Action – Entangling or Liberating?
Sadhguru on the Workings of Karma and Kriya
Questioner: How do we know if by whatever action we perform, we dissolve karma or create new karma?
Sadhguru: The word karma evokes different types of understandings in people’s minds. Karma means action. Action is on many different levels. There is physical action, mental action, emotional action, energy action – these are all forms of actions which we can call karma. If the action sinks deeper than these four dimensions, we call it kriya. Kriya and karma both mean action, but karma is that kind of action which will leave residual impact upon the system; that means, the memory or chemistry of that action remains. Kriya is a type of action which imprints itself on a completely different dimension and begins to dismantle the karmic impact or karmic residue that has accumulated in the system.
Karma is of many kinds, layers, and dimensions. As we said earlier, karma means action or the imprint of action which remains within you. And it is not just your actions – the actions that your father performed are also working within you in so many different ways, not just in terms of your situation – in every cell of your body. It is not so easy to get rid of your parents; [laughs] they act up from within. Even your grandfather and your great-grandfather are still kicking within you in so many different ways. Many of you may have noticed this: when you were 18, 20 years of age, you completely rebelled against your father or your mother. But by the time you are 40, 45 you are beginning to behave just like them – you speak like them, you act like them, you are even beginning to look like them. That is a hopeless way to live because if life is going to repeat itself, if this generation is going to behave, act, live, experience life just the way the previous generation did, then this is a wasted generation. This generation should experience life in a way that the previous generation never even imagined, not by doing something crazy or something that your parents did not do; but the way you experience can be completely altered, it can be taken to the next level of experience – unless your father happens to be an enlightened being or in a very evolved state of consciousness; even if that is so, it is still possible to stretch yourself beyond where the last generation stopped.
Karma is not just yours, not just your father’s, not just your grandfather’s – the first life form, that single-celled little piece of life’s karma is also acting up within you, even today. Do you know that in a human body, the number of bacteria outnumbers human cells ten to one? How is that for you? “Hi, how are you, bacteria?” [Laughter] – Because you are more bacteria than human cells. Most of you is actually bacteria. Even your bacteria carry a certain karmic content, behave in a certain way and make the quality of your life in a certain way. You have to transform trillions of bacteria within you to really feel transformed. So all the grand ideas that you have about yourself, about your person, are very false. This is why we told you, it is all maya, [laughs] because the way things are playing within you is such that almost everything that you do is controlled by the past information.
“Does it mean to say I am hopelessly entangled?” Entangled for sure – not hopelessly. From being a pashu , a composite expression of animal nature, starting from that single-celled animal to the highest one, there is a possibility of becoming a Pashupati. One can leave all this behind and transcend. It would be absurd for me to try to explain the mechanics of this system in a few minutes – but let’s try. If you look at the basic energy skeleton of the human system, the basic blueprint of energy that is there has 112 chakras or junction points where it is held together. When you do the Shakti Chalana Kriya , you are trying to strengthen every junction point so that this becomes a solid framework, so that tomorrow, if you want to do something bigger, you have the necessary foundation to hold it.
The way most people are made right now, if you initiate them into a strong kriya yoga process, they will break because they have not prepared the foundation substantially. In many ways, this generation of people is the weakest generation in the history of humanity, both physically and energy-wise. Physically for sure, never before, humanity has been this weak. If you want to know what strength is, join somebody who is working on the field. They may look skinny and puny, but if you start working with them on the field, you will see within two hours’ time, you will be completely exhausted. And the next day morning, you won’t be able to get up; that’s how your body will feel. But day after day, they are able to do it because that strength is built over a period of time. That is physical strength – but the energy body has to be strengthened too.
So the Shakti Chalana Kriya is about strengthening these 112 chakras, which are within the physical framework of the body but function according to the influence of the karmic residue that is there within the system. If you keep this energy skeleton vibrant, it will allow you to transcend many times – but it is not completely free. The karmic residue or past memory which makes this life process happen always controls these 112 chakras. There are a few chakras which will allow you access to the beyond, but most of them function within the framework of the karmic influence. But there are another two chakras, 113 and 114, which are outside the physical framework of the body. They generally remain very minimal or almost dormant in most people, but if you have done enough sadhana, they become active. The 114th chakra pulsates in a certain way which, right from ancient times, has been described as an ouroboros . Ouroboros is the symbol of a snake eating its own tail, that is, it is trying to swallow itself. In India, in Greece, in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia, in all those ancient cultures which were focused more upon the beyond than what is here, you will see the symbol of ouroboros.
So the 114th chakra pulsates in the form of an ouroboros or the infinite. If your energies touch this dimension within you, whatever action you do, will be a process of liberation. If it is within the 112 chakras, every action that you do has a residue, so it is best that you do the right kind of action so that it leaves a pleasant residue upon you, not an unpleasant one. But if your energy transcends the 112 and resides mostly in those 2 chakras which are beyond the physical framework, then you need not bother about your actions. Then, whichever way you act, only leads to your liberation because action will not be yours anymore, it will be of infinite nature.
So whether activity is entangling or a process of liberation essentially depends on one’s level of sadhana and also on the attitude and the volition with which action is done. If people try to do sadhana without performing the needed activity in their lives, sadhana will be a great struggle. If you come here and I tell you, “You don’t need to do anything, we will take care of you; just sit 12 hours a day and meditate,” initially, it looks like a great fortune, but after a month’s time, you will go nuts. If you cross that madness, you will cross everything – but most people give up when the madness arises within them. They will freak out and try to run away as it is not going to be easy because this will be the primal cry of your father, your grandfather, your forefathers – and the bacteria. All of them will scream to find expression; they won’t keep quiet. Millions of lives will scream from within. They won’t let you go free just like that; they want to have their say. They will say, “Why are we not being allowed to live through you?” Parents are demanding things like that, isn’t it so? If you say, “I want to do something,” they will say, “No, you are my son; you have to do what I want you to do because I have to live through you. All my dreams have to be fulfilled through you.” This is not just a verbal saying; they will scream from within.
One way is to obliterate them, which is a harder path that needs a lot more sadhana. Otherwise, you need to distance yourself from all of them – let them scream, use earplugs and you won’t be bothered because you don’t hear them. These are two different ways – but you cannot ignore them because they throb in every cell in your body.
Karma is not just things that you did, good or bad – it is the memory of life. The very way the body is structured depends on this. Your body is built the way it is built only because there is this memory of life, right from that single-celled animal to every other form. Do you know that within your brain, there is a reptilian brain which is almost the size of a brain of a crocodile? Do you understand why you go snapping at everybody? Because the reptilian brain functions from within you – you can’t help it. [Laughter]
So to distance yourself from all that takes a little bit of work – or simply devotion. If you have to do it by yourself, it will be a lot of work. If you want to ride the Grace, there will be no work for you but you are not in the driver’s seat. Either you learn to drive – which involves many risks – or an expert driver will drive; you sit and doze off in the back seat. Some people went to Kailash and came back like this. I drove all the way, in the most treacherous terrain, every moment being alert – otherwise you will get killed. I saw Kailash. Those who went there with bobbing head, they also saw Kailash. As long as you get there, what does it matter how? If you just allow Grace to happen, life becomes beautiful.
- Excerpted from talks by Sadhguru
[1] - Refers to one’s body, mind, emotion, and energy
[2] - Sanskrit for ‘animal’
[3] - ‘Lord of Animals,’ a form of Shiva
[4] - A yogic practice offered in advanced Isha Yoga Programs such as Shoonya Intensive
[5] - Greek for ‘one who eats the tail;’ an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail
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