Dormant, Active, and Potential Karmas - Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

"People are drawn to painful, disgusting, and violent stories because such stories help them reassociate with their past thoughts, memories, and ideas. This reassociation engenders a sense of pleasure. Just as worldly people listen to such stories for pleasure, spiritual people find pleasure in experiencing them in samadhi. They call it ‘storytelling,’ you call it a ‘spiritual experience,’ but it is essentially the same process. By listening to these tales, worldly people awaken and act out their subtle impressions. If the impressions are strong, they are deeply affected. As a result, they may commit themselves to take a related action, thus creating more karmas. That is how their dormant sanchita karmas turn into prarabdha karmas, which are the fabric of destiny.

"If you are negligent, this conscious experience of your unconscious can trick you. In fact, it has already tricked you. You are reassociating yourself with your dormant karmas by brooding on them and by figuring out when, how, and why you created them in the first place."

Avatya saw that Jaigishavya was growing more troubled. "Let me help you," the sage said gently. "I will properly formulate the questions which are already in your mind in a hodgepodge state. This will help you contemplate on them and find the answers.

"Tell me, how many karmas do you have? Do you remember when you performed your first action, reaped its fruit, and stored the impression in your mind? When did it become active and motivate you to perform the next set of actions? When did you become aware of the cycle of karmic action –– from active karma, to potential, to dormant, and back to active again?"

(to be continued in April, 2006 issue)

© "From Death to Birth" by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, published by the Himalayan Institute press, Honesdale, Pennsylvania 18431, USA. Website: www.himalayaninstitute.org. Part I of tis article appeared in Splendour, February, 2006 issue. Reprinted with permission.

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