When prayer is a form of karma which gives results, why do we feel our prayer is not being answered sometimes? To know that we need to understand karma itself. It is a huge network of laws, where every situation we experienced, the family we were born into, including this body-mind-sense complex is the result of our past karma. It is just like the law of gravity, when an apple falls, it only will go downward. Whatever we have done, the result will unfold, but we just don’t know when, where and what kind of unfolding we will get.
Do I have a chance to neutralise the effect of my karma? Yes, there are options available, but I have to make the effort to exercise those options. Along with the effort I require enthusiasm, courage, knowledge, resources, readiness and capacity to face obstacles. However, despite all these factors, I also can pray. Since prayer is also a form of karma, therefore the result will be there. But for the prayer to work well, other factors must be there, I can’t simply sit quietly and pray. I have to act. Our prayer helps to tap the grace of the limitless Īśvara. It is not that we make him happy then he will answer your prayer. When we pray, we tap into the order of the network of karma, which we call grace.
Grace is the result of karma, but I don’t know when the karma was done to earn the grace. Nor do I know which karma is the cause for this particular grace. When I am not able to pinpoint which karma is responsible for this situation, then I gracefully say that it is grace. Either pleasant or unpleasant situations, they are the results earned by me. Only by understanding the law of karma, one can accept life with grace otherwise even the most diehard devotee will turn away from his God if he feels his prayer is never answered.
Usually we can see grace in four points of view:
1) Īśvara-krpa (Īśvara’s grace)
2) Guru-krpa (guru’s grace, because of the knowledge he passed down
and his guidance, I am on the tract of this moksa pursuit)
3) Śāstra-krpa (the pramāna for ātmājñānam itself)
4) Ātmā-krpa (where I use my freewill to earn grace and to see my whole life is grace alone).
etairvimuktaḥ kaunteya tamodvāraistribhirnaraḥ |
ācaratyātmanaḥ śreyastato yāti parāṁ gatim || 16.22||
A man who is free from these three gates of darkness, Kaunteya (Arjuna)!, follows what is good for himself. Because of that, he reaches the higher end.
Binding desire, anger and greed are said to be the gates to darkness - tamodvāraistribhirnaraḥ because it is the place where viveka is obscured, so there is delusion which gives dukha at the end. Viveka usually translates as discrimination knowledge. Our entire life is about having viveka, knowing what to do and what not to do, knowing what means lead to what ends, etc. In this context a deluded person thinks that if he gets what he desires with whatever means, he would be happy. When the mind is deluded, even the correct ends and means are shown to him, he wouldn’t see that. Just like you give Gītā book to a donkey, it only will chew on it. It doesn’t value it as a teaching which can bring ultimate freedom, but it just only sees it as food. This is aviveka.
etairvimuktaḥ - who is free from these desire, anger and greed is able to use his viveka, and therefore lives a life of proper conduct (follow dharma) which will lead him to his ultimate good - śreyastato yāti parāṁ gatim.
yaḥ śāstravidhim utsṛjya vartate kāmakārataḥ | na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim ||16.23||
The one who, being impelled by binding desire, engages oneself casting away the injunctions of the śāstra, gains neither maturity, nor happiness (here), much less a higher end.
On the other hand, one who lives his life without regard for the injunction of śāstra - yaḥ śāstravidhim utsṛjya, because he is totally committed to his fulfilment, being impelled by binding desire - kāmakārataḥ. Śāstra here means karma-kanda, our source of knowledge regarding what to be done and what not to be done. He doesn’t gain siddhi - na sa siddhim avāpnoti. In this context siddhi means fitness for the pursuit of what is good for a person - purusārtha-yogyatā. This is called maturity.
Moreover, to have sukha - happiness, one should be mature, otherwise any small thing will upset him. Not only will there be no sukha in this world, one will not gain a better end - na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim, whether it is heaven or moksa.
Comments