Remembering

Q: How come we can't remember past life times - if there even is such a thing?

MM: It is like not being able to remember what you were doing on October 23, at 10 o'clock in 1994. It doesn't matter now, although it may be the reason you are wearing a red shirt.

What needs to be remembered is our future, not our past. "Future" means our destiny. It is where we were before we were born. Our very past is our very future. Our destiny is where we came from. We become conscious of the source of your being.

There are only two paths. Both have infinite variety and combinations. There is the intellectual (scientific, atheist) path, and the emotional path (love, religion).

All paths are like boats you take across the river (life). They seem to be very important when you are on them, but ultimately have nothing directly to do with the destination (God, Enlightenment, Truth); and just before you step on the shore (Truth) you actually have to leave what took you there - the boat that gave safety, and direction. There is no point in staying on the boat once the shore has been reached.

That is the hard part for both the religious and the scientifically minded. Even close to the destination everyone seems to argue about who has the better boat. The whole world is arguing about the best boat - for getting to God, Truth, Enlightenment. This is nonsense. Even swimming will do. Even less - just floating will do. Boats can often be too much trouble.

Q: So is any thinking about Karma - even in terms of how to conduct oneself now for good karma in the future, pointless?

MM: It is OK to use it for "navigation". Navigation uses "points of references" to give some understanding about cause and effect, starting points and end points. It is only useful "along the way" but becomes useless the closer you get to the destination.

Karma

Q: The more I think about the idea of karma, the more I get confused. Isn't cultivating good karma for oneself in itself selfishly motivated?


MM: Forget cultivating good karma. Instead cultivate a calm mind. The calmer the mind, the more you will become who you truly are and go beyond dual concepts like selfishness and unselfishness, good karma and bad karma, etc. Once one is truly oneself one can neither be called selfish nor compassionate. Just like the sun which causes both skin cancer and makes our food grow - we become who we are and move beyond worry. To become oneself does not mean the Western idea of "do whatever you want". It means peacefulness, serenity and full presence in which all things get done that need to get done - no more, no less.

Strangely enough, Buddhism which teaches about Karma, the cause and effect of good and bad deeds over lifetimes - also teaches about non-dualistic thinking. When non-dualistic thinking is fully attained there is no karma. At that level time and space also disappear. Therefore, without time and space, whatever is happening now, is happening all throughout time.

One way to reach to non-dualistic thinking is through contemplating the idea of karma. The idea of karma, if followed logically, eventually turns into a koan and can free the mind.

Until then - think of karma as "you shall harvest as you sow". Tend your garden with awareness.