amount to limiting its scope, power and immense potency. It is something much much more than mere fire. It is much more immense and all encompassing because it works simultaneously at weeding out all kinds of impurities lodged with the Sthula sharira (physical body), Sukshma sharira (subtle body) and the Karana sharira (causal body).

All past karma is manifest within these three bodies. The actual seat of the seeds of past karma lie in the Karana sharira (causal body), these seeds then become decisive factors in determining what kind of a physical body, brain and intelligence the person will acquire. They also determine his fate or destiny which includes the complete set of life experiences he will undergo in this birth till death. They are the foundations which decide what a person is and what he is not.

The 'Yogaagni' which starts getting generated further to proper conservation and transmutation of the vital fluid works in all the three bodies, the physical, subtle and causal. Let us assume a person has indulged in cheating another of a certain sum of money at some point of time, either in the recent past or in a previous birth. The seed of karma corresponding to the act of cheating gets embedded in his Karana Sharira. It is akin to the seed of a plant which will sprout into a sapling when the conditions are right. There are thousands or more of such seeds in the causal body of every individual which contains seeds corresponding to various good and bad karmas committed by the Jivatma (individual soul) in this and past births. All these karmas have deposited themselves within, for working out at a later stage. In the common man not leading a life of spirituality, Yoga or Brahmacharya, these seeds work themselves out in their own pace, thereby ensuring that the Jiva has to be born many hundreds or thousands of times in this Samsara (finite, dualistic world of suffering). In all these hundreds or thousands of births, the Jiva indulges in more karma and deposits more seeds into itself. This extends future births by another hundred or thousand and so on. It becomes a vicious ocean of Samsara full of pain and suffering for the Jiva which has forgotten itself to be the Atman (pure soul) further to degenerating into the Jivatma with a heavy baggage of karma.

In the Vedas and Upanishads, it is said that after millions of such births in the grip of delusion and suffering, the Jivatma gets and urge from within to find a permanent solution to this never ending cycle of births and deaths in the turbulent ocean of Samsara filled from all sides by lower traits and emotions. It realizes the futility of running after the pleasures promised by the senses. It comes to the right conclusion that indulgence in this world and its temptations can never fill it with peace, happiness and well being eternally. It then starts a search for that mode of life and action by which it can win permanent and lasting freedom from this world of suffering. This is the crucial point where it gets an innate urge to tread on the path of spirituality. By the grace of the Almighty, the Jiva gets a strong tendency towards spirituality. It has now reached the stage internally, where it has had enough of the hide and seek game offered by the workings of Samsara. A strong urge to break free from this state of delusion has taken form.

A life of Yoga & Brahmacharya are the means used by the Jiva to ensure this freedom. Whether this mode of life transformation into one's default state of purity and divinity is called Yoga or something else, the principles and tenets which are required to win freedom from Samsara remain the same for the whole world. All these principles are hinged on the necessity of developing freedom from slavery to the senses, burning and working out past karma and thereby ascending the ladder of one's default state of Ananda (soul bliss). Only those who have reached this stage of flight towards self-realization or are close to it are allowed to succeed in Brahmacharya by the Almighty. Else, all would have become Brahmacharis. Others do not get the mind or the urge for such a mode of life. Of the many people who try for Brahmacharya, a very small percentage succeed in persevering towards success amid recurring failures. Most who fail give up after deciding it is impossible and beyond human ability. But the one's who are chosen by the Almighty to become eligible for boarding the flight of self-realization find that they cannot do without reverting to this mode of life in spite of failures or breaks. In spite of breaks, they find themselves being drawn back into this mode of life. They find their inner voice and destiny itself goading them to persevere in Brahmacharya.

In such people, the practice eventually becomes a lifestyle and inseparable. Really very fortunate are the Jiva-s who carry out a life of Brahmacharya. Blessed is their lot. The fire of Yoga which has sprouted, now starts aiming itself at the various karmas which have been embedded. With only a handful of births or even one last birth remaining for release from this world, the rapid and speedy disposal of past karma sets in motion. All karma has to be experienced. It cannot be simply erased. Karma, either good or bad has to be worked out by the Jivatma through happiness or suffering, for it has ingrained itself with a purpose. The fire of Brahmacharya now works at weeding out and leveraging these past seeds one after the other.

Every time a particular seed surfaces, there is the manifestation of that effect which the seed represents. When the seed of cheating that we spoke about surfaces whilst being plucked out by the fire of Yoga, the person concerned might loose an equal sum of money which he cheated another of in the recent past or in some previous birth or may loose something else. The pain which he undergoes makes him realize that it is wrong to cheat. The Jivatma has now learnt one important lesson as regards being fair and honest. Similarly, when the seed of some past bodily harm to another surfaces, the person suffers a similar or related injury, illness or disease. The suffering he undergoes again makes him swear to himself that he should never harm anyone else in future. Another important lesson has been learnt. With every surfacing of past karma which burns itself through working out via life experiences, the man becomes more pure, more virtuous and more divine, eventually becoming saintly and Godly. He finally reaches a stage where the complete stock of his past karma has been burnt and extinguished. This generally coincides with the stage of self-realization. Till there exists karma, the physical body also exists. Upon self-realization and the disposal of all karma, the body having served its purpose drops away and the Jivatma which has now become the Shudhaatma (pure soul) takes flight into the Supreme.

In case of the honest Brahmachari, this working out of karma and its results are expended fast and frequently as the time for final release is getting near. There is not much time remaining for such a person unlike the common man who is not yet ready for spirituality further to the time for final release still being very far. In normal people who are still very far from the final release, karma works out very slowly and infrequently. It appears as though nothing much is happening. In the Brahmachari, things are quite the opposite. He might have to face quite a few incidences of bad luck, suffering or pain during the initial years of Brahmacharya or even later which others appear to be spared of. But there is not the least reason to worry. Each and every such experience makes one come closer to his Atman (true self) by a few degrees. It makes Brahmacharya that much stronger. "Sukha Dukhe Samey Krithva, Labha, alabhou, Jaya, Ajayou..." says Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita -- " O Arjuna, take pleasure and pain, gain and loss, success and failure with an equal perspective, do not let these affect you...". These are really medicines to cure the sickness of delusion within the Jivatman. We self-introspect and correct upon the mistakes we might have committed or are about to commit when faced with hardships. One should be glad that he has been chosen by the Almighty to prepare for the greatest accomplishment of the human existence called self-realization by weeding out karma through Brahmacharya. That accomplishment, which will lead one to the real knowledge of himself. That knowledge, gaining which everything becomes known and nothing more needs to be known. Nothing more needs to be done. It is this accomplishment which is the true reason behind why we are born. Reaching it, one is freed forever from the fetters of birth and death, to occupy that lofty state of infinite knowledge, bliss and existence within the Almighty forever.

So the Brahmachari Yogi keeps his mental state unaffected by the workings of this world as regards himself or others, for he knows all this to be Maya (illusion) and not reality. Keeping his mind riveted to the supreme goal with devotion and surrender to the Almighty, he looks at the workings of destiny as though it were a dream. For the one who is devoted to reaching the highest through Brahmacharya and Yoga, who is honest in his Dharma (duty as shown by destiny or the Almighty), who is firm in the Yama-Niyama, all bad times pass, eventually delivering him into the reality of Brahman (Almighty).

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)